That Voice Again: Peter Gabriel - Album by Album

Mozo lasting

A full decade after introducing the "mercurial stranger" Mozo who, shunned by the community lived "in the belly of junk down by the river," enjoyed an alter ego via short wave radio, and eventually completed a heroic journey, Gabriel still found relevance in the character for the triumph that was Passion.

J.B.: The Fingernails album also introduced a misfit character who built his cabin out of junk and kept trying to get on the radio. Autobiography?

P.G. Mozo is someone that comes up in different guises in different places. I even started to build a film script around him. I was reading Jung and this alchemy stuff, and always gold is made out of ****, it's from rubbish, the waste that people throw away and discard. In this studio we're trying to combine hand-made, cheap discarded elements with the best and latest in technology. It's very easy to get into this high-tech, sanitized modern world and lose the sort of gut, the grit, or the grunt factor, as we call it, which comes from the failings and mistakes and quirks and discarded elements.

Jock Baird, “Peter Gabriel's Tickle Therapy,” Musician (June 1989), 35-44ff

 

It was thick and heavy and more dominent IIRC. I remember being disappoionted with the sound of the original vinyl and the remastered CD in comparison, but hey, it might sound terrible to my ears these days!

 

recording So and Passion

from: Roman Sokal, "The db of David Bottrill," Tape Op - the Creative Music Recording Magazine, No. 19 (2000).

West Meets East Meets West…

The second step in the evolution of David Bottrill, the engineer, involves British Airways and Peter Gabriel. In 1986, Daniel Lanois asked Bottrill to fly to England to aid in the recording of Peter Gabriel’s ground-breaking album So. The session was taking place in a cow shed near the town of Bath. This session was the first where equipment and time were unlimited, thus allowing everyone’s creativity to run rampant. “At the end of ‘So’ [Dan Lanois and I] were supposed to do something with the Psychedelic Furs, but at that time they didn’t have the songs written yet.

Dan had just spent a better part of one and a half years getting songs out of Peter [Gabriel] for ‘So’ and he didn’t want to go through that process again,” bares Bottrill.

“Dan is a man of the moment and likes to capture the performance and excitement and doesn’t like to dwell for long periods of time, I don’t think. He wanted to work on the development of the music and not on the songwriting, which he would have to drag out of people.” Gabriel, like any tour-de-force, had his own eccentric approach to creation. Whether it is always compatible with an outside party is a different story.

Bottrill explains the friendly clash between the two giants. “Peter likes to take much time to get it as right as he can because he has a lot of things on the go that distract him from writing lyrics. There was a time when Dan got so upset with Peter he ended up nailing the door shut from the inside of the studio where Peter was writing lyrics so he wouldn’t be able to leave to make another phone call!”

The faltering Psychedelic Furs project posed a question mark that lurked over the immediate future of Bottrill’s career. “Dan didn’t have any more work for me and he suggested I either stay here in England and look for more work or that he would help me find some back in Canada. I decided to stay.” By making that bold and fearless leap, Bottrill quickly ended up working for Peter Gabriel. He accompanied on the subsequent So tour not as a live sound engineer, but as his keyboard tech. The choice led Bottrill down a passageway which soon led him to help develop a concept called Real World, an edifice in which he deeply immersed himself for nearly a decade.

Situated in the village of Box near Bath, the idyllic Real World recording facility was the brainchild of Peter Gabriel. He converted an old mill into a hi-tech shangri-la for musical luminaries from around the world to record at. The Real World concept also grew into to the Real World recording label. Gabriel is a pioneer in incorporating obscure unconventional and unique instruments into his own music. Influenced in part by ‘world-music’ artists, he felt that the rest of the world should be enriched and exposed to this wide spectrum of music too. Sadly, without such a label, most of these artists would not be heard outside of their own domain. Initially the studio was armed with the equipment dismantled from the cow shed. “Peter had an SSL desk and two Studer A-80 [24-track] machines. One [of the Studers] was customized with electronics built by Colin Broad. It could have been a revolutionary machine except for the fact that it didn’t work very well. Like an SSL, you could set up a gate on the output of every channel because each channel had one built in it.”

It was there that Gabriel’s eastern-influenced, instrumental breakthrough album Passion [1989] was executed as the label’s flagship release. The album was conceived specifically as the soundtrack for director Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ - an acclaimed and stunning feature film depicting an alternative portrayal of the life of Christ.

A plethora of musicians from all walks of life and styles of music were invited to play on the album, including percussionist Bill Cobham, vocalist Youssou N’Dour, double violinist Shankar and guitarist David Rhodes. Many of the artists involved hailed from exotic locales where their music is ensemble-based, non-electric and where the English language is non-existent.

