Peter Gabriel - SACD Collection (11x SACD 1977-2002) [Remastered Reissue 2003] PS3 ISO + DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career.

As the leader of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his methods. With his first eponymous solo album in 1977, he began exploring darker, more 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 cult 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 multi-platinum breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single "Sledgehammer," So became a multi-platinum hit, and Gabriel became an international star. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, he began to explore other interests, including recording soundtracks and running his company Real World. By the time he returned to pop with 1992's Us, his mass audience had faded away and he spent the remainder of the '90s working on multimedia projects for Real World.

Peter Gabriel tells why he left Genesis in "Solsbury Hill," the key track on his 1977 solo debut. Majestically opening with an acoustic guitar, the song finds Gabriel's talents gelling, as the words and music feed off each other, turning into true poetry. It stands out dramatically on this record, not because the music doesn't work, but because it brilliantly illustrates why Gabriel had to fly on his own. Though this is undeniably the work of the same man behind The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he's turned his artiness inward, making his music coiled, dense, vibrant. There is still some excess, naturally, yet it's the sound of a musician unleashed, finally able to bend the rules as he wishes. That means there are less atmospheric instrumental sections than there were on his last few records with Genesis, as the unhinged bizarreness in the arrangements, compositions, and productions, in tracks such as the opener "Moribund the Burgermeister" vividly illustrate. He also has turned sleeker, sexier, capable of turning out a surging rocker like "Modern Love." If there is any problem with Peter Gabriel, it's that Gabriel is trying too hard to show the range of his talents, thereby stumbling occasionally with the doo wop-to-cabaret "Excuse Me" or the cocktail jazz of "Waiting for the Big One" (or, the lyric "you've got me cookin'/I'm a hard-boiled egg" on "Humdrum"). Still, much of the record teems with invigorating energy (as on "Slowburn," or the orchestral-disco pulse of "Down the Dolce Vita"), and the closer "Here Comes the Flood" burns with an anthemic intensity that would later become his signature in the '80s. Yes, it's an imperfect album, but that's a byproduct of Gabriel's welcome risk-taking – the very thing that makes the album work, overall.

Tracklist:

01. Moribund The Burgermeister
02. Solsbury Hill
03. Modern Love
04. Excuse Me
05. Humdrum
06. Slowburn
07. Waiting For The Big One
08. Down The Dolce Vita
09. Here Comes The Flood


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,67 GB

The pairing sounds ideal – the former front man of Genesis, as produced by the leading light of King Crimson. Unfortunately, Peter Gabriel's second album (like his first, eponymous) fails to meet those grandiose expectations, even though it seems to at first. "On the Air" and "D.I.Y." are stunning slices of modern rock circa 1978, bubbling with synths, insistent rhythms, and polished processed guitars, all enclosed in a streamlined production that nevertheless sounds as large as a stadium. Then, things begin to drift, at first in a pleasant way ("A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" is surprisingly nimble), but by the end, it all seems a little formless. It's not that the music is overly challenging – it's that the record is unfocused. There are great moments scattered throughout the record, yet it never captivates, either through intoxicating, messy creativity (as he did on his debut) or through cohesion (the way the third Peter Gabriel album, two years later, would). Certain songs work well on their own – not just the opening numbers, but the mini-epic "White Shadow," the tight "Animal Magic," the tense yet catchy "Perspective," the reflective closer "Home Sweet Home" – yet for all the tracks that work, they never work well together. Ironically, it holds together a bit better than its predecessor, yet it never reaches the brilliant heights of that record. In short, it's a transitional effort that's well worth the time of serious listeners, even it's still somewhat unsatisfying.

Tracklist:

01. On The Air
02. D.I.Y.
03. Mother Of Violence
04. Wonderful Day In A One-Way World
05. White Shadow
06. Indigo
07. Animal Magic
08. Exposure
09. Flotsam And Jetsam
10. Perspective
11. Home Sweet Home


