Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel 4 (Security) - 1982

Sorry for the delay last night.  It's been a busy week since last we spoke, and I actually didn't have any time until it was too late, and then I was too tired.  Hopefully the fact that it's a PG album will help you to forgive me.

Best mix on the album - the Simian Surprise mix of Shock the Monkey.  Turn that one WAY WAY UP.

PG - Security - Album Tracks     PG - Security - Remixes

Peter Gabriel - Self-Titled - 1980

So, we still have house guests, and we are making plans for tonight, so I will get today's post out a little early, so I don't miss it.

Still working through PG's awesome self-titled albums, trying to name them so you can differentiate between the three.  I love his covers for his singles, which is why I continue to use them as the actual covers for the albums.  On this one in particular, I tried to leave the wear rings from the vinyl on the sleeves, so it looks more authentic and retro.  I think they are pretty cool this way, they look like records.

I was able to find three more tracks to add to this particular set. But, still no remixes of the singles.  I think a Dreamtime remix or McDoC remix of I Don't Remember or Games Without Frontiers would be spectacular.  But, just wishful thinking.

Tonight we are going to go roller skating with the kids.  I haven't been roller skating in ten years at least, which will be exciting for everyone else but me.  Imagine a middle-aged fat man trying to roll his fat ass around on eight little wheels.  Can anyone say busted hip?

Peter Gabriel - Self-Titled - 1980 

Peter Gabriel - Untitled One - 1977

Even though the cover of PG's first album is cool, I wanted to use some of the beautiful images from his singles for this cover.  And, in an attempt to add a title for his first album, I used the single Modern Love as the title for the entire album.  Call me a heretic, but I think it works.

As for the album...

Being a 16-year-old boy, in love with So, I wanted to hear other PG albums.  I thought, naively, that starting with his first album might be the best.  Boy, was I shocked.  At the time, I wasn't a huge fan of Prog and 70s Rock.  I was wondering upon listening to the first album if a mistake had been made, as this didn't sound like PG at all to me. I tried really hard to listen to and like this album, but for the life of me, I couldn't.

Years pass, and my taste in music developed and shifted and I picked this one up again.  By that time, I had fallen in love with Genesis' tLLDOB epic, so I thought that a re-evaluation of the first PG album was in order.  Again, I tried to like the album, but, again, I didn't.  It took time, revisiting again and again, along with his other early albums, and I eventually came around and now I truly love the work that he put into it.  It's definitely an acquired taste.

It should be expected, especially from PG, that a transition from his Prog beginning would take time and experimentation.  I feel that starting with this album, he wanted to make music that he liked to make, that would eventually be a universal sound that expressed his art and mind, and also tried to avoid the trappings of being classified into one genre or another.  Honestly, listening to him from his early roots through his sound today, he has run the gamut of sound and art.  Sort of like his contemporaries in Sting, Phil Collins and U2.  Standing in one place too long creates stagnation and irrelevancy.

This is still a pleasant ride, as long as you have an ear for Prog as well as Rock and the rest of PG's work.  If at first it doesn't succeed, try and try again.

Peter Gabriel - Untitled One - 1977

Peter Gabriel - More Than US - 1992

Funny, I just saw this album on another blog yesterday, and here I am posting it, having had it in the que for about a month.  I'm telling you, it's uncanny.

Actually, this isn't the album, it's more than the album, it's More Than US.  Clever, right?  I think so.  This came out my Sophomore year in college.  My wife and I hadn't started dating yet, and I was lonely.  My parents had just moved to Colorado, and I stayed put, so I felt I was being abandoned in a way, rather than getting my freedom.  It was rather scary.  Mind you, I was still living with my grandparents, but they had left for their winter in Texas, away from the cold.  So, I had the house to myself, no close friends left, as the ones I had, had gone off to school far away, and my friends from Chicago had long forgotten about me.  This album brought solace and understanding to my troubled soul, and I found comfort as I wrapped myself in it's warm melodies and powerful lyrics.

This is an album of a true artist.  A true songwriter.  Someone who is more interested in doing something meaningful and right, than in doing it for the fame and fortune.  I was already a PG fan, and this album simply reinforced my love for him.  The album is an anchor to a troubled soul and aching heart.