Bottrill had to innovate in a way to make sure things would work. Unexpectedly, he wound up validating the virtue that extols music as language unto itself. “The most important thing at the time was to make sure the musician playing in the studio was feeling their most comfortable in how they were able to do their performance,” Bottrill explains. “We’d get them into our good-sized control rooms and turn it into a performance space. They couldn’t speak English very well a lot of the time so communication was really important. We had to get Peter’s musical point across. We would have to use every communication technique available. Sometimes it was using handsigns, or we were pointing. Anything like that is easier when you’re in the same room. We record almost everything in the control room. We were trying to make sure we could communicate and you could look at someone and that would make as much sense as it would trying to talk to someone on a talk-back mic. Giving a look does a lot more than a mic with headphones.”

In order to make this feat technically possible, Bottrill conferred with the studio builders and made suggestions as to how the control room should be constructed for such occasions. “We would also modify things, like being able to change the absolute phase of the speakers so when you’re recording with a mic you could put them out of phase, and it helps to cancel out more of the sound when the rest of the track is in.” The 48+ individual tracks used to build Passion involved more than just an organic process. He quickly and methodically learned how to maneuver the incorporation of MIDI sequencing and sampling technologies, which at the time were still in infancy. Fortunately, the technically-inclined Bottrill had a working familiarity with programming Linn Drums and Emulator IIs and IIIs back during his tenure at Grant Avenue. Vastly employed for Passion was the MPC-60 Fairlight as well as software-based systems such as Performer and Cubase. Complexities were inherent due to the larvae-like stage that the technologies at during that time period.

“Usually there was up to 64 tracks going on at any time that mainly involved peripheral programming. It was a lot more of a process to do it back then than it would be now. These days everything is done through Logic Audio and Pro Tools. Now all you do is plug in a hard disk and there you go. It’s a lot easier.”

When listening to the end product, one is enveloped by a sense of spaciousness that is a result of Bottrill’s keen sense of microphone placement and atmospheric mixing. “It was definitely an education on learning how to record different types of instruments. All of a sudden I’d be presented with an oud, kementché, or a mazhar and I’d have to figure out where the sound came out of it and how to mic it. It opened up my ears to the new styles of music that I would never have an opportunity to hear otherwise. It was a real education.” Passion is a prime specimen of Bottrill’s deftness at blending and mastering the art, science and politics of music recording - a skill that he lends to every project. The disc also functions as a quality reference vehicle for many of today’s top producers and engineers. It is no surprise that his name is credited directly on the disc itself, which is highly uncommon for record companies to do. By doing that, it made Bottrill’s name synonymous with craftsmanship.

[NB: The article continues with Bottrill's work on King Crimson's Thrak and Tool's Ænima.]

 

Passion is truly a great album....I think this hit the top 5 albums at the time.
Great for Jogging.

 

Wow, never thought to exercise with Passion...might have to try that.

When Passion was first released, I didnt quite "get it". Like anything unfamiliar to my sensibility, I'd stick my toe in the water every so often when feeling experimental.

In the early 90s I was traveling to the Island of Cyprus, which I figured might be the closest geographically I'd get to the Middle East and so I threw that cd into my bag. That cd played non stop two weeks as that music coupled with driving around in that landscape forever seered into my brains.

I cannot listen to Passion now without revisiting this place in my mind, smelling, it, the colour of the rocks, hills, sun burnt foilage, goats, ruins, and all those ancient empty and abandoned turkish villages. Also, the war zone, their "red zone" , their berlin wall if you will, where north and south cyprus have armies placed to keep each other out also immortalized in the strains of this music.

A fascinating listen for a fascinating location. I'd shot a lot of video tape out the window of the car and on the soundtrack you can hear the strains of this music along with the wind and local sounds...I think I put this album to better use than Martin Scorsese...

 

I like that Ere is taking his sweet time now between updates to this thread...

kinda reminds me of Peter's release schedule!

 

He stated this thread would be from Car to Passion....so this thread is at its conclusion. I guess if he fires up part two he'd start it in a new thread? Maybe he's waiting for Big Blue Ball to drop?

Maybe he felt this thread wasn't well participated in? Seemed that way to me anyway, just a couple of us posting.....

 

Funny, I remember visiting my mother's home country of Greece and playing the Judas Priest album "Point of Entry" over and over again.One of my brothers says that it reminds him of those days and also the native Greek music that we had heard as well.

Yeah,Passion goes along with Cyprus which is quasi-Middle eastern but European at the same time!I try not to think about the buffer zone which separates the people there ,but hopefully it they will unite.Then PG can play a concert in the reunited Nicosia!He would be a great artist to add to the mix......

