That Voice Again: Peter Gabriel - Album by Album

Well, the second line says "The last three shows featured a reunion of The Police."

Is the attitude necessary?

As Sting would say, "After today, consider me gone":thumbsdn:

 

Sledgehammer was the song that introduced me to Peter Gabriel. I was ditching school (elementary) at my friends house and watching TV and the video for Sledgehammer came on. I thought it was the coolest video ever. And I thought the music was pretty funky (in a good way).

Around the same time there was a commercial for a teen run-away hotline that had Don't Give Up playing in the backround, Kates vocals only. I had no Idea it was on the same album as Sledgehammer. I was not into music recordings much back then so I did not own any recordings at that age, but I have a feeling these two songs were my first inspirations to learn to play an instrument (or two) and start collecting vinyl. Peters video was so cool, and Kates voice and the song went so well with that emotionally packed commercial.

Peter Gabriel somehow managed to dodge my interests somehow until about 10 years later in my late teens. I was heavy into other music for a while. Then, I eventually rediscovered Peter Gabriel, So, being the first album I owned. Thats when I found Don't Give Up on the album as well. Hearing Kate sing Don't give up sent chills up and down my spine. Most of it was suprise, that I had no Idea I would hear this nameless voice again 10 years later, sharing the same disc with Sledgehammer. I seen Don't Give Up in the track list when browsing the music shops but it did not ring a bell. Keep in mind, when I heard Kates voice first on the TV commercial, I had no Idea who it was and figured I'd never know. And as much as I was amazed by Kate Bush's voice on So (and others) she managed to dodge my grubby music collecting hands until just this year.

At this time I can say Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush are tied at number 1 for my favorite artists, and I believe I owe that to So. I probably would have discovered and appreciated them sooner or later, but I think the fact that So was as commercial as it was, it helped the music get to my ears and have an influence on me in early life.

 

Actually you're right. The Police DID play at least one of the last shows (don't recall if it was all three) as I recorded the performance and made audio tapes to listen to in the car from the radio because I wasn't able to be home for the entire radio cast (my roommate flipped the tapes over as he was listening to it the whole thing).

 

I actually like So a lot! It was the album that led me to discover old Genesis, and for that I'm forever grateful. Excellent videos from So too... Big Time and Sledgehammer are never topped by other Music Videos in my mind! Mercy Street and Don't Give Up are beautiful tracks... one of Gabriel's best

 

it really is a good point how exceptional his video's from this period are. That had to be another piece of the huge success of his popularity surge at this time along with the other things Ere mentioned with that awareness tour.

I was sorry I didnt see that show at Giants stadium. Word on the street after the fact, made me realize i missed something really worth being at...well not sure its ever worth being at Giants Stadium no matter what the cause....still 55,000 singing along to Biko woulda been something!

 

Seeing it on TV was amazing to me, I can't imagine how it must have been in person - the only comparison I have is seeing him get as many or more into 'Biko' at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia two years later on the Human Rights Now! tour.

How many of you did get to see Gabriel tour in support of So?
The tour, which opened in Rochester NY on Nov. 7, 1986, carried on with two dozen shows in the states into December, then had extensive legs in Europe and North America the next spring and summer. The second to the last night of the autumn 1987 leg was filmed in Athens and released as the concert film PoV.

Setlists included:
San Jacinto / Red Rain / Shock the Monkey / Family Snapshot / I Have The Touch / The Family and the Fishing Net / Not One of Us / No Self Control / Mercy Street / This is the Picture / Big Time / Don't Give Up / Wallflower / Solsbury Hill / Lay Your Hands on Me / Sledgehammer / In Your Eyes / Biko

I attended opening night in Rochester, where 'That Voice Again' was played one of the few times ever, and then made it to the shows in Syracuse and Buffalo several nights later. The energy from the stage and crowd at these shows was remarkable, not the less so for Gabriel's falling backwards into the audience during 'Lay Your Hands on Me,' and the soaring vocals and percussion of Youssou N' Dour and his band, who opened the shows and then came on for the encores of 'In Your Eyes' and 'Biko.'

