As a kid I didn't really know a lot about Peter Gabriel. I was in high school when "Games Without Frontiers" was a big deal back in 1980. It was a pretty awesome song, and I remember being tempted to pick up the album, but never did. Still don't know why. Then again, I didn't have Genesis albums either. Like millions of other bandwagon jumpers, I hopped on with So and stayed on for his soundtrack Passion, then more or less lost interest. I also really liked Plays Live, especially the live version of "Solsbury Hill" that still gets me right in the feels. That was about as deep as my collection went.
It was about a year after the album came out, in the summer of '83, that "Shock the Monkey" was still getting a fair bit of play on FM radio. The song was admittedly a bit perplexing to me, as I didn't know if I liked it or was irritated by it. Time, of course, would have the last laugh, as it always does. The song, like so much of Mr. Gabriel's work, remains as fresh and cutting edge as it was over forty years ago.
When I saw the album in the dollar bin, complete with the liner notes, I snatched it up and brought it home. I'm not sure how it ended up in the bin, but I wasn't complaining. It cleaned up remarkably well, and there were a couple of pops and clicks that, if I'd paid more than a buck for it, I'd have been irritated by, so now I know why it was a buck. Still, what a score.
So here I am sitting and listening (full disclosure, I've played the album through a few times now), and each time more layers are peeled back, revealing more layers to be discovered. Guess who's writing this in the morning after more than one coffee?
I know I can sound like a broken record at times, and I'm prone to repeating myself, but Peter Gabriel was able to find the perfect balance between technology and art. He was an early adopter of the CMI (computer musical instrument), which in a couple of years would be simply referred to as a Fairlight, and it, along with Yamaha's DX7, would change music forever. However, Peter employed the best of the best to flesh out his vision. Jerry Marotta played drums, often along with Linn drums that were programmed by Peter Gabriel. Tony Levin played bass and, on several songs, played Chapman Stick, which gave many of the songs a wonderful bottom end. Guitars were handled by David Rhodes, who added what was needed to service the songs. He's an incredibly tasty player.
As cutting edge as this was, it's also really interesting to me how, decades later, this doesn't feel tired and old. This isn't to say this isn't an '80s record, and recognizable as such - it's just that when compared to much of what was out there from his contemporaries, this didn't and doesn't sound like anything else that was out there at the time.
I do find it strange listening to this now with fresh ears, knowing what was to come with his later work. It's a revelation, but not a surprise, at how foundational this album was for what would come next. With only eight songs on the album, Peter still manages to cover a lot of ground. As partial as I am to songs like "Shock the Monkey" and "I Have the Touch," it's when I get into the deeper cuts like "Lay Your Hands on Me" that I'm struck by the emotional power of his songs. The driving percussion is almost hypnotic.
While I can't claim retroactively to have been a fanatical Peter Gabriel fan, I do consider myself a fan for all that, and despite being just a few decades late to this particular release, it was a wonderful find.
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