 

ha, I've seen concerts in Nicosia a the D'Avilla Moat, now used as a car park that is really an ancient Moat, also known as The Wall..

also, there is nothing European about those abandoned Turkish Villages...in the cities, yes european, but in the villages, wow, another epoch.

 

Yeah,that was my point about Cyprus it's a mix of Western and Eastern cultures.In some weird way it is a really interesting crossroads of the Levant and the West.Greece is a different story altogether...........we'll talk about that some other time.
It would be cool if PG would play there with some of the local Greek and Turkish Cypriot artists.He loves mixing it up that way so I'm waiting for the United Cyprus Republic concert in the near future..............

 

you know, this is a cool idea, you should post this on the peter gabriel forum, he might actually get wind of this...a great way to create awareness for that situation in cyprus....and meld various world music styles...

 

thanks everyone

As William notes, my original intention was for the PG album/album thread to be in two parts, with Passion concluding part one. I've appreciated everyone's thoughts and insights as we rolled through the first eight albums of this remarkable artist. But I too have been surprised at the small number of regular contributors and the pace at which the thread sank between updates, especially in comparison with other threads. Are there really that few Gabriel fans on SH.tv, or is it simply a case of burnout, or something else?

Part two would logically start as a new thread with 1992's Us and (IMO) go through the release this May/June of Big Blue Ball. But my approach - transcribing liner notes, compiling quotes, interviews, gathering and scanning photos, and critical evaluations - albeit self-imposed, demands too much of my time, effort, and emotion. I'm nearly at PG-saturation myself and coming into a phase of his career many (including myself) experienced as somewhat of a letdown, I can't see an improved interest in the topic here.

William and I have talked about doubling up on part two, so that's a possibility as well, willingness and schedule(s) allowing. With other obligations pressing, like a paper to revise for publication, I'd be more inclined to support a thread than helm it, to be honest.

regards,
Ken

 

Your time and contributions to this thread were insightful, enlightening and entertaining and will prove valuable for years to come to all who search and read through this thread. I hope I was able to contribute something useful as well.

Thanks to your efforts; I had much joy in revisiting some of Gabriels work that I forget to reach for in place of his favorites of mine. This thread has increased my enjoyment of Peter which I didn't think could be possible as he's just about my favorite artist of all time.

I look forward to crossing paths with you in other Peter Gabriel threads down the road Ken! Thanks for the PASSION.

 

This has been an outstanding thread thanks to Ken's efforts. Along with several other great threads currently running, it really represents what makes this forum so awesome and invaluable.

All your work here hasn't gone unappreciated, Ken.

 

I like the Mozo quotation you posted above, Ere. Any more of extensive quotes where Peter talks about the concept during this period?

 

Peter Gabriel a Most Influential person

Peter has been included in top 100 in Time magazine's fifth annual list of the world's most influential people: leaders, thinkers, heroes, artists, scientists and more...

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733756_1735249,00.html


Peter Gabriel

By Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

I did not know Peter Gabriel from a bar of soap when I met him for the first time on his friend Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island in the Virgin Islands. But within moments, he had charmed me. I heard him sing his Biko, which still moves me to tears each time I hear it, as we stood round the piano he was playing. He volunteered to give me my first swimming lessons and was a great hit with two of my grandchildren who met him there.

What is his secret? He has a heart—in our part of the world, we would give him our highest accolade and say, "He has ubuntu." It is that marvelous quality that speaks of compassion and generosity, about sharing, about hospitality. Peter founded WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance), presenting 50 festivals in more than 40 countries and conducting workshops in schools around the globe. He is a passionate human-rights advocate who participated in the 1988 Human Rights Now tour, and he co-founded Witness, which provides cameras and computers to activists.

In 2007 he and Branson co-founded the Elders, which Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça Machel launched in Johannesburg on Mandela's 89th birthday. With our world battered by so many problems—ethnic conflict, oppression of women and children, climate change—their idea was that a group of eminent people would serve as Elders for our global village. A dozen of us—including Kofi Annan, President Jimmy Carter and Fernando Cardoso (with an empty chair for Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma)—have accepted their offer and challenge.

Peter, 58, has received many awards, including the Man of Peace award given by Nobel Peace laureates. He has ubuntu, and he deserves this latest accolade richly.

Bishop Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984

 

Thanks for the post, William, insightful remarks from someone in a position to have an informed opinion.

