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ALBUM
REVIEWS
PETER
GABRIEL |
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ALBUM
RATING SYSTEM |
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***** |
An
excellent album. Strong effort from beginning to end! A must own! |
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**** |
A
very good album. A few low points but, overall, a decent effort.
Recommended. |
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*** |
A
good album. Several weak points detract from the album, but it's still
worth owning. |
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** |
A
mediocre album. Unless you're a real fan, you might not like this album
very much. |
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* |
A
poor album. Stay away from this one unless you are a hardcore fan! |
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Peter
Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (I) |
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WOG
RATING: ****
Peter Gabriel has always been a bit of a musical chameleon, drawing from
various influences and/or cultures and somehow developing a sound that is
clearly his own. While his solo debut is the album that, at moments, most
closely mirrors his past history with Genesis, it is also an
innovative and distinctive body of work. Although often overlooked, it is
here that we first see Gabriel blossom outside of the confines of his
former band. The diverse set features experimental
numbers like "Moribund The Burgermeister" and "Excuse
Me" amongst finely honed pop songs like "Solsbury Hill";
"Modern Love," an underrated, upbeat rocker; and the incredibly
powerful, "Here Comes The Flood." The project was far more
diverse than anything Gabriel had ever done with Genesis, and made a
fantastic first offering as a songwriter. While the album's commercial
success was limited to the song "Solsbury Hill," the album
serves as a pivotal step in his evolvement as a solo artist.
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Peter
Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (II) |
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WOG
RATING: ***
Peter Gabriel's second effort shows off his continuing progress in
creating captivating pop tunes with wit and integrity. By this time, Gabriel
was clearly well on his way to developing his own unique style, and any
past traces of Genesis' influence were starting to become almost
non-existent with few exceptions. Stand-outs like "On The
Air", "DIY", and "Animal Magic" showcase
Gabriel's ability to produce material that could appeal to the mainstream,
while continuing to push the envelope artistically. The sophomore album offers a little less in
the way of experimentation, but it does include several memorable
tracks. Despite these moments; however, there are a couple of tunes
that are less than stellar, to put it mildly. The album is a study
in amazing artistic highs and lows, making it far less cohesive than his
first outing.
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Peter
Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (III) |
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WOG
RATING: *****
To call Peter Gabriel's third self-titled project a landmark album is a
huge understatement, not only in terms of his career, but also in terms of
modern pop music. Filled with amazing instrumentation and some of his best
songwriting to date, Gabriel crafted an album with intensity, passion, and
flare. Track after track offers up solid, infectiously catchy songs that
consist of unforgettable rhythms and thought provoking lyrics. From Phil Collins' pounding drums on the ominous
"Intruder", to classic Gabriel tunes like "No
Self-Control", "I Don't Remember", "Family
Snapshot", and "Games Without Frontiers" to "Biko,"
one of the most inspiring political and social anthems of our time, this
project is a true achievement. The album is significant not only for its
impact on Gabriel's own career, but its impact on 'alternative' rock as we
know it.
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Peter
Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (IV - also known as Security) |
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WOG
RATING: ****
Delving deeper into his exploration of unusual rhythms and sounds, Peter
Gabriel emerged in 1982 with his fourth, and last, self-titled album
(unless you live in North America where the album was called Security).
Songs like "Rhythm of The Heat" and "San Jacinto" are
a perfect example of Gabriel's avant-garde approach to creating
multi-culturally influenced rock music. More so than other solo projects
in the past, Gabriel's fourth outing has an incredibly stirring
atmospheric quality. In fact, in many instances, it is as if the music
completely overpowers the lyrics. Sonically, the album is equally
spectacular, recorded in pure digital sound. The album has more than its share of
great music, including: "Lay Your Hands On Me", "I Have The
Touch", "Kiss of Life", and, of course, "Shock The
Monkey." To me, the album sounds almost like a soundtrack without a
film. To get the complete experience, this is truly an album that should
be listened to with headphones. Incredible!
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Peter
Gabriel - Plays Live |
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WOG
RATING: ****
The first live album of Gabriel's career provides a fairly predictable
collection of live material recorded in North America in 1982 and culled
from his first four albums. The only addition being "I Go
Swimming," which was also available on the soundtrack to the film Hard
To Hold. What is surprising; however, is that the performance manages
to maintain the energy from the original concert, something lost on most
live albums, including some of Gabriel's second live album, 1994's Secret
World Live.
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Depending on where you live on the planet
and when you bought this album, the track listing for Plays Live is
different. The original edition was a double length album; however, a
highlights (one disc) version was introduced when the project was issued
on CD in Europe for the first time. To make matters more confusing, a
European double disc and a U.S. double disc version were also introduced
later. In 2002, when the newly remastered editions were issued, the one
disc highlights version was the only pressing available, except in Japan
where it remains a double disc set with the complete track listing.
