Peter Gabriel Us

Peter Gabriel Album Reviews

Leaving Genesis after six albums, at the age of 25, Peter Gabriel’s solo career initially felt like an attempt to distance himself from his former band. It took him a couple of albums to find his feet, but his third self-titled album, known as Melt, established him as an innovative solo artist and also revealed his interests in political activism, notably the closing track ‘Biko’.

Introduction

From Melt, Gabriel went from strength to strength, achieving a deserved commercial breakthrough with So in 1986. Following 1992’s excellent Us, his career has largely plateaued, with only one additional studio album at the time of writing, 2002’s worthy but flawed Up.

After appearing as quintessentially English in Genesis, Gabriel’s explored world music in his solo career, integrating it successfully into his own sound. His husky voice is a major asset, and even if he’s not a technically impressive musician, he’s a skilled arranger and producer.

I’ve covered all of his studio albums to date, but I’ve skipped over a couple of soundtracks – 1985’s Birdy, which is partly instrumental reworkings of previous songs, and 2002’s Long Walk Home – as well as orchestral albums like New Blood and Scratch My Back.

Peter Gabriel Album Reviews

Favourite Album: Peter Gabriel (Melt)
Overlooked Gem: Us

Peter Gabriel (Car)

Peter Gabriel 1 Car

1977, 7/10
No doubt anxious to establish his distinct identity apart from Genesis, Gabriel takes on a bewildering pastiche of styles on his solo debut. Due to this, it’s difficult to make generalisations about this record because of its scattershot nature – it definitely has its moments, but as a whole it’s tentative and uncertain. American producer Bob Ezrin adds a radio-friendly sheen, which confuses matters even more – the album veers between vying for mainstream acceptance and more self-consciously complex material.

The best tracks are those that stick closest to 1970’s Genesis; the opening progressive rock of ‘Moribund The Burgermeister’ showcases Gabriel’s theatrics, and the biographical ‘Solsbury Hill’ (with Robert Fripp’s ending guitar pyrotechnics) recalls Genesis’ acoustic tendencies. The closing epic ‘Here Comes The Flood’ is in similar territory, although its grandiose arrangement recalls Queen more than Genesis. On the opposite end of the scale, the texturally driven, low-key ‘Humdrum’ is the best precursor for Gabriel’s subsequent solo path. In between these high points, there are some less successful genre experiments; ‘Waiting For The Big One’ is the worst offender, featuring an irritating blues riff endlessly repeated, while the barbershop quartet on ‘Excuse Me’ is a bizarre choice.

In Genesis Gabriel often wrote in allegory, and relied on his band-mates for musical support; as a solo artist his debut finds him shakily finding his own feet and personal voice. There are individual gems like ‘Moribund The Burgermeister’ and ‘Here Comes The Flood’, but Gabriel doesn’t sustain excellence for an entire album.


Peter Gabriel (Scratch)

Peter Gabriel 2 Scratch

1978, 6/10
Scratch continues an indecisive beginning to Peter Gabriel’s solo career. Instead of every song shooting off in a different direction like the debut, this sophomore album tends towards anonymous faceless rock. Despite the contributions of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, who produces and plays guitar, and bassist Tony Levin, both idiosyncratic virtuosos who you’d expect to add personality to the project, Scratch often sounds like a mainstream late 1970s rock album. Fripp insisted of a fast recording process, at odds with Gabriel’s usually meticulous approach, while Gabriel’s vocals are also unusual – his voice is low in the mix and harsher than usual.

