TS: Peter Gabriel (1) vs Peter Gabriel (2)

(2) is part of Fripp's excellent 'MOR' (interesting definition, there, Bob!) trilogy - others being the aforementioned Exposure, and Daryl Hall's "Sacred Songs". All fine records that do actually work even better in tandem.

More than anything this thread makes me want to listen to both of them tomorrow and see. So, bravo on that count and thanks especially to Alfred for reviving this.

Peter Gabriel 3 (melting face)
Peter Gabriel 1 (wet car)
Security
So
Us
Peter Gabriel 2 (scratching cover)

Gabriel didn't really to into his own as a solo artist until the third album though.

The versions of "On the Air" and "Solsbury Hill" are phenomenal; I own the latter on 45.

And it's...interesting, for sure. Granted I don't own the remaster, but given that we're talking about Peter "Burundi" Gabriel here, the production is almost startlingly 2-D and rock. Fripp's audio verite productions include arrangements where the drums are so dry, it sounds like the whole thing was recorded in a closet with the door shut. The synths sound disarmingly cheap and out of place.

The result is that you're listening almost exclusively to the tunes, which aren't nearly as free and easy as he would later release (though that may be a good thing). Roy Bittan is all over this thing -- he gives "Indigo" a fantastically stompy "Benny and the Jets"-like coda. ("I'm going away/See you again someDAY!!"). "Mother of Violence" is the kind of intimate "hold me" song he would try a hundred times later in his career, and each time with less subtlety -- this one's really delicate and floaty, particularly the ending scat. "White Shadow" is prob. the proggiest thing on it, with an atmospheric progression, a great Fripp guitar solo and this couplet: "No one knew if the spirit died/All wrapped to go like Kentucky Fried" -- God knows what the hell it's about.

Not everything works. "A Wonderful Day In A One-Way World" is prob. his first world music excursion in that it's a rather embarrassing reggae. But one gets the sense that you learn more about Peter Gabriel and his aesthetic in this setting than you do with his Real World messianic business.

I wish I had both I and II on cheap vinyl right now to play, but sadly not.

i. have. thee. touch.

i've been listening to plays live for 30 years, how is it true? i can remember this song making the shelves in my dorm room shake starting at the 2:20 mark. and now, with the headphones on, this song still feels like the sun coming up for me. so much clarity and space in the production, too.

really, it's the only pg album is still listen to much at all.

wow these first two are really sort of a mess, aren't they? 2 is definitely better than 1, I just can't tolerate a few of the above-referenced "genre exercises" on 1.

the high points on 1 are a lot higher--Moribund, Solsbury, Here Comes The Flood. maybe the relative badness of the other tracks help those tracks stand out more than the highlights on 2, which is more consistent experience.

yeah those three are def the keepers on 1. Humdrum is allright too

2 all the way, it is one of my fave Peter Gabriel albums. 'White Shadow' is a major reason for that, but I'm also especially keen on 'Flotsam and Jetsam' and the version of 'Exposure' on this album.

It's strange to hear Gabriel aping Springsteen (or is it Meatloaf?) on some of these tunes. The debut is his best album cover, though.

I don't mind the excesses of the first album; the uniformity of the second is a bigger bother.

The debut is his best album cover, though

def

very Ballardian vibe to that one

So is his best album sleeve wtf

Creepy as fuck. Lynchian in its B&W posed normality.

I prefer the production of the debut - as I would being a fan of Bob Ezrin's production style in general, but I find the sound of the second LP a little thin and anaemic.

Weren’t the sleeves designed by Sleazy from Coil?

Like, 'White Shadow' is one of my favourite Gabriel solo tracks, but the bottom end feels like it should be thicker, and I'm not taken with the drum sound. It's a shame, because I like a lot of stuff on the second LP - the opening couple of songs, 'White Shadow', even things like 'Exposure' ...

It would be harder for me to choose between the third and fourth albums, tbh. The fourth LP has my favourite sleeve.

'Wallflower' was the most beautiful thing he'd recorded since 'The Lamia' ...

Weren’t the sleeves designed by Sleazy from Coil?

I think he was involved with the car window one, which is indeed the best.

That's Sleazy's car too.

Melt is certainly the best sleeve, on the grounds that it made me trepidatious upon entering record stores for two years lest I encounter its gaze and inspired my later, anachronistic, woefully expensive Polaroid habit (and they don't make manipulable film anymore). All of the sleeves prior to Us are good, though!

how did i never before notice Peter Gabriel Sings The Blues on 'waiting for the big one'???

amazing. i guess there was a moment there when everyone thought they could be bryan ferry

I don't know if that's it so much as many of the British rock musicians having a similar affinity for '60s American r&b and soul.

you can have an affinity for the blues without trying to sing it

the piano is cool on that one idc