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,7 GB

Generally regarded as Peter Gabriel's finest record, his third eponymous album finds him coming into his own, crafting an album that's artier, stronger, more song-oriented than before. Consider its ominous opener, the controlled menace of "Intruder." He's never found such a scary sound, yet it's a sexy scare, one that is undeniably alluring, and he keeps this going throughout the record. For an album so popular, it's remarkably bleak, chilly, and dark – even radio favorites like "I Don't Remember" and "Games Without Frontiers" are hardly cheerful, spiked with paranoia and suspicion, insulated in introspection. For the first time, Gabriel has found the sound to match his themes, plus the songs to articulate his themes. Each aspect of the album works, feeding off each other, creating a romantically gloomy, appealingly arty masterpiece. It's the kind of record where you remember the details in the production as much as the hooks or the songs, which isn't to say that it's all surface – it's just that the surface means as much as the songs, since it articulates the emotions as well as Gabriel's cubist lyrics and impassioned voice. He wound up having albums that sold more, or generated bigger hits, but this third Peter Gabriel album remains his masterpiece.

Tracklist:

01. Intruder
02. No Self Control
03. Start
04. I Don't Remember
05. Family Snapshot
06. And Through The Wire
07. Games Without Frontiers
08. Not One Of Us
09. Lead A Normal Life
10. Biko


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,83 GB

Security – which was titled Peter Gabriel everywhere outside of the U.S. – continues where the third Gabriel album left off, sharing some of the same dense production and sense of cohesion, yet lightening the atmosphere and expanding the sonic palette somewhat. The gloom that permeates the third album has been alleviated and while this is still decidedly somber and serious music, it has a brighter feel, partially derived from Gabriel's dabbling in African and Latin rhythms. These are generally used as tonal coloring, enhancing the synthesizers that form the basic musical bed of the record, since much of this is mood music (for want of a better word). Security flows easily and enticingly, with certain songs – the eerie "San Jacinto," "I Have the Touch," "Shock the Monkey" – arising from the wash of sound. That's not to say that the rest of the album is bland easy listening – it's designed this way, to have certain songs deliver greater impact than the rest. As such, it demands close attention to appreciate tone poems like "The Family and the Fishing Net," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and "Wallflower" – and not all of them reward such intensive listening. Even with its faults, Security remains a powerful listen, one of the better records in Gabriel's catalog, proving that he is becoming a master of tone, style, and substance, and how each part of the record enhances the other.

Tracklist:

01. The Rhythm Of The Heat
02. San Jacinto
03. I Have The Touch
04. The Family And The Fishing Net
05. Shock The Monkey
06. Lay Your Hands On Me
07. Wallflower
08. Kiss Of Life


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,85 GB

Although he had thrived on live performance as a member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel waited until he was four albums and six years deep into his solo career – with the hit album Security and the Top 40 "Shock the Monkey" chalked up to his credit – before he took the plunge into concert recording with this album. Released as a double-LP and two-CD set (but also later in a single CD "highlights" edition, missing four songs), this is a fine summing up of the artist's early solo years. Most of his biggest hits and key album tracks are represented in tight, inspired performances – the notes concede that some of what is here was sweetened after the fact in the studio, but the immediacy of the stage performances wasn't lost in the process, and that emotional edge and intimacy give songs such as "Solsbury Hill," "I Don't Remember," and "Shock the Monkey" a sharper, deeper resonance than their studio renditions, fine as those are. It's that side of the performance that makes this release well worth owning, for anyone enamored of Gabriel's voice or songs, even if nothing here wholly supplants the studio originals. And the band – Tony Levin (bass, stick, backing vocals), Jerry Marotta (drums, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), and Larry Fast (keyboards) – is in excellent form as well. What is lacking is the cohesiveness that one might have gotten from a live album assembled from a single concert; derived from a multitude of shows, the individual songs are excellent unto themselves, but there's little sense (or even the illusion) from song to song of any forward momentum across the album, and that might be the one major flaw here. But this is a suitable capstone to the first phase of Gabriel's solo career, and also a peculiar one in certain respects – given the effort that obviously went into assembling the album, the packaging is almost minimalist by the standards of live albums and double albums of the era.