Confused yet? I am. Why shorten the album? Instead, why not add the rest
of the material recorded on the 1982 tour and provide a complete
performance for the fans? Regardless, it is a decent album. Sadly, you
don't get much in the way of rarely performed live gems in this set.
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Peter
Gabriel - Birdy (Soundtrack) |
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WOG
RATING: **
The Birdy soundtrack represented Gabriel's first attempt at
composing a score for a major motion picture. The concept of the album was
to take elements of existing Gabriel tunes, and a few new ones, and cultivate them into music
that would be suitable for the film. The end result is an interesting
blend of instrumental tunes that worked well with the movie. Some of the
original sources are revealed by Gabriel, but the remainder of the
material's influences are left to the listener's own detection... A very
unique and clever concept. All in all, if you are a fan of Peter
Gabriel's early works, I think you'll find the project worth while. If you
are not a fan of this era of his work, you might find it difficult at
times to sit through. Still, several tracks like "The Heat,"
which is derived from "Rhythm of The Heat" from Gabriel's fourth
album (a.k.a. Security), and "Birdy's Flight," which is a
loose interpretation of "Not One Of Us" from Gabriel's third
solo album, make Birdy worth exploring.
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Peter
Gabriel - So |
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WOG
RATING: *****
So, Peter Gabriel's fifth solo album, may not have been as
influential on the future of modern rock music as his third self-titled
album, but it clearly 'put him on the map' as a superstar. In what many
would say is the most commercial album of Gabriel's career, So
showcased influences of rock, rhythm and blues, and various ethnic
grooves. This potent combination resulted in a near-flawless pop album filled
with material that splits at the seams with humor, maturity,
thought-provoking wit, and passion. The landmark effort included a string of
successful radio hits, including: "Big Time",
"Sledgehammer", "Don't Give Up", and one of Gabriel's
signature tunes, "In Your Eyes." In addition, strong album cuts
like "Mercy Street", "That Voice Again"
and "Red Rain" fortified the release and earned Gabriel numerous
accolades. As an album, So stands out as a crowning achievement in
Peter Gabriel's career.
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Peter
Gabriel - Passion (Soundtrack to the film The Last Temptation of
Christ) |
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WOG
RATING: ****
On Gabriel's second film score, he develops what is, perhaps, his best use
of ethnically influenced material. The soundtrack includes music used in
the film along side of a few tracks that were done after the movie's
completion. Passion features some of the finest singers and
soloists in the field of world music, perched upon a backdrop of North
African rhythms and sounds. It's difficult not to be taken back by
the album's intoxicating beats and exotic themes, regardless of your level
of interest in world music. While I cannot say that I am a huge world
music enthusiast myself, I must say that I found Passion
captivating. It also speaks volumes to Gabriel's artistic character that
he would follow up a massive commercial success like So, with
something so uniquely different and clearly uncommercial. While Passion
may not be for everyone, I think the soundtrack makes a nice introduction
to world music, and a prime example of the abilities of a performer who is
limited only by his own interests as a musician.
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Peter
Gabriel - Shaking The Tree: 16 Golden Greats |
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WOG
RATING: ****
Calling 16 Golden Greats a "best of" somehow just
doesn't seem appropriate. The album is a one-disc compilation that spans
Gabriel's career starting from his debut self-titled album through Passion,
but it is far from being a complete representation or even a half-way
decent highlights of his early work as a solo artist. Instead, I think of
the album as more of an introduction to some of Peter Gabriel's more
commercially accessible music, with the possible exception of "Zaar"
from the Passion project which is also included. Nestled among the songs are a few chestnuts
for the fans, including an alternate, more stripped down, version of
"Here Comes The Flood", the 1985 remix of "I Have The
Touch", and the title cut which was originally featured on a Youssou
N'Dour album. Missing, however, are early favorites like "DIY"
and "On The Air" from the second self-titled album and even
Gabriel's signature classic, "In Your Eyes" from the So
album. In fact, Peter Gabriel's second album and Birdy are
completely overlooked here. Again, the album is a nice introduction for
the casual listener, but 16 Golden Greats leaves much to be desired
as a retrospective of Gabriel's career. I certainly do not discount the
fact that even by this point in his career, creating a one CD highlights
that showcases all of the facets of Peter Gabriel's music is no easy task,
but in my opinion, this album falls a little short.