 

Saw Peter Gabriel in Philadelphia, July 1987, on the second leg of the tour. Wow, what a show; seared into my memory like it was yesterday.

The high points of the show for me were (of course) Lay Your Hands On Me, and the Biko sing-along. But the lengthy performance of In Your Eyes, with D'nour and his entire band, was colorful and fun. And I remember very well the slower version of "No Self Control" with Peter being chased by the lights.

It was tough for PoV to capture the feeling of being in the actual audience...

 

Syracuse, NY, Nov. 9, 1986





© All rights reserved
No Self Control
Don't Give Up/I Have the Touch
Lay Your Hands on Me
Excellent Birds/In Your Eyes

Sharing a handful of the pictures I took with my Pentax Spotmatic and 135mm Takumar lens. I snuck the camera in under my clothes. I assembled a presentation album and brought it to the Buffalo show, where I approached the crew on the mixing desk to see if I could give it to Gabriel. They made a phone call and out came a very nice woman with an English accent, who introduced herself as Gail Colson, his co-manager. She liked the photos and said, "we need some photos since the tour has just started. I like these very much. Would you be OK if Peter checked them out?"

Sure, OK. She asked me to wait while she took them back for him to check out (why didn't I ask to come along?) Anyway, after about ten minutes she came back with the album and said, "Peter thinks they're too dark but we'd like you to try again tonite, so here's a photo pass." She also gave me her card and said to get in touch if the ones from that night's show turned out better. Unfortunately, the Buffalo gig was festival seating and there was no way I could get close enough to get shots any better than these.

Going back through them now and scanning the negatives, some of the shots turned out quite well (and can be improved once I have enough time to learn Photoshop). I particularly like the ones from 'No Self Control' and 'In Your Eyes' - the energy and joy of that performance spilled off the stage. They bring back a lot of great memories about those shows, and help document some of the best live performances of Gabriel's career.

Passion will be up next after I finish the writeup - any more So concert or album memories?

 

Not so much "memories", as an impression overall that Gabriel had reached an apex (plateau?) of both popular awareness and artistic cohesion at this point, with the songs being accessible to most of the marketplace, while still taking the production and subject matter into new realms of "out there".

Peter collaborating with Laurie Anderson at the time she was also peaking in the public eye (her PBS show, the concert film)? Priceless! Drumming and African influences of "In Your Eyes" that took the "Biko" groove one step further in acceptability? Globe-tastic! Mix 45's that were just as essential as the original album? Truly "added value"!

Following this creativity with a soundtrack for a "serious" film wasn't his best path towards world domination, but he was finally at that rare point of confidence in his art that he had sufficient fans who would follow him ANYwhere (take THAT, Sting & your lute album!).

 

I still want to know if the original CD of So has a heavier bass sound than the remaster.

 

Awesome pictures!! Thanks for posting...

 

the first time I saw PG on tour was the second Amnesty tour which happened a few years after So came out but before Passion; seeing him fall back into the audience in a giant outdoor stadium was something else.

 

I compared the two side by side and could detect no difference in the bass level, listening to the break near the end of 'Don't Give Up' where Levin steps in. Also, in June 2002, Gabriel told Hi Fi Plus, "In some ways I was tempted to go back and remix things; but its a difficult thing - although its an interesting thing for the artist, almost inevitably audiences are less approving, if you do go back and remix stuff they feel the thing that they liked and remember as being part of their history has been ****ed around with, if they have favourite song they want to hear the familiar version."

Thanks. As I finish more scans I'll post them to my flickr page.

OK, here's Passion...

