Progressive Peter (Peter Gabriel in general)

Member Name: roy_goode

Product:	Peter Gabriel in general
Date:	12/02/01 (452 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent to say the least, great music, now remastered

Disadvantages: Nothing really

Take a listen to Gabriel's music and you will find that a) you will like it, and b) you wouldn't be able to put a date to it. Gabriel writes his music like an engineer designs a product - it lasts forever and it will always be brilliant.
The way that his albums are crafted puts him into another league and separates him from the current Make-A-Noise-And-Call-It-Music bands and "musicians" of today.

Each album features different musical styles and influences - have a quick listen to OVO (which, incidentally, was written and produced for the ill-fated Millennium Dome Experience) - it is extremely well-produced and features a varying range of styles, putting his unique twist to rap, drum and bass, Irish and Indian folk music, rock, dance and so much more that I simply don't have the time to mention.

Gabriel actually began his musical career in Genesis (y'know, the band that Phil Collins played drums in). Gabriel's unique, misinterpreted style later resulted in the band's first split - with Gabriel leaving the band to produce his own solo work. However, Genesis simply wasn't as good when Gabriel left the band (and was irreversibly damaged when Phil Collins left).

His debut album, simply called Peter Gabriel and nicknamed "Car", is very short but features a good range of music. It was released in 1977.

His best album, in my opinion, is his third, called Peter Gabriel III or "Melt". This album is chockful of great tunes - from the hallowing "Intruder" to the absolutely fantastic "Biko" featuring African style rhythms.

No other musician has such a variety of skills as Gabriel - he is a great performer, writer and singer. His singing is top notch.
One thing that is also very notable is that he always gets the song flowing the way it should - it is hard to explain, but the drum patterns and musical arrangements just seem "right" as if Go
d Himself had made the tune in the first place.

His other albums are: Peter Gabriel II "Scratch", Peter Gabriel IV "Security", Birdy Soundtrack, Plays Live, So, Shaking The Tree: The Best Of Peter Gabriel, Passion (the soundtrack for the motion picture "The Last Temptation Of Christ"), Us and Secret World Live.

Peter Gabriel is also the owner, creator and boss of Real World Records, a record company that specialises in alternative, folk, African and, of course, Peter Gabriel releases.

Gabriel is also a believer in Human Rights and campaigns about current issues such as gun violence in America. (A campaign advert can be found on the end of the Secret World Live video release).

For his "So" album, Gabriel recorded a duet with Kate Bush, called "Don't Give Up" and is quite a famous song. You've probably heard it. Another song, called "Sledgehammer", has appeared on many Millennium compilation albums and is a very well known song. This also appeared on "So".

Die-hard Gabriel fans may or may not know that he actually recorded a Beatles song for a late-seventies Beatles classics album, also featuring Elton John and Eric Clapton.

Gabriel recently won an Oscar for his song, "That'll Do", which appeared on the end of the film "Babe: Pig In The City".

In 1999, Peter Gabriel returned to Genesis to perform an extra bonus track, "The Carpet Crawlers 1999", for the greatest hits compilation "Turn It On Again".

In 2000, "Peter Gabriel III" was voted 53rd in Q Magazine's Top 100 Great British Albums Of All Time countdown in the June 2000 edition of the music magazine.

In 2001, Peter Gabriel's Genesis came second place to Pink Floyd in the Progressive Rock chart in Channel 4's Top Ten television series. Also in 2001, "So" came no. 75 in the VH1 100 Gre
atest Albums countdown, while Fatboy Slim's "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" came in at no. 74.

September 2002 saw the launch of "Up", Gabriel's first "proper" album for 10 years. It is absolutely fantastic and it compliments the previous two albums, "Us" and "So", whilst borrowing themes from "OVO" and Rabbit Proof Fence soundtrack "Long Walk Home".

So what's next for Peter? I went to see his performance at the NEC Arena in May 2003 and it was totally out of this world. That is going to be a DVD to buy, and going by the Secret World Live DVD (the most essential Peter Gabriel purchase) it will be executed brilliantly.

Currently in production is Peter's next album, "i/o", which he says will be released in about March 2004.

The summary to my opinion? Buy all of his records. They really are worth the money you pay for them.

Individual ratings:

All of these CDs have been remastered and now they sound better than they ever have done before. The albums most improved by the remastering process are "Peter Gabriel 2" and "Us".

Peter Gabriel 1 - 3 stars
Peter Gabriel 2 - 4 stars
Peter Gabriel 3 - 5 stars
Plays Live - 2 stars
Plays Live Highlights - 3 stars
Peter Gabriel IV "Security" - 4 stars
Birdy Motion Picture Soundtrack - 3 stars
So - 5 stars
Passion - 4 stars
Shaking The Tree - 5 stars
Us - 5 stars
Secret World Live - 5 stars
Secret World Live video - 5 stars
OVO - 5 stars
Long Walk Home - 3 stars
Up - 5 stars
Secret World Live DVD - 5 stars *MUST BUY*

OK bargain hunters - the remastered series of Peter Gabriel albums have just been released to shops at heavily discounted prices. My local record store, FOPP, is selling the whole series for just £5 each. Never has there been so good a time to get into the maste
r that is Peter Gabriel.

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