TS: Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" vs "Steam"

"Steam," OTOH, whatever the virtues of its keyboard sound, sounds distinctly like a sop thrown to the airwaves. It's "Sledgehammer" all over again, but with an archly raised eyebrow in place of the original's soul. And unlike, say, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel is at his best when he lets the mask drop, even if only to show the face behind the face.

I'll be interested to see how this shakes out, given that the PG I hear and the one Alfred hears seem to be very different artists. Which is to say, until you hear why Us >> So, it may be harder to hear why "Sledgehammer" >>>>>> "Steam."

I kick' the habit (kick' the habit)
Shed my skin (SHED!mahskin)
This is the new stuff etc etc etc...

But since the discussion has turned to albums (heh; I should have titled this "TS: So vs US"), I'll posit that So is the better record. It's also one of the best accomodations to mainstream production values by an underground artist in rock history. There's nothing dated about it either. Moreover, even if you're sick of the three big hits, album tracks like "That Voice Again," "Mercy Street," and "We Do What We're Told" are exemplary songs.

This is the bit that's completely wrong. The troublesome word is "never". I think your position is better stated in your followup post.

Precisely! Talk about a man for whom therapy was a disaster on his songwriting.

Umm, I think you meant flashing his frog on US.

Only if you take "songwriting" to mean "hitmaking." I don't see the big fall-off between e.g. "Here Comes The Flood" or "Wallflower" or "I Have The Touch" and e.g. "Digging In The Dirt" or "No Way Out" or "Secret World" or "More Than This."

Peter Gabriel has ALWAYS been about unairable album tracks. To acknowledge that Alfred is pretty well OTM about So's accessibility and durability doesn't change that. (Though I'm waiting for his defense of "Excellent Birds.")

sometimes i think the mask is all he's got

I'm not suggesting that there isn't always another mask - the more intimate voice that he's cultivated for the past 15 years or so has sacrificed none of the abstraction or unexpected framing that make his earlier solo work so compelling. But to play this through, you have to be willing to make the case against "Biko."

In any case, "Steam" still blows unwashed donkeys in an unlit back alley in Tijuana.

Dude, that track is excellent! It's simultaneously bonkers and accessible!

Pete's best songs are the ones where he just goes "yo, my dick!"
-- miccio, July 15th, 2005 12:29 PM

Steam is just less of a mess to me.

The color in your shirt is darkening
Against the paleness of your skin
I remember how you held the goldfish
Swimming around in a plastic bag
[sweet, sweet bass line here]
Swimming around in a plastic bag...
You held it up so high
In the bright lights of the fair...
It slipped and fell
We looked everywhere

Don't leave us
Don't leave like this

Hm? Hm?

YMMV, but "No Way Out" seems to do what you're asking pretty gracefully. Psychological realism, effortless asynchrony, and one of the most elegant metaphors I've found in pop music or in lit for the soul's departure from the body and the loss of those left behind.

Roger: Sorry, but post-So Gabriel (w/the exception of Passion) has largely been a dull, vacant affair. Up is an indefensible slog: turgid, interminable songs which suggest that Gabriel's entered a permanent midlife crisis. Maybe writing three-minute pop songs which might or might not have been hits doesn't interest him anymore, or he's unable to write them. Either way his music has suffered.

"The more intimate voice that he's cultivated for the past 15 years or so has sacrificed none of the abstraction" - yes, but he has sacrificed specificity.

Also: to acknowledge there isn't a difference - sonically, lyrically, length-wise - between "Here Comes The Flood," "Intruder," "No Self-Control," "I Have the Touch"; and "More Than This," "Love To Be Loved," and "I Grieve" is to follow paradigms I can never have.

I never thought otherwise - just teasing ;-)

And I'd never suggest that there isn't a difference between early, mid, and late-career PG. I just don't hear in "Intruder" the songwriting genius (lord, those precious vocals) that "Blood Of Eden" fails to recapture. (Ditto "Games Without Frontiers," for that matter.)

btw, of the songs you list, it's worth noting that all but one ("I Grieve") are shorter than "Steam."

Taking sides: "Steam" vs "The Barry Williams Show." It's a battle of the commercial sops!

But either < "I Have the Touch."

I forgot that the "Steam" video briefly presents Peter as a lecherous armchair.

I end up watching this video four or five times a year and it's still a fresh bouquet of WTF every time.

i had never seen the "steam" video until now and... LOL

I believe the Steam video was directed by the guy who did Lawnmower Man.

ahahahahahahaha

am i crazy or does 'steam' sound a little like 'i heard it through the grapevine'?

no it does. so does sledgehammer (sledgehammer maybe more so); gabriel was a big fan of marvin gaye (I'm pretty sure he used to do 'aint that peculiar' live, or maybe it was 'grapevine', can't remember).

SHAKUHACHI MOTHERFUCKERS!

Where can I get a purple pimp suit like the one Peter wears in the "Steam" video?

http://www.joke.co.uk/purple-pimp-costume-hat~63450/
http://img.joke.co.uk/images/products/jmw-v3/zoomthumb/63450.png

That's... not quite the same one.

Tickle The Frog

https://youtu.be/JgYlsEbkEH8?t=8m31s