Scratch has its moments; the pair of opening singles are both strong, and largely forgotten from the Gabriel catalogue; ‘On The Air’ uses a Who-like synth loop and crashing guitars, while ‘D.I.Y.’ has a great bass riff. ‘White Shadow’ is easily my favourite song here; the mainstream rock sound actually helps the song, with haunting synthesizer tones, dramatic piano punctuation, and a memorable guitar riff in the chorus. It’s noticeably more intricate than most of the other material, and could almost have fitted on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. The other great song here is ‘Exposure’, built around Fripp’s soundscapes and a memorable Levin bass-line – it’s weird and inventive in a way that most of these other songs aren’t. Elsewhere, songs like ‘Indigo’ could have been interesting with better arrangements, but tend towards generic under the unhelpful arrangements and production.

Gabriel would find a more compelling direction with his next album, rescuing a career that was quickly sliding into irrelevance.


Peter Gabriel (Melt)

Peter Gabriel 3 Melt

1980, 9/10
Melt still sounds edgy and vital. While the cast of musicians is largely similar to before, enlisting hot young U2 producer Steve Lillywhite and arranging cameos from young stars Paul Weller and Kate Bush push Gabriel into the forefront of popular music. His sound palette has shifted markedly from the previous record; there are harder guitars in ‘No Self Control’ and ‘And Through The Wire’, and a more minimalist aesthetic on other tracks like ‘Lead A Normal Life’ and ‘Start’. Even more pronounced is the emphasis on rhythm; instead of the world music influence that would dominate his later work, it’s just innovative drumming and drum machine programming. This album pioneered the gated reverb sound and the use of a cymbal-less drum kit; a device that would soon be overused, but which sounds fresh and terrific on these arty tracks. For music that’s so totally immersed in synthesizers and drum machines, Melt holds up surprisingly well today. While Gabriel’s lyrics were uncertain on his first two albums, here he hooks into much more interesting themes.

The gated reverb on Phil Collins’ drum kit announces the first track, ‘Intruder’, setting the album’s tone of paranoia and isolation with its creepy, rhythmic attack and dark lyrics (“I like you lying awake/Your bated breath charging the air”). ‘No Self-Control’ and ‘I Don’t Remember’ raise the intensity even further, with heavy guitars and Gabriel’s vocals almost unhinged.

The two key tracks depart from the theme of personal paranoia – ‘Family Snapshot’ takes the character of an assassin desperate for attention, and even though it’s piano-based like much of the previous album, it’s emotionally charged and makes use of space and atmosphere much more effectively. ‘Biko’ shows the first influence of world music on a Peter Gabriel record, and its minimal lyrics document Stephen Biko’s cause more effectively than a verbose writer would.

Bush appears on the single ‘Games Without Frontiers’ and it’s another winner with its off-kilter feel, abstract lyrics and whistling. All the second-tier tracks are effective – the brief instrumental ‘Start’ is a key part of the album’s flow, ‘And Through The Wire’ rocks, while the minimalism of ‘Lead A Normal Life’ is mournful and affecting.

Melt is a landmark release, finally giving Gabriel’s career some direction and establishing a new masterpiece in his canon, one that’s as strong as his best work in Genesis but completely different in character.


Peter Gabriel (Security)

Peter Gabriel 4 Security

1982, 8/10
Gabriel takes the innovations of Melt further on his followup effort. While Melt had a largely rock feel, with loud guitars and faster tempos, Security is sedate, with half of the songs running past six minutes and dominated by slowly shifting textures and heavy use of synthesizers. With the long running times, and reliance on synthesizers, Security can be a hard album to take; some of the tracks have a long build-up for a relatively short climax, as both ‘The Rhythm Of The Heat’ and ‘Wallflower’ build slowly to rhythmic punches that only kick in for their final sections. Regardless, Security is easily one of Gabriel’s most intriguing records; the long tracks allow him time to explore his ideas fully and at least half of these eight songs rank alongside his very best.