 

I've got power, I'm proud to be loud, my signal goes out clear

Spencer Bright's Peter Gabriel - An Authorized Biography (London, 1988), covers the Mozo concept extensively (pp. 126-129).
He quotes Gabriel from a 1987 interview:

"Mozo is set in this fishing village, which is very upmarket, not quite Mediterranean, but something of that ilk. There is this volcanic sand which gives the sea a red colour. Everything is focused on the sea, which is very rough, and the great macho feat is to cross the water, which no one has done.

"Mozo is discovered in a tip, in a house built out of rubbish, on the edge of a city. An initially kids and passers-by are just very curious to look inside this little shed, and they see in it what they are most afraid of. They project their fears on to him because he is different.

"I remember in Horsell Common near Chobham, where my parents live [and he spent his childhood], there was this beaten up old caravan, with newspapers in the windows. I used to think there was a witch inside there. And I think it probably fueled this setting for Mozo.

"Eventually the people who have discovered Mozo in this hut on a tip get disturbed. They are getting upset by what they are seeing, by what they are projecting onto him and they try and kick him out. He escapes, and he proves later on that he has crossed the sea. So he goes from being the tramp underneath society to the hero on top of it.

"And then having been placed above other people he is challenged by the people who put him up there. They then have him as a target to push down to the bottom again."

Songs connected to the Mozo story include
Here Comes the Flood
Down the Dolce Vita
On the Air
Exposure
Red Rain
That Voice Again

Read any of Gabriel's comments about these songs and you get an additional view into the concept, many of which are immediately obvious from his overview of the whole thing.

 

lyrics for So

Ken: great job on this thread!
(and if I may ask, what do you have your Ph.D. in?)

I guess Sledgehammer doesn't get full respect from some PG fans because it was so popular. But oh, I love this song so much. This is one of the most sensual songs in the 80s, imho...and soooo groovin'. My 6 year old daughter loves this song, and danced to it with her eyes closed in a trance when she first heard it a month ago or so. It's magic, I think. One of the greatest pop songs ever. I just couldn't say goodbye to this thread without saying that.

Great lyrics. So fun and full of joy.

And those dancing chickens with nail polish are still favorites! Yeah yeah yeah yeah!


you could have a steam train
if you'd just lay down your tracks
you could have an aeroplane flying
if you bring your blue sky back

all you do is call me
I'll be anything you need

you could have a big dipper
going up and down, all around the bends
you could have a bumper car, bumping
this amusement never ends

I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
oh let me be your sledgehammer
this will be my testimony
show me round your fruitcage
'cos I will be your honey bee
open up your fruitcage
where the fruit is as sweet as can be

I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
you'd better call the sledgehammer
put your mind at rest
I'm going to be-the sledgehammer
this can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
let there be no doubt about it

sledge sledge sledgehammer

I've kicked the habit
shed my skin
this is the new stuff
I go dancing in, we go dancing in
oh won't you show for me
and I will show for you
show for me, I will show for you
yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you
only you
you've been coming through
going to build that power
build, build up that power, hey
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
going to feel that power, build in you
come on, come on, help me do
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
it's what we're doing, doing
all day and night

 

Just want to add my thank-you's for a great thread.

Looking forward to a continuation, if that's in the cards.

 

hey there is also a short Wiki on the Mozo song cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozo

Story Of Mozo
The most straightforward song to feature in the Mozo song cycle is On The Air. The song tells of a homeless Mozo living in a selfbuilt cabin in a junkyard, spending his nights broadcasting with the use of a short-wave radio.

Red Rain is possibly told from the perspective of Mozo, as he is not featured directly in the song, but it is known the be part of the song cycle, and tells the story of a village whose residents are punished for their sins by acid rain.

Neither Here Comes The Flood, Down The Dolce Vita or Exposure are directly about Mozo, but do reference other happenings in the story's overall continuity.

 

Earth to DJ Wilbur, come in DJ Wilbur, please PM me, asap, thanks, mrbill

 

It wasn't until this thread that I even noticed that 'Here Comes the Flood' and 'On the Air' have the Mozo theme in common and close and open the two albums, respectively. Gabriel's remarks about 'Red Rain' have always emphasized the perils of bottled up emotion, one wonders now if the central character suffered this or was it the townspeople? Mozo's own rage at his outcast status and sublimated means of dealing with contacting other people can't but help make me think both 'I Have the Touch' and 'Lay Your Hands On Me' belong to the song cycle as well.

 

Saw Peter Gabriel yesterday at a tech. conference.

http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?p=615

Didn't get a chance to speak to him sadly.

It is strange, encountering heroes from the past in an unexpected context.

Tim

 

Ere: that was great! Thank you for the enlightenment about the Mozo story!