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PETER GABRIEL






ABOUT

PETER GABRIEL

...from Stephen Thomas Erlewine



Peter Gabriel combines the theatricality of his time as the leader of Genesis in the early '70s with widely appealing sounds and songwriting, making him an international star with the credibility of a cult hero. With his eponymous debut solo album in 1977, he explored dark, cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The record, as well as its two similarly titled successors, established Gabriel as a critically acclaimed solo artist, and with 1982's Security, he began to move into the mainstream; "Shock the Monkey" became his first Top 40 hit, paving the way for his breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single "Sledgehammer," So became a multi-platinum hit. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, Gabriel founded the Real World label, which proved an invaluable channel for international artists of every stripe to ply their trade. All this and his shepherding of political causes such as Amnesty International gained him a reputation as a true nobleman of the pop world, a role he has continued to fill well into the 21st century, as he toiled on i/o, his eighth album of original material that finally appeared in 2023, 21 years after Up.

Following his departure from Genesis in 1976, Peter Gabriel began work on the first of three consecutive eponymously titled albums; each record was named Peter Gabriel, he said, as if they were editions of the same magazine. In 1977, his first solo album appeared and became a moderate success due to the single "Solsbury Hill." Another self-titled record followed in 1978, yet received comparatively weaker reviews. Gabriel's third eponymous album proved to be his artistic breakthrough, however. Produced by Steve Lillywhite and released in 1980, the record established Gabriel as one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political -- "Biko," a song about a murdered anti-apartheid activist, became one of the biggest protest anthems of the '80s. "Games Without Frontiers," with its eerie chorus, nearly reached the Top 40.

Birdy
In 1982, Gabriel released Security, which was an even bigger success, earning positive reviews and going gold on the strength of the startling video for "Shock the Monkey." Just as his solo career was taking off, Gabriel participated in a one-shot Genesis reunion in order to finance his WOMAD -- World of Music, Arts and Dance -- Festival. WOMAD was designed to bring various world musics and customs to a Western audience, and it soon turned into an annual event, and a live double album was released that year to commemorate the event. As Gabriel worked on his fifth album, he contributed the soundtrack to Alan Parker's 1984 film Birdy. His score was highly praised and it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes that year. After founding Real World, Inc. -- a corporation devoted to developing bridges between technology and multi-ethnic arts -- in 1985, he completed his fifth album, So.

Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ
Released in 1986, So became Gabriel's commercial breakthrough, largely because his Stax homage "Sledgehammer" was blessed with an innovative video that combined stop-action animation with live action. So climbed to number two as "Sledgehammer" hit number one, with "Big Time" -- featuring a video very similar to "Sledgehammer" -- reaching the Top Ten and "In Your Eyes" hitting the Top 30. As So was riding high on the American and British charts, Gabriel co-headlined the first benefit tour for Amnesty International in 1986 with Sting and U2. Another Amnesty International Tour followed in 1988, and the following year, Gabriel released Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, a collection of instrumentals used in Martin Scorsese's film. Passion was the furthest Gabriel delved into worldbeat, and the album was widely acclaimed, winning the Grammy Award in 1989 for Best New Age Performance. In 1990, he released the hits compilation Shaking the Tree.

Us
Gabriel labored long on the pop music follow-up to So, finally releasing Us in the spring of 1992. During the recording of Us, Gabriel went through a number of personal upheavals, including a painful divorce, and those tensions manifested themselves on Us, a much darker record than So. For various reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was released six years after its predecessor, Us wasn't as commercially successful as So, despite positive reviews. Only one single, the "Sledgehammer" knockoff "Steam," reached the Top 40, and the album stalled at platinum sales. In 1993, Gabriel embarked on the most ambitious WOMAD tour to date, touring the United States with a roster including Crowded House, James, and Sinéad O'Connor, with whom he had an on-off romantic relationship. The following year, he released the double-disc Secret World Live, which went gold. Later in 1994, he released the CD-ROM Xplora, one of many projects he developed with Real World. For the rest of the decade, Gabriel concentrated on developing more multimedia projects for the company and working on a new studio album.