Namely, ‘San Jacinto’ tells the story of a Native American rite of passage, drawing parallels with the decline of the civilization as it’s absorbed by modern culture, slowly building ominous synthesisers, then breaking into cathartic guitars. Opener ‘The Rhythm Of The Heat’ is brilliantly titled, and the music lives up to that with a trance-like buildup and sudden release. ‘I Have The Touch’ is punchy and direct with rhythmic, brash lyrics (“I’m waiting for ignition, I’m looking for a spark/Any chance collision and I light up in the dark”). Best of all, ‘Wallflower’, dedicated to a political prisoner, shares the same kind of emotional territory that ‘Don’t Give Up’ murders on the next album, but here it’s an absolute winner with Gabriel repeating the phrase “hold on” while his voice croaks endearing, and hitting a moment of transcendence with the gorgeous synth melody just before the drums kick in. Of the other upbeat songs, ‘Shock The Monkey’ is a nice enough single but ‘Kiss Of Life’ suffers from the synthetic arrangements in a way that the other songs don’t and would have benefited from a more organic treatment.

I wouldn’t begin a musical acquaintance with Gabriel through Security – it’s dense and slow moving – but this is some of his most in-depth and interesting material, and any serious fan who doesn’t mind large helpings of 1980s synth is going to lap it up.


Birdy

1985, not rated
I’ve never heard this all-instrumental soundtrack album. It was Gabriel’s first record with producer Daniel Lanois, and half of the tracks are instrumental reworkings of songs from Gabriel’s two previous records.


So

Peter Gabriel So

1986, 8/10
Gabriel followed his former band-mates from Genesis to mainstream success with 1986’s So, his most popular and commercially oriented album; signs of his new direction include an actual album title, extravagant music videos (‘Sledgehammer’) and a smoldering portrait shot on the front sleeve.

These songs are simpler and more direct than before; there’s material like the straightforward love song ‘In Your Eyes’ and the faux-Motown groove of ‘Sledgehammer’, showing Gabriel’s ability to write effective pop songs. Opener ‘Red Rain’ strikes a balance between artiness and accessibility, and ‘Big Time’ is an interesting commentary on 1980s values. Among the album tracks ‘Mercy Street’ is beautiful and ‘That Voice Again’ is driving and urgent. More problematic is ‘Don’t Give Up’ a sappy, overwrought duet with Kate Bush, while the record as a whole feels disjointed with a marked contrast between the up-tempo singles and the moodier album tracks.

For better or worse, So is the Gabriel album that the general public are most acquainted with – while he’s made stronger records, there’s plenty of substance here.


Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ

passion-music-for-the-last-temptation-of-christ-peter-gabriel

1989, 8/10
Passion is the soundtrack from the Martin Scorcese film The Last Temptation Of Christ. While Gabriel had dabbled in world music previously, this is his first full excursion, rooted in North African sounds, but using musicians from as far away as Ghana, India and New Guinea, and helping the careers of vocalists Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N’Dour. There’s plenty of musical input from Gabriel himself; while he rarely uses his voice, he’s playing percussion, bass and keyboard parts, and it’s the subtle collision of Western and African musical values that makes the record’s musical palette compelling.

While there are a few tracks that don’t do much more than make spooky background noises, there are plenty of truly memorable parts that make this one of Gabriel’s stronger albums, including the haunting flute in ‘Of These Hope’, the building tension of ‘The Feeling Begins’ and the piano melody of ‘It Is Accomplished’. The pretty ‘With This Love’ sounds like it comes from a Western church tradition, a link which the choral reprise reiterates. And a couple of the pieces rank alongside Gabriel’s best songs – the dramatic violin of ‘Zaar’ (based on a traditional Egyptian rhythm that was used to ward off evil spirits) and the majestic ‘A Different Drum’, where Gabriel’s voice soars after escalating tension from the percussion loops and Youssou N’Dour’s vocals.

Although it’s a soundtrack, Passion is an essential part of Gabriel’s discography.


Shaking The Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats

Peter Gabriel Shaking The Tree

1990, not rated
Gabriel’s an album artist, and you should grab the original albums, but the non-album tracks on this compilation – the solo piano remake of ‘Here Comes The Flood’ and the title track – are well worth hearing.