 

This record is not for the newcomers, I think


Passion – Music for the Last Temptation of Christ, A Film by Martin Scorcese
June 5 (UK) June 6 (US), 1989
Real World Records CD RW 1
Geffen Records 9 24206-2 and GHS 24206 (lp)


The Feeling Begins (3:59)
Gethsemane (1:25)
Of These, Hope (3:55)
Lazarus Raised (1:25)
Of These, Hope (Reprise) (2:44)
In Doubt (1:32)
A Different Drum (4:40)
Zaar (4:53)
Troubled (2:55)
Open (3:27)
Before Night Falls (2:19)
With This Love (3:39)
Sandstorm (3:02)
Stigmata (2:27)
Passion (7:38)
With This Love (Choir) (3:20)
Wall Of Breath (2:29)
The Promise Of Shadows (2:13)
Disturbed (3:35)
It Is Accomplished (2:55)
Bread And Wine (2:19)

Produced by Peter Gabriel
Engineered by David Bottrill
Recorded between February 1988 and March 1989 at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, England.
Mixed by David Bottrill and Peter Gabriel
A WOMAD production for Real World Records.

Originally mastered by Ian Cooper, Town House Cutting Room, London
Remastered (2002) by Tony Cousins, Metropolis, London
Front cover, “Drawing study for Self Image II,” by Julian Grater.

From the original liner notes:

“I have put together two albums around the music of The Last Temptation of Christ". This album is my work, the other, Passion Sources, represents a selection of some of the traditional music, sources of inspiration and location recordings.

“I was excited to be asked to work on the music. When I first discussed the project with Martin Scorsese in 1983 I wanted to find out how he was intending to film this controversial novel. He wanted present the struggle between the humanity and divinity of Christ in a powerful and original way, and I was convinced by his commitment to the spiritual content and message. He is an excellent and very musical director and working with him has been a great experience.

“After we finished mixing the film, there were some unfinished ideas that needed developing, and I took some extra time to complete the record. There are several pieces that were not able to be included in the film and I felt the record should be able to stand as a separate body of work. I chose the working title for the film - Passion.

“We recorded some of the finest singers and soloists in the field of world music and set the score on a backdrop of traditional North African rhythms and sounds. It was a wonderful experience working with such different and idiosyncratic musicians. They came from Pakistan, Turkey, India, Ivory Coast, Bahrain, Egypt, New Guinea, Morocco, Senegal and Ghana. For many of them working with this material was something quite new and they were very enthusiastic. The soundtrack if full of the spirit of their performance.”

Traditionally in religious films, the screen lights up and heavenly voices start to sing whenever Christ appears. Marty Scorcese wanted music that was very different and that give people a sense of what it might have been like to live during the time of Christ. He felt it wasn’t necessary for the score to be historically or geographically accurate beyond having a Middle Eastern flavor. It was quite all right with him if I used Brazilian, Turkish, Pakistani and Iranian music.*

After the film had been completed, I continued on for another three or four months building some of the pieces and developing the textures. I wanted ‘Passion’ to stand as a piece of work in its own right.*

From the success of the So record, I had a chance to build my own studio, one partially designed with the recording of world music in mind. I think we have the largest studio/control-room in the world. This helps the band feel part of the whole process with the engineer and producer, as they can talk face to face with them. In other studios, even I found it quite hard to look and see people up there behind the glass laughing, etc. You can’t hear what they’re saying. Imagine if you’re from a totally different culture and you don’t know any of the people in there. You’re just asked to get on with it and perform. If you don’t have good performances, music is worth nothing, so we want to create an ideal, friendly and comfortable situation from which we can extract good performances.***

It was exciting to sit in the studio and build up pictures. For the section called ‘Passion’ I used a rhythm I had recorded in Brazil, some Qawwali singing [Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan], a little of Youssou N’Dour’s vocals, Jon Hassell’s trumpet and an English choirboy.*

I think it’s some of the best work I’ve done but I know it’s not going to reach a very large audience. I still want to continue writing songs and lyrics; this is instrumental music which is just as important but certainly not commercial.**