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Peter
Gabriel - Us |
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WOG
RATING: *****
Peter Gabriel's sixth studio album as a solo artist is among his finest
efforts to date. Us is a conceptual piece about love and
relationships with Gabriel's music emoting all of the desperation, love,
anxiety, libido, compassion, and remorse felt through life's experiences. Us
provided the right mix of all of Gabriel's inspirations. Despite the
intelligence of the material and the interwoven influence of world music,
somehow Gabriel never comes off as pretentious. The music is easy to
relate to and universal in its appeal. The result are songs like
"Steam", "Digging In The Dirt", "Come Talk To
Me", "Blood of Eden", "Fourteen Black Paintings"
and "Secret World" to name just a few of the outstanding cuts. Following-up an album like So, from a
musical and commercial perspective, was no easy task, but Gabriel appears
to pull it off flawlessly here. Us is yet another outstanding
project in the legacy of an artist who continues to prove that innovation
can sometimes come from echoes of the past.
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Peter
Gabriel - Secret World Live |
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WOG
RATING: ***
Peter Gabriel's second live album is a mixed bag of predominantly newer
material recorded while on tour in support of the Us album. To it's
credit, Secret World offers a slightly more diverse set of material
than the slimmed down version of his first live recording, Plays Live.
In addition to the expected songs, we get a couple of album tracks like
"Washing of The Water" and even a few older, less mainstream,
tunes like "Slow Marimbas" and "Across The River." Unfortunately, to the detriment of Secret
World Live, some of the songs don't work extremely well when
transferred to the audio format. For example, the tune "Across The
River" was incredible at the concert with the imagery displayed, but
when listening to just the audio, the song just sounds long, drawn-out,
and frankly, boring. Other tracks sound so touched up in the studio, they
barely sound live at all. Over all, I liked the album, but Secret World
Live is far more enjoyable with the added impact of video.
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Peter
Gabriel - Ovo |
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WOG
RATING: ***
Another conceptual piece, Ovo ushered in the opening of the Millennium
Dome in England. Unlike other Gabriel projects, he enlisted the vocal
assistance of other lead singers including Patrick Buchanan and Elizabeth
Fraser for the roles of characters in Gabriel's generationally inspired yarn.
As such, Peter Gabriel sings lead vocals on only a few tracks on Ovo,
the strongest of which is "Father, Son." Some listeners might not be crazy about the
idea of a Peter Gabriel album that appears to be more of a collection of
songs performed various artists, but the album has quite a few stand-out
tracks, not all of which are sung by Gabriel himself. As an album, it
certainly is not Gabriel's strongest work. In fact, a couple of the tracks
are among his worst. Over all, aside from four or five tracks, Ovo
is a fairly mediocre offering inhibited by the confines of Gabriel's
creative epic tale.
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Peter
Gabriel - Long Walk Home (Rabbit Proof Fence Soundtrack) |
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WOG
RATING: **
Similar to the way Peter Gabriel's Passion, the score for the film The
Last Temptation of Christ, drew upon middle eastern influences to set
the mood of the film, the score for Rabbit Proof Fence feeds on the
influence of aboriginal music for this motion picture set in Australia.
While Gabriel effectively uses the native sounds of this culture to
intensify the atmosphere of the film, the soundtrack is nowhere near as
captivating as Passion. There are a few stand out tracks, but for
the most part, Long Walk Home does not easily grow on the listener.
In fact, despite several listens, it has never really grown on me. Perhaps
more clearly stressing my point, after listening to Passion, I
contemplated exploring other world artists. After getting about two-thirds
of the way through Long Walk Home, I found myself checking to see
how much more of this album I needed to listen to before getting through
it! If you enjoyed Passion, I believe you'll find this album to be
modestly interesting and somewhat enjoyable. On the other hand, if you
found Passion hard to get through or dull, you will find this less
enthralling, practically instrumental, soundtrack album to be even more
painful to endure.
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Peter
Gabriel - Up |
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WOG
RATING: ****
Up, Peter Gabriel's first true solo album in nearly a decade,
proves to be worth the wait. While Up is not a very commercially
accessible album, it evokes moments of some of Gabriel's more
experimental, darker, projects. Tracks like "Darkness" could
have easily fit on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled album, stylistically
speaking. Others, like "Sky Blue" and "The Barry
Williams Show," reflect the panache of his more modern material as
demonstrated by works like So and Us. Interestingly, with the possible exception
of "Signal To Noise," the influence of world music, which played
a significant role in many of Gabriel's past works, is much more subtle
here. What few elements of world music are evident are completely
assimilated into Gabriel's unique sound. Fans of Gabriel's catalog will
embrace Up, but I suspect people who only find his more commercial
projects (like So and Us) appealing may find this disc to be
somewhat of a departure. Although not as 'radio-friendly' as other
projects, Up has many solid tracks. Among the most memorable are: a
new version of "I Grieve" (the original version was featured on The
City of Angels soundtrack), "Sky Blue",
"Darkness", "Don't Leave" and "My Head Sounds
Like That." As one of his earliest promotional pieces stated,
"expect the unexpected" from Peter Gabriel. A truer statement
has never been spoken.
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