Us

Peter Gabriel Us

1992, 8.5/10
Peter Gabriel’s solo output slowed considerably after the early 1980s. It took him six years to follow So with Us, while Us‘ successor Up took a further ten years. Gabriel’s painstaking efforts are fully justified in the results of Us, with evidence in its tight construction and many layers of sound.

Us is Gabriel’s divorce album, so there’s a strong emotional undercurrent. There’s an inherent pain and loneliness to ‘Come Talk to Me’ and ‘Love to be Loved’, captured by Gabriel’s expressive voice. Parallels with Adam and Eve haunt ‘Blood of Eden’ and ‘Secret World’, while a Biblical image of cleansing is referred to in ‘Washing of the Water’.

Gabriel also doesn’t neglect to provide accessible entry points to Us; ‘Steam’ is the obvious single, driven by Levin’s bass line, but ‘Digging in the Dirt’ and the phallic ‘Kiss that Frog’ are also upbeat and catchy. Us is a coherent album with a consistent ambient world beat atmosphere, although there’s ample variation in the form of the upbeat material and the country flavoured ‘Washing of the Water’. Other highlights include the gorgeous ‘Blood of Eden’ and the satisfying closer ‘Secret World’. The only real fault with Us is that some of the material is a little uninteresting: ‘Fourteen Black Paintings’ and ‘Love To Be Loved’ have nice atmosphere, but don’t justify their long running times as well as the rest of the songs.

Despite these flaws Us is an immensely fulfilling album, and ranks as Gabriel’s most underrated effort.


Ovo

Peter Gabriel Ovo

2000, 7.5/10
Peter Gabriel was commissioned to contribute music for a multimedia show at London’s Millennium Dome. The dome was created for exhibitions celebrating the new millennium, but was unsuccessful and was re-purposed into an entertainment complex. Only twenty minutes of Gabriel’s music was used in the show, but the CD soundtrack is an hour long.

At the time Ovo was considered a stopgap as fans looked forward to Up, but in retrospect it stands as Gabriel’s best-realised record of the 21st century. Of all his soundtracks, it’s the most like a studio album, with most of the songs featuring vocals. The vocals aren’t always Gabriel’s; while the band features Gabriel regulars like Tony Levin, Manu Katché, and David Rhodes, Gabriel shares vocals with Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Paul Buchanan (The Blue Nile), Neneh Cherry, and Richie Havens. The other choices of male singer are unusual – Havens and Buchanan are both husky voiced like Gabriel, and there’s not much contrast between them.

The trip-hop rhythms and the dabbling in world music, like the fiddle on ‘The Time of Turning’, date the album to the 1990s, but Ovo is still often very good. ‘The Tower That Ate People’ is funky and menacing, while ‘Father, Son’ and ‘Downside-Up’ are as emotionally resonant as Peter Gabriel is at his best.

It’s a soundtrack, but there’s enough of a song-based Peter Gabriel album on Ovo that fans shouldn’t overlook it.


Long Walk Home

2002, not rated
This soundtrack to the movie Rabbit Proof Fence is the most significant discography gap on this page – I’ve seen the movie, but haven’t heard the soundtrack.


Up

Peter Gabriel Up

2002, 6.5/10
On his 21st-century studio albums, Gabriel allows his perfectionist tendencies to overwhelm him – the title Up was announced in 1998, but the album didn’t emerge until four years later, ten years after Us. The material was obsessively reworked and selected from 150 songs that Gabriel had in various stages of recording. While the album shows plenty of craftsmanship, it’s essentially a bunch of seven-minute songs that often outstay their welcome, and it can be hard to sit through in its entirety.