In a way, the easiest ways for Western listeners is first through the rhythms and then the voices. We’re very sensitive to analyse the content of the voices because our survival from the cradle depends on it. And spend nine months in your mother’s womb listening to her groove and, in a way, the return to the pulse is the return to the womb.**

This album may not be his most popular or accessible album, but Passion may be the grandest and most cohesive realization of Gabriel's musical vision he will ever complete. It is probably my favorite PG album, very close to the third album. I don't think he has ever surpassed the breadth and impact of 'A Different Drum' anywhere, with or without lyrics, and the vocals on the track are sublime. Another favorite is the penultimate track 'It Is Accomplished' which has one of the most breathtaking drum performances on record, I believe, by Bill Cobham. Also, a beautiful melody, which is reprised in the next track. Passion is all the more remarkable given the relatively short time frame of its composition, recording, and production - in Gabriel terms. He also contributed to Robbie Robertson's solo album during the early work on it, and took time out for the second tour in support of Amnesty International, Human Rights Now!, where the Passion track 'Of these, Hope," was premiered.

5/5

Subject line quote from Jock Baird, “Peter Gabriel's Tickle Therapy,” Musician (June 1989), 35-44ff
*Stephen Holden, “Gabriel’s World Music,” New York Times, June 14, 1989.
**Len Brown, “An Alien in the Real World,” New Musical Express, June 10, 1989, 32-33.
***Kerry Doole, “A Compelling Passion,” Music Express #139, 1989, 24-27.

 

Passion personnel

The Feeling Begins (4:00)
Cymbal [Finger], Tabla, Percussion [Dufs] - Hossam Ramzy
Drone [Drone Mix] - David Bottrill
Guitar - David Rhodes
Oboe [Armenian Doudouk] - Antranik Askarian , Vatche Housepian
Surdo, Percussion [Octabans, Skins] - Manny Elias
Synthesizer, Shaker, Percussion [Skins], Surdo - Peter Gabriel
Violin [Double] - Shankar

Gethsemane (1:25)
Flute, Flute [Samples], Voice - Peter Gabriel

Of These, Hope (3:52)
Bass, Percussion, Whistle [Flute], Synthesizer [Prophet 5] - Peter Gabriel
Drone [Arghul] - Mustafa Abdel Aziz
Guitar - David Rhodes
Talking Drum - Massamba Diop
Violin [Double] - Shankar

Lazarus Raised (1:37)
Guitar - David Rhodes
Piano [Akai S900] - Peter Gabriel
Woodwind [Kurdish Duduk And Tenbur] - Unknown Artist

Of These, Hope - Reprise (2:42)
Bass, Percussion, Whistle [Flute], Synthesizer [Prophet 5] - Peter Gabriel
Drone [Arghul] - Mustafa Abdel Aziz
Guitar - David Rhodes
Percussion [Additional] - Fatala
Talking Drum - Massamba Diop
Violin [Double] - Shankar
Vocals - Baaba Maal

In Doubt (1:33)
Computer [Audioframe], Sampler [Fairlight], Voice - Peter Gabriel
Fiddle [Kementché] - Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh

A Different Drum (4:40)
Backing Vocals - David Sancious
Loops [Percussion - 3 Bars] - Fatala
Loops [Percussion - 4 Bars] - Doudou N'Diaye Rose
Percussion, Surdo, Synthesizer [Prophet 5], Computer [Audioframe], Voice - Peter Gabriel
Violin [Double] - Shankar
Voice - Youssou N'Dour

Zaar (4:52)
Bass - Nathan East
Cymbal [Finger], Tabla, Percussion [Dufs], Tambourine, Triangle - Hossam Ramzy
Fiddle [Kementché] - Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh
Guitar - David Rhodes
Surdo, Sampler [Akai S900], Computer [Audioframe], Voice, Percussion [Additional] - Peter Gabriel
Violin [Double] - Shankar

Troubled (2:53)
Backing Vocals - David Sancious
Cymbal [Finger] - Hossam Ramzy
Drums, Percussion - Bill Cobham
Percussion, Synthesizer [Fairlight, Emulator], Backing Vocals - Peter Gabriel