Tracklist:

01. I Have The Touch
02. Family Snapshot
03. D.I.Y.
04. The Family And The Fishing Net
05. I Go Swimming
06. San Jacinto
07. Solsbury Hill
08. No Self Control
09. I Don't Remember
10. Shock The Monkey
11. Humdrum
12. Biko


Uncompessed SACD size = 2,68 GB

Peter Gabriel's first foray into soundtracks was for Alan Parker's contemplative film Birdy and is a successful companion piece, providing a backdrop that is moody and evocative. Nearly half of the album's dozen tracks incorporate threads from material found on Gabriel's 1982 Security set, including "Close Up," which makes use of keyboard passages from "Family Snapshot," and "The Heat," which is a reworking of "The Rhythm of the Heat" and builds to a frenzied percussive crescendo. Material specially written for this project includes the murky opening track, "At Night," the tribal "Floating Dogs," and "Slow Marimbas," a track that would become part of future live performances. The fact that Birdy comprises all instrumentals means that listeners whose familiarity with Gabriel is limited to "Sledgehammer" and "In Your Eyes" will be largely disappointed. However, its meditative nature makes it fine, reflective listening for the more adventurous.

Tracklist:

01. At Night
02. Floating Dogs
03. Quiet And Alone
04. Close-Up
05. Slow Water
06. Dressing The Wound
07. Birdy's Flight
08. Slow Marimbas
09. The Heat
10. Sketch Pad With Trumpet And Voice
11. Under Lock And Key
12. Powerhouse At The Foot Of The Mountain


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,43 GB

Peter Gabriel introduced his fifth studio album, So, with "Sledgehammer," an Otis Redding-inspired soul-pop raver that was easily his catchiest, happiest single to date. Needless to say, it was also his most accessible, and, in that sense it was a good introduction to So, the catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. "Sledgehammer" propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and Gabriel had enough songs with single potential to keep it there. There was "Big Time," another colorful dance number; "Don't Give Up," a moving duet with Kate Bush; "Red Rain," a stately anthem popular on album rock radio; and "In Your Eyes," Gabriel's greatest love song, which achieved genuine classic status after being featured in Cameron Crowe's classic Say Anything. These all illustrated the strengths of the album: Gabriel's increased melodicism and ability to blend African music, jangly pop, and soul into his moody art rock. Apart from these singles, plus the urgent "That Voice Again," the rest of the record is as quiet as the album tracks of Security. The difference is, the singles on that record were part of the overall fabric; here, the singles are the fabric, which can make the album seem top-heavy (a fault of many blockbuster albums, particularly those of the mid-'80s). Even so, those songs are so strong, finding Gabriel in a newfound confidence and accessibility, that it's hard not to be won over by them, even if So doesn't develop the unity of its two predecessors.

Tracklist:

01. Red Rain
02. Sledgehammer
03. Don't Give Up
04. That Voice Again
05. Mercy Street
06. Big Time
07. We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)
08. This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
09. In Your Eyes


Uncompessed SACD size = 1,86 GB

Passion is in actuality Peter Gabriel's soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, retitled as a result of legal barriers; regardless of its name, however, there's no mistaking the record's stirring power. Like much of Gabriel's solo work, the album is a product of his continuing fascination with world music, which he employs here to create an exceptionally beautiful and atmospheric tapestry of sound perfectly evocative of the film's resonant spiritual drama; inspired by field recordings collected in areas as diverse as Turkey, Senegal, and Egypt, Passion achieves a cumulative effect clearly Middle Eastern in origin, yet its brilliant fusion of ancient and modern musics ultimately transcends both geography and time. Remarkably dramatic, even visual, it is not only Gabriel's best film work but deserving of serious consideration as his finest music of any kind; equally worthwhile is Passion – Sources, which assembles the original native recordings which served as his creative launching pad.

Tracklist:

01. The Feeling Begins
02. Gethsemane
03. Of These, Hope
04. Lazarus Raised
05. Of These, Hope - Reprise
06. In Doubt
07. A Different Drum
08. Zaar
09. Troubled
10. Open
11. Before Night Falls
12. With this Love
13. Sandstorm
14. Stigmata
15. Passion
16. With This Love - Choir
17. Wall Of Breath
18. The Promise Of Shadows
19. Disturbed
20. It Is Accomplished
21. Bread And Wine


Uncompessed SACD size = 2,68 GB

Greatest-hits albums are a traditional way of buying time for artists between albums. Peter Gabriel's, entitled Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats, arrived in December of 1990, as he was toiling away at the follow-up to his smash So, which was four years old at that point. As greatest-hits albums go, it's pretty good, containing all the hits, plus an effective re-recording of "Here Comes the Flood" and a good new song in the form of the title track. While the sequencing may leave something to be desired – it is neither chronological, nor as supple as a good mix tape – it does contain nearly everything a casual fan could want (nothing from the second album, though; both "On the Air" or "D.I.Y." would have been nice additions), making it an effective sampler.

