Album #61: 3 (Melt) by Peter Gabriel

1.

Sound: Prog rock with various highlights

Mood: Mad to dancing to mourning

Important Songs: Intruder; Biko

Song You Must Hear: No Self Control

Quote: “I like you lying awake your bated breath charging the air”

      “I shoot into the light”

Notes: I love Peter Gabriel, but there is something special about this album.  The different portraits of insanity, and the results of insanity, and dance songs filling the middle.  There is so much to think about, so much to examine and so much to feel, no matter how uncomfortable it all is. 

Album #73: So by Peter Gabriel

1.  

Sound: A little bit of everything pop

Mood: Inconsistent

Important songs: Big Time, Don’t Give Up, Sledgehammer

Song You Must Hear: In Your Eyes

Quotes: “Long words.  Excellent words.  I can hear them now.”

   “And I pray to a big god as I kneel in the big church.”

Notes:  Gabriel explores every kind of uniqueness here, and difference is the mood of the album.  It is as if Gabriel was given a room full of music toys and he couldn’t decide which one, so he played with them all. And, somehow, every song is fantastic and the album, unbelievably, works as a whole. 

Album #76: Up by Peter Gabriel

1.      

Sound: Progressive electronic

Mood: Smooth with the occasional punch

Important Songs: More Than This

Song You Must Hear: Signal to Noise

Song You Must NOT Hear: Darkness (this one makes me jump)

Quotes: “The news that truly shocks is the empty empty page”

Notes: I didn’t even think of this album at first because I just play it with my other Peter Gabriel, until I realized that I find myself singing some of the songs so often.  Because it has Gabriel’s progressive, interesting music, but it (generally) has a smooth texture, it is perfect music for me to write to.  Gabriel has allowed himself to really grow as an artist and I see this as being the final product of years of musical exploration.