Can we make an agreement to edit the title of the thread with an all-caps update when there is news about when the full album is actually coming out? That way the people who only want to know that information can avoid the thread until then and the people who enjoy-to-tolerate the monthly release strategy can talk about it without the semi-monthly influx of complaints? Or perhaps the subject line here can be changed to "Peter Gabriel - new Full Moon tracks discussion" or something and a separate "I/O Album News" thread can be started? Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I don't mean to thread police -- just trying to find a utilitarian compromise that will have the most benefit for the greatest number of people.
We shouldn't need a different thread.... I don't enjoy the release strategy, so have chosen to ignore it and not listen to anything; however it is easy to click on here - check progress and click off again without whinging about the strategy and ruining it for others (you would think!)
Ar first, I wasn't thrilled about the release strategy, but I've come around. It's kept my interest in this project alive, rather than binging the whole thing and then possibly forgetting about it.
Why is that the assumption? I don’t think he’s stated or implied that he would. Only that he’s releasing songs that will be played on tour.
Think I prefer the Dark-Side mixes of everything, so far, though confusingly there seems to be a third mix of i/o.
If you are referring to the immersive Dolby Atmos In-Side mix, all songs released so far have had one
I much prefer the new Dark-Side mix of "I/O". (Still my least favorite of the four, but huge improvement over the Bright-Side... for me anyway.)
It's possible one or two will make it in the set, but the logical thing would be to focus more on the songs that are already out. Although by the fall US dates, presumably there will be 9-10 songs out which would basically be the album. Granted, this is PG so logic doesn't always apply, but if it were me, of course, and i was doing this weird release strategy, I'd certainly be trying to make it so that fans will have heard the new songs in the show before the gigs. It's a bit annoying, but I suppose it does have this side-effect (which is maybe the point?). I hate overlong, bloated albums...if there's 60+ minutes of material you want to release, I'd rather have it split up over two albums released a few months or a year apart, I think it gives the material more of a chance to sink in without overwhelming listeners. But basically I'm keeping an i/o playlist, I have the dark-side mixes first, then the bright-side mixes...I'd be streaming the album anyway, so in the end it doesn't really make that much of a difference to my ears. My guess is that this is how it will be released, similar to Hooverphonic's No More Sweet Music from 2005, which had the album on one disc and then a neat remixed version of the whole album on a second disc. I don't think one will be "definitive" or prioritized, nor do I think there will be a 'proper' album with a hodgepodge of both versions. I kinda like this idea, honestly...it wouldn't really make sense for straight-ahead rock, but for electronic/experimental-tinged stuff like PG does, there's infinite ways to present a song, mix-wise...I think this is partially why PG gets so paralyzed in the studio. So this is an interesting way to do an album.
I just had the idea yesterday of putting them all in a playlist. But my issue there, as far as listening to that play list, is I'd really like to get to know all the songs at a similar pace and not be more familiar with the earlier released songs than the later ones. At the moment, I've pretty much listened to all the released songs about the same amount, just a handful of times.
I don't disagree, but what can ya do. I'm not gonna nitpick how he does stuff since it's a borderline miracle he's releasing anything at all. An album is really just a playlist, anyway. I wonder if this is sort of a self-imposed thing to force him to finish a track on time. Maybe the idea of putting a whole album together was partly why it took him so long to do. I completely understand the idea of being deadline-driven, otherwise you can just piddle around for days/months/years at a time never finishing anything. But setting a monthly deadline to finish a mix is maybe the only way he can get the damn thing done at this point?
The album is unlikely to have been released by tour time, so there are likely be unreleased tracks that feature live. And he is supposed to be rehearsing/putting together visuals for 16 tracks, which may feature in the stage show but don’t appear on the album (unless it has more tracks than folks are expecting).
Still not quite dark enough for me Was hoping for something different, just a bit too similar for my liking, but we’re getting there
Right, but unless he’s really going all in on the new material, which seems unlikely for someone of his age, he’s not going to play the whole album. He controls what songs get released so it would make sense that he’d release songs he intends to play live.
As I believe others have suggested, I'd like i/o, the album to be released as a 3-disc set. disc1 - The bright-side mixes. disc2 - The dark-side mixes. disc3 - Blu-ray disc with inside-mixes. Atmos mixes/5.1 mixes. Anyway, I'm enjoying all the songs. I listen to them every weekend. At this point, we have an EP's worth of new PG music! That's quite a feat considering.
Slightly off topic, but PG teamed up with an AI company for a competition involving creating videos for several tracks from i/o as well as a couple of older hits. And he got a lot of pushback!!! Here's his statement: AI competition statement - PeterGabriel.com
What a great way to make money, pay three top-rated in-demand producers A-list rates (times three) to mix the album three times over