The first two songs are strong – ‘Darkness’ explodes out of the speakers full of foreboding and atmosphere, while ‘Growing Up’ is the most accessible pop song, with its “my ghost likes to travel” hook. Up also ends strongly; ‘Signal To Noise’ is the most ambitious piece with its chanting (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was overdubbed posthumously) while the brief ‘The Drop’ is a pretty solo piano piece that closes proceedings nicely. In between, there’s a single that felt dated on arrival with the ‘The Barry Williams Show’ and a smattering of moody pieces.

Up is painstaking, and it has its merits – but you need to be a dedicated Peter Gabriel fan to wade through it.


I/O

2023, 7.5/10
Like Up, Gabriel started I/O in the mid-1990s. It finally arrived in 2023, nearly three decades later. Even its release schedule took a long time. Gabriel released a new single every full moon for a year, before releasing the full album.

I/O was Gabriel’s first album to top the UK charts since So. It’s close in spirit to that 1986 record, with world textures augmenting accessible pop/rock songs. Each song comes in two mixes, a light-side and dark-side version, making an already 66-minute record twice as long.

I/O outstays its welcome at times. And occasionally it dips into uncharacteristically Hallmark sentiments, like ‘Love Can Heal’. But it’s often very strong, regardless. The title track recalls the joy and punchiness of his So singles. The opener ‘Panopticorn’ is another catchy track, while there’s depth on the anguished ‘Four Kinds of Horses’.

I/O is an impressive effort from a septuagenarian.

Ten Favourite Peter Gabriel Songs

Secret World
San Jacinto
Sledgehammer
Wallflower
Biko
Solsbury Hill
In Your Eyes
A Different Drum
Blood Of Eden
Signal To Noise

Back to 1980s Reviews…

9 Comments

  1. Peter was one of my favorite artists back in the day. His work with Genesis set the hook and his solo work just deepened it. I lost contact on his later work but planning to catch up. His first few solos are some of my favorites. Good artist to feature in CB’s musical world.

    • I’m not that convinced on anything after Us – I really like everything from Melt in 1980 to Us in 1992. I imagine as a Fripp fan you really like the second album?

      • Being a Crimson and Genesis fan I thought it was a good match with Peter and Robert and was excited about the creativity. I ate those first albums up. I’ll drop a few more comments on the individual albums.

  2. As a big Genesis PG era fan I discovered his solo career later and decided to give it a shot chronologically ( I was of course familiar with hits from So and Us , it was difficult to not hear it on radio here and there during the late 80’s and early 90’s).

    PG 1 : An absolutely great collection of soft progressive songs, two straightforward rockers, and even a bit of folk with Solsbury Hill ( which always reminded me of Simon& Garfunkel’s Cecilia mashed up with Dust in the Wind by Kansas….). It’s an “exercise de style”, but a great one. I never understood critics’ saying it lacked direction…Its whole purpose was to be like that, a melting pot of idea’s. Also one thing people tend to underestimate with Gabriel is his lyrics, they’re always on top. Excuse Me is a joke, and Waiting on a Big One is a blues pastiche…PG even tries his best at sounding like a cross between Ray Charles and Randy Newman on those two songs. They are fillers , but good ones. The musicians are top-notch ( Fripp + Alice Cooper’s backing band), but Ezrin’s production is a little bit too bombastic perhaps on some of the cuts. But it’s a minor flaw. I’ll easily give that album a 9/10.

    PG 2 : In an odd way this PG’s album I come back to the most often. At first hearing it’s just a collection of a straightforward songs, a document of what rock sounded like circa 1978. But it has layers to it that are deeper than one can think. On the Air, DIY , and Perspective are a wink to punk, and are terrific rockers. Exposure and White Shadow are a bit more experimental , with a cosmic solo from Fripp on the latter. The rest of it is a collection of very nicely crafted songs, with some of his best ballads ( Mother of Violence); It has a very dark and melancholic feeling to it overall, and as always his lyrics are top-notch.To summarise : it’s like a radio friendly record made by non radio friendly artists, some of you may not like it , I love it. 10/10.