Big Blue Ball
Up was released in 2002, a full decade after Gabriel's last studio effort. Dense, cerebral, and often difficult, the record peaked at number nine but failed to sell well in America. It fared slightly better in Canada, where it went gold. He then turned his attention to a host of different projects, although the release of Big Blue Ball -- a compilation of collaborative performances recorded at Real World Studios during the '90s -- helped placate fans while Gabriel focused his energies elsewhere. He eventually returned to the studio for another album, 2010's Scratch My Back, which featured orchestral covers of songs originally performed by Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, David Bowie, and others. Gabriel uncharacteristically delivered the sequel to Scratch My Back quickly, releasing New Blood -- a collection of orchestral reinterpretations of his own songs -- in the fall of 2011. The following year, Gabriel held a lavish celebration of the 25th anniversary of So, releasing several deluxe editions of the record -- the largest being a four-CD, two-DVD, two-vinyl box -- and launching the Back to Front tour, where he played So in its entirety.

Rated PG
In 2014, Gabriel was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act, joining Genesis, which had been inducted four years earlier. He also released the concert album Back to Front: Live in London that year. Gabriel rounded up a bunch of his stray songs in 2019 via the compilations Rated PG and Flotsam and Jetsam; the former contained songs he gave to films, the latter focused on B-sides and non-LP tracks. After a 2022 appearance on the Blue Note-issued Leonard Cohen tribute, Here It Is, Gabriel kicked off 2023 with "Panopticon," the first single from his next studio album, i/o, an album he began in the early 2000s, not long after the release of Up. Over the course of two decades, Gabriel steadily worked on the record, taking the occasional break to pursue other projects or tend to personal affairs. He finally finished the twelve songs comprising i/o in early 2022, then spent the course of 2023 doling out the tracks as a series of singles while touring the material all before the December release of the full album.















Hi friends

2023 Work in Progress..ive



These are my best tracks of 2023


Track Title-Group or Artist-Album

I'm Done with You-RIVERSIDE-ID.ENTITY

Life Lines-SUNCHILD-Exotic Creatures and a Stolen Dream

Scanning The Dark Horizon-JOHN IRVINE-Scanning The Dark Horizon

Memories in a Box-SINGLE CELLED ORGANISM-EVENT HORIZON

To_find_the_light_part_two-GREAT WIDE NOTHING-Hymns for Hungry Spirits, Vol. II

Ghosts From The Future-OVERHEAD-Telepathic Minds (Disc 1)

King_of_the_world-RPWL-Crime Scene(Disc 1)

No Man's Land-TNNE-LIFE 3.0

Mysterious Forest, Pt. 1-KARFAGEN-Passage to the Forest of Mysterious

Something New-MARTIN MILLER-Maze of My Mind

Kill_the_sun_and_the_moon_and_the_stars-THE BLACK CAT'S EYE-The Empty Space Between A Seamount And Shock​-​Headed Julia

Gargantuan.(Part One)-AMPLIFIER-Hologram

The Beauty and the Least-MYSTERY-Redemption

Scratches-INNER PROSPEKT-Canvas Three

All Connected-YES-Mirror to the sky

Summer Lies Beyond-COMEDY OF ERRORS-THRENODY FOR A DEAD QUEEN

The Sacred Law of Retribution-TRITOP-RISE OF KASSANDRA

Ingravita-BUHO ERMITANO-IMPLOSIONES

Danger-ELOY-ECHOES FROM THE PAST

Naturens katedral-LARS FREDRIK FRØISLIE-FIRE FORTELLINGER

Ur askan-AGUSA-PRIMA MATERIA

The 11th Chapter: The Nine, including a) The Fire (pt II​)​, b) A Nonagon in Eight -RING VAN MÖBIUS-Commissioned Works Pt II - Six Drops of Poison

Journey to the Center of the Mind -MARCO RAGNI-HALLUCINATORY EMBRYO

Poker -I VIAGGI DI MADELEINE-TRA LUCE E OMBRA

The Gathering-SKY PASSAGE-The Gathering

Moving Through Tomorrow-SOUTHERN EMPIRE-Another World

Tell Me-KARMAMOI-STRINGS FROM THE EDGE OF SOUND

Liquid Suite-LA BOCCA DELLA VERITA-[Un​]​connected

Stronghold -THE FLOWER KINGS-LOOK AT YOU NOW

Helen-UNITOPIA-SEVEN CHAMBERS

Actual Brutal Facts-STEVEN WILSON-THE HARMONY CODEX

A Hymn for the Pioneers-SYNTH REPLICANTS-Time of Legends

Push-TREVOR RABIN-Rio

Labyrinthus-IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO-Lemures

Hydra-SEVEN IMPALE-Summit

The River-THIS WINTER MACHINE-The Clockwork man

Lotus Unfolding-OZRIC TENTACLES-Lotus Unfolding

i/o -PETER GABRIEL-I/O


































i/o-PETER GABRIEL
https://petergabriel.bandcamp.com/tr...ght-side-mix-3





GOOD LISTENING