These tracks are technically remixes, but I almost see them as reinterpretations of the originals.  They don't carry the trappings of your normal remixes with dancey beats and extended keyboard segues, just the instruments used, but even some alternative vocals and other musical twiddlings.  The extra tracks were non-album tracks or guest vocal tracks from other artists, but fit perfectly with what PG was doing at the time.  They make excellent additions to this fine collection.

So, maybe tonight instead of watching some dreadful election programming, you could pop on a classic and relax with a glass of wine.  Leave the stress and anxiety to the buffoon and the criminal.  But, which is which?

Peter Gabriel - More Than US - 1992

Peter Gabriel - End Of A Century and Aughts

SO, I've already told you the story of how I discovered and fell in love with Peter Gabriel way back in my "So-Courage" post.  As time went by, and lack of new materiel appeared, the inevitable hunt for those guest vocal spots, soundtrack songs, remixes and unreleased tracks start to build up and create lives of their own.

The best way for PG, similar to Robert Smith, was to divide the material into two, and it took an obvious split in 2000, hence then, the titles of each disc.  I personally feel that the "remixes" of the Us tracks at the beginning of the first disc are better than the album tracks.  I really fell in love with them.  There are also a lot of excellent guest vocal tracks that were surprising, once I found them.

 The highlight of disc two for me is the Book Of Love cover.  I officially dedicate this song to my wife (and also every time I mention it.)

The covers are standard fractal stock pics from the internet that I thought were pretty.  And the PG pics are your average promo pics.  Simple elements, spectacular results.

I hope you enjoy them, maybe in 3.5 years, I'll have enough material to compile a teens disc.

Peter Gabriel - End Of A Century    Peter Gabriel - Aughts

Peter Gabriel - So - 1986

'So' came out my Sophomore year in High School, and I remember sitting in the lunch room at Downers Grove North discussing it with a fellow Soccer teammate.  I was desperately wanting to discuss it and talk about the metaphors and imagery, and lyric and chord structure.  All he wanted to do was mention the weird videos and move on.  Back then, oh, what I could do with a blog, a forum or a chat room.

Mind you, I wasn't some big Genesis connoisseur or something.  In fact, I had no idea who this "Peter Gabriel" was.  In fact, I purchased "The Lamb Lies Down" AFTER PG's 'So' came out, and STILL didn't get it until I took the time to sit down and read the liner notes.  Yeah, big dummy, I know.

But, I really fell in love with 'So'.  I purchased it and U2's Unforgettable Fire and Paul Simon's Graceland at roughly the same time and boy, did I feel sophisticated.  No more teenie-bopper Duran2, no more heavy metal hair, no more Christian bands.  Now, only purely talented musicians with a flare for content for me.

But, I digress...

'So' is one of those albums that needs to be LISTENED to.  I've talked about listening to music and then also "hearing" music.  Well, this goes a step beyond that, even.  You've heard, now LISTEN.  Turn the rest of the world off, dim the lights, pour yourself an Irish Whisky, something in the 12s and over a single cube of ice.  Or, get on the metro, plug your headphones in, and watch out the window as the neighborhoods pass by.  But, LISTEN to the album and tell me what you SEE.

Mind you, if you've listened to the album, but haven't HEARD it, then that last step is moot.

When they finally released a decent version of Courage, I found I could actually make a 'So II', that I entitled 'Courage'.  You now have all of the mixes (from that era, I wouldn't put Orbit's Mercy Street in this mix, maybe in US).  You have all of the b-sides that were originally from that era, I took out the ones from previous albums.  I put Lori Anderson's 'This is the Picture' for a contrast to the PG version.  And then the unreleased Courage.  All in all, it makes for a great listen.

Although I was happy with the material we did get when PG re-released the 'So' album several years ago, I was still somewhat disappointed that none of the b-sides were included, and there weren't any real unreleased tracks at all.  Just proto-pre-production of tracks we already had.  This little collection here wraps that all up!!!!

Peter Gabriel - Courage - So II - 1986