Tracklist:

01. Solsbury Hill
02. I Don't Remember
03. Sledgehammer
04. Family Snapshot
05. Mercy Street
06. Shaking The Tree
07. Don't Give Up
08. San Jacinto
09. Here Comes The Flood
10. Red Rain
11. Games Without Frontiers
12. Shock The Monkey
13. I Have The Touch ('83 Remix)
14. Big Time
15. Zaar
16. Biko


Uncompessed SACD size = 3,1 GB

Six years after earning his first blockbuster, Peter Gabriel finally delivered Us, his sequel to So. Clearly, that great span of time indicates that Gabriel was obsessive in crafting the album, and Us bears the sound of endless hours in the studio. It's not just that the production is pristine, clean, and immaculate, it's that the music is, with only a handful of exceptions (namely, the "Sledgehammer" rewrite "Steam" and the fellatio ode "Kiss That Frog"), remarkably subtle and shaded. It's also not a coincidence that Us is, as Gabriel says in his liner notes, "about relationships," since the exquisitely textured music lets him expose his soul, albeit in a typically obtuse way. Since the music is so muted, it's no surprise that the album failed to capture a mass audience the way So did, but it's foolish to expect anyone but serious fans to unravel an album this deliberate. Gabriel is as adventurous as ever, yet he is relentlessly sober about his experiments, burying exotic sounds and percussion underneath crawling tempos measured atmospherics – this is tastefully two-toned music, assembled by a consummate craftsman who became too immersed in detail to make anything but an insular, introspective work. Some gems are easier to unearth than others – "Digging in the Dirt" has an insistent pulse, "Blood of Eden" and "Come Talk to Me" are quite beautiful, "Secret World" is quietly anthemic – yet, given enough time, the record's understated approach and reflection becomes its most attractive element. But it takes a lot of spins and patience to get to that point, since this is an album he made for himself, and only those dedicated to the artist will have the patience to decode it.

Tracklist:

01. Come Talk To Me
02. Love To Be Loved
03. Blood Of Eden
04. Steam
05. Only Us
06. Washing Of The Water
07. Digging In The Dirt
08. Fourteen Black Paintings
09. Kiss That Frog
10. Secret World


Uncompessed SACD size = 2,31 GB

Ten years is a long time, especially in pop music, but waiting ten years to deliver an album is a clear sign that you're not all that interested in the pop game anyway. Such is the case with Peter Gabriel, who delivered Up in 2002, a decade after Us and four years after he announced its title. Perhaps appropriately, Up sounds like an album that was ten years in the making, revealing not just its pleasures but its intent very, very slowly. This is not an accessible record, nor is it easy to warm up to, which means that many may dismiss it upon a single listen or two, never giving it the time it demands in order to be understood (it does not help matters that the one attempt at a single is the ham-fisted, wrong-headed trash-TV "satire" "The Barry Williams Show," which feels utterly forced and out of place here, as if Geffen was pleading for anything resembling a single to add to the album). Really, there is no other choice for an artist as somber and ambitious as Gabriel to craft an album as dense as Up; those who have waited diligently for ten years would be disappointed with anything less and, frankly, they're the only audience that matters after a decade. And they're not likely to be disappointed, since this album grows stronger, revealing more with each listen. Initially, it seems to simply carry on the calmer, darker recesses of Us, but this is an uncompromising affair, which is to its advantage, since Gabriel delves deeper into darkness, grief, and meditation. It may take a while for him to emerge from the darkness – there is little of the comfort of a "Come Talk to Me" or "Blood of Eden," which are immediately soothing on Us – but there are glimmers of hope throughout the album, even in its darkest moments. Again, it takes awhile to sort all this out – to unlock the form of the songs, then their meanings – and it's such a somber, hushed, insular affair that some dedicated listeners may not bother to spin it the appropriate number of times. But those serious fans who want to spend time with this will find that it does pay back many rewards.

Tracklist:

01. Darkness
02. Growing Up
03. Sky Blue
04. No Way Out
05. I Grieve
06. The Barry Williams Show
07. My Head Sounds Like That
08. More Than This
09. Signal To Noise
10. The Drop


Uncompessed SACD size = 3,84 GB
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Remastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis.
Thanks to PS³SACD!
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