Open (3:25)
Synthesizer [Prophet 5], Sampler [Akai S900], Voice - Peter Gabriel Violin [Double], Vocals - Shankar

Before Night Falls (2:19)
Cymbal [Finger], Tabla, Percussion [Dufs] - Hossam Ramzy
Ney - Kudsi Erguner
Violin [Double] - Shankar

With This Love (3:35)
Oboe, Cor Anglais - Robin Canter
Synthesizer [Akai S900], Arranged By [Synthesiser] - David Sancious
Synthesizer [Prophet 5, Fairlight], Computer [Audioframe], Voice, Piano, Arranged By [Synthesizer] - Peter Gabriel
Violin [Double] - Shankar

Sandstorm (3:00)
Fiddle [Kementché] - Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh
Percussion [Additional] - Manu Katché
Synthesizer [Fairlight] - Peter Gabriel
Tabla, Surdo, Tambourine [Dufs, Mazhar] - Hossam Ramzy
Violin [Double] - Shankar
Vocals [Moroccan], Percussion [Moroccan] - Unknown Artist

Stigmata (2:30)
Fiddle [Kementché] - Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh
Synthesizer [Prophet 5], Voice - Peter Gabriel

Passion (7:36)
Percussion [Brazilian] - Djalma Correa
Synthesizer [Prophet 5, Fairlight], Sampler [Akai S900], Voice - Peter Gabriel
Trumpet - Jon Hassell
Violin [Double] - Shankar
Vocals [Choirboy] - Julian Wilkins
Voice - Youssou N'Dour
Voice [Qawwali] - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

With This Love - Choir (3:22)
Cor Anglais - Robin Canter
Recorded By [Choir] - Richard Evans (3)

Wall Of Breath (2:29)
Guitar [Ebow] - David Rhodes
Ney [Turkish] - Kudsi Erguner
Synthesizer - Peter Gabriel
Violin [Double] - Shankar
Woodwind [Arghul] - Musicians Du Nil

The Promise Of Shadows (2:11)
Drums [Drum Kit] - Bill Cobham
Guitar - David Rhodes
Synthesizer [Prophet 5, Emulator], Computer [Audioframe], Percussion [Additional] - Peter Gabriel
Tambourine [Lead] - David Bottrill

Disturbed (3:43)
Loops [Percussion] - Mustafa Abdel Aziz , Said Mohammad Aly
Percussion [African] - Fatala
Synthesizer [Prophet 5, Fairlight] - Peter Gabriel
Tabla, Surdo - Hossam Ramzy
Violin [Double] - Shankar

It Is Accomplished (2:51)
Bass - Nathan East
Drone [Arghul] - Mustafa Abdel Aziz
Drums, Tambourine - Bill Cobham
Guitar [Steinberger] - David Rhodes
Organ [Hammond] - David Sancious
Synthesizer [Prophet 5, Roland D-50], Voice, Percussion [Additional], Piano, Drums [Doholla] - Peter Gabriel
Tambourine [2], Performer [Distorted Slide] - David Bottrill

Bread And Wine (2:22)
Guitar [Ebow] - David Rhodes
Synthesizer [Prophet 5], Voice, Double Bass [Contrabass] - Peter Gabriel
Tin Whistle - Richard Evans (3)
Violin [Double] – L. Shankar

 

One of my favorite records. This is also the first PG album that I bought on CD without buying vinyl. Bought "So" after I had the vinyl and the same with the other albums. I was disappointed (on a side note) that the remaster rearranged "In Your Eyes" to the end of the album. While it is appropriate and I understand that was the original order PG wanted it in, I think that "We Do What We're Told" is a better closer on the vinyl and "Excellent Birds" a better closer on the CD.

 

I also find it ironic that a man noted for his vocals, stage presence and theatrics won a Grammy for a film SOUNDTRACK issued on CD.