    PG 3 : Okay, I understand why this album is so highly regarded , but i simply don’t like its aesthetics , too new(cold?)-wave for my tastes…I understand how innovative it may be or was…and that it is his landmark album. I simply don’t like it. No-Self Control , I don’t Remember and Not One Of Us are perhaps the songs I hate the most in his catalogue . it’s perhaps the mannerism in his singing, the simplistic beat and guitars , the stripped down cold sound, the skeletal drumming ( just put some cymbals here and there and a warmer snare !!!). And that freaking bridge on No Self Control is like a cold shower after an interesting beggining. Biko and Family Snapshot bores me to death. The only cuts I really enjoy on it is Intruder, Start, Games without frontiers and Through the Wire, a bit too few to enjoy this album … Maybe it’s only a matter of taste but I’ll give it a 5/10, because I only enjoy half of the album . Btw I heard some early cuts of those songs and they sounded way better circa 1979. So it must be my dislike of early 80’s British sound.

    PG 4 : I like this album. I really enjoy the two opening tracks , Rhythm of the Heat and San Jacinto…I even dig the experimental Family and the Fishing Net, Wallflower is a beautiful track. I have the Touch and Shock the Monkey are ok, a bit too repetitive and sound very very dated, like a cliché from early 80’s. I agree with you that Kiss of Life should have received a more organic treatment, other than that it’s a way better song than Shock the Monkey . 7/10

    PLAYS LIVE : The cuts from 3rd &4th albums (especially the 4th) are done with a great emotional impact, and some of the versions are even better than the originals ( San Jacinto). The songs from 1st and 2nd albums sound like crap. Must be those damn early 80’s ! 6/10

    So : A strong , mature and confident album . Not his best , not his worst. Half of it is radio friendly, half of it not so much. It sounds a bit dated today , very cliché of what pop music sounded circa 86 . Especially on tracks like Sledgehammer and especially on Big Time. I’ll give it 7/10

    PASSION : A very strong effort but i don’t really have other things to say other than I enjoy it once in a while. 8/10

    Us : Beautifully crafted, emotional and probably his best work as a solo act . The only two songs that are a bit out of place here are the two hit attempts , Steam and Kiss that Frog …Not bad tracks , but simply out of place. Secretly, I enjoy them more than Sledgehammer and Big Time. 9/10

    SECRET WORLD Live : Mostly songs from US and So…They are elevated here, and as with Plays Live some of the versions are even better the originals : Secret World , In your Eyes. It’s colourful , profound and executed with perfection . 9,5/10

    UP: Was PG mourning someone at the time ? From the colourful, deep and warm “Us ” we’re here with a rather cold and dark album . Kind of boring also. Not enough good material for an album who was 10 years in making. A disappointment . 6/10

  3. See, now this is why I like reading your reviews. I’m not crazy, as I’ve been told. I too, feel that “so”, while deserving of its popularity, is also a bit flaccid at times. Hell, there’s even a song (the name escapes me and I haven’t listened to it in a long time) that with its overly “80’s” production at the beginning i swear its a Madonna tune snuck in for maximum sales punch. Meanwhile I find “us” to be brilliantly moving and subtle at times. “Come talk to me” is stunning! “Blood of eden” is gorgeous. “Digging in the dirt” is just dark and cool. A couple minor missteps which you mentioned and I totally concur with. From start to finish it is an emotional journey that I always enjoy taking. I will stand up a tad for “don’t give up”. Its certainly sappy as you say but I’m always a sucker for that gospel tinged vibe and that bridge toward the end when Peter and Kate trade off the versus, those vocal parts get me every time. I’d give “us” ☆☆☆☆☆ and “so” I’d give ☆☆☆☆.

    • I was actually listening to Don’t Give Up a couple of days ago – that bridge is really good, So does a great job of bridging artistic ambition with commercial appeal, but it’s not especially consistent. Us is much stronger IMO.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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