Perhaps when they bypassed "So" the Grammy voters felt it was their "Gimme" to him but it certainly deserved it (as did "So" although I do like "Back in the High Life Again" which beat "So" in a couple of categories).

I also found it ironic that he won a Grammy in the category of "New Wave".

 

Thanks for that. Maybe I'll end up doing a cassette drop!

 

Grammy, schmammy.

Passion is the man's masterwork.

I guess I say that with a stated preference for instrumental music, and maybe Security is the more fully-formed PG album... but Passion just oozes with feeling and atmosphere.

I can literally see, hear, smell, taste and feel the Middle East of 33 A.D. when spinning this one.

Desert island disc for me.

 

Is it germane to the discussion to bring up the "Passion" Sources album here as well? Considering it's the music which helped inspire this work, and he did produce the album?

 

Sure, why not. PG drew attention to it in the first sentence of his liner notes (see above) and was also careful to acknowledge the sources (recorded and traditional) of specific tracks, as well. For instance the doudouk that sets the melody for 'The Feeling Begins' was lifted from another record by an Armenian artist. Passion Sources was the second release on Real World Records and that player and others (some recorded at RW) got their own tracks on it.

I might have owned Passion Sources at one time but after one spin missed the production and melody PG brought to his own interpretations. Might be worth another listen. The two albums that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did with Real World in collaboration wth Michael Brook are wonderful.

 

The score for Passion was also among Gabriel's fastest work. Only six months elapsed from the beginning of recording to the release of the movie August 12, 1988. Then just ten months further for the finished album.

Another good quote from the June 1989 Musician interview about Passion:

"Quite apart from film music, one of the things that I've always liked is unfamiliar landscapes that I can explore. All my favorite records have that, so when you first put that needle on you'd sense that you were being taken on an adventure."

 

so sorry i'm getting to this thread so late.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0bfixqe5ldde~T1

later, chris

 

Mike, what was it about the bass levels in the cassette of So that you prefer?

 

Some interesting quotes about Passion Sources from the New York Times review by John Rockwell, published August 20, 1989.

''Passion'' is not path-breaking or epoch-making in that it contains experiments never before attempted. But it is unusual in the sweep of third-world music that it incorporates into one, mega-Middle-Eastern suite. And, more subjectively, it is striking for the success with which Mr. Gabriel blends his own English art-rock tradition with his adopted sources.

Those sources are easier to isolate than they might otherwise be. In Great Britain, although regrettably not in the United States, Mr. Gabriel has released a companion to ''Passion'' called ''Passion - Sources.'' It contains more or less pure versions of the music from Pakistan, Senegal, India, Ivory Coast, Bahrain, Ghana, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Guinea and Armenia that formed the basis of his own compositions. There are also four other releases on Mr. Gabriel's Real World label (distributed by Virgin), most of which are albums by artists who also appear on ''Passion.''

The cross-cultural message this huge geographical reach conveys is that despite all the vast differences of culture, language, race and religion, there is a cultural unity here. Musically, that unity expresses itself through a common mournfulness of scale patterns, a common pungency of instrumental and vocal timbres and an underlying sensuousness of percussive accent.

But here is where Mr. Gabriel enters the picture, not only as a composer but also as a record producer. Even in the ''Sources'' album, one can't escape his esthetic personality, and in the ''Passion'' music - quite rightly - it colors everything. Which makes for excellent art even as it undermines this dual project's validity as cultural documentation.

The trouble, if that's what it is, with the ''Sources'' album is that Mr. Gabriel can't leave his field documents alone. ''We wanted to enliven the music,'' Mr. Gabriel writes in a typical note to one selection, ''and so added Egyptian percussion and whistle.'' Not only did he add them, he mixed them up so high that the original, a raucous and endearingly sloppy ''Tejbeit Ethiopian Bar Song,'' recorded on-site in the bar, is reduced to background music to thumping percussion straight out of Led Zeppelin's ''Kashmir.''