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Peter Gabriel Top 10
5:13 PM GMT 18/03/2010
MOJO office types had a fight over the art-pop egghead's greatest tunes. The results are in!
1. Solsbury Hill
(From Peter Gabriel "1", aka "Car", Charisma, 1977)
This benignly fol-de-rolling, 7/4-time folk-pop flute-athon depicts our man's departure from Genesis after a religious-sounding experience on a hill in Somerset (an eagle flies "out of the night", calls him "son" and then he talks about water being turned into wine. Were drugs involved?) Presently it concludes mob-handed with a Townshendy guitar der-dang, and all is well. Could only be improved if Gabriel got on a bike halfway through and cycled around a stage, but that would never happen, would it? IH
2. Games Without Frontiers (From Peter Gabriel "3", aka "Melt", 1980)
Perhaps the only hit single of the '80s that saw a connection between cold-war European politics and the absurdist foam-costumed handicap relays of late-lamented Euro-pudding gameshow It's A Knockout. Now imbued with a strange post-Glasnost nostalgia, Games Without Frontiers sounds especially melancholy, Gabriel's sinister child-catcher delivery and Kate Bush's eerie "jeux sans frontières" all underscored by that heartbreaking River Kwai whistling. Madness, madness. AM
3. On The Air (From Peter Gabriel "2", aka "Scratch", 1978)
The warbling synths and trippy sound effects echo Genesis, but that spiky riff and mad vocal are very 1978: think This Year's Model, More Songs About Buildings And Food. "I'm proud to be loud, my signal goes out clear," Gabriel insists, and you believe him. That's the E-Street Band's Roy Bittan on piano. MB
4. Shock the Monkey (From Peter Gabriel "4", aka "Security", 1982)
It's now a matter of Wiki lore that Peter Gabriel 4's Rhythm Of The Heat concerns Carl Jung's 1925 near loss of control whilst researching the hectic rhythmic drumming of the Masai, but western man's fear of his primal self is perhaps best expressed on that album's jerkily rhythmic single, especially the still-brilliant video in which businessman Gabriel destroys his filing system, takes to the woods, dances with an anglepoise lamp, and is attacked by dwarves before landing himself in a padded cell. Well, we've all been there. AM
5. White Shadow (From Peter Gabriel "2", aka "Scratch", 1978)
Gabriel loves a ghostly figure (see: Genesis' Visions Of Angels, Supper's Ready). Add White Shadow to the list. On the studio original, producer Robert Fripp plays that wonderfully measured guitar solo. But try this version, live in Germany, with the band and Gabriel in matching orange bibs, looking like the nerdiest school football/hockey players - always the last to be picked. MB
6. Don't Give Up (from So, 1986)
Modernized folk ballad inherits crazy jazz chords, fretless bass and Fairlight, becomes '80s high-concept pop fantasia. Peter's a proud working man facing economic catastrophe, the voice cracking as shame and anguish crash over him (how relevant is this?); Kate Bush is unbowed wifey, injecting hope with every tremor one of the most poignant vocal performances in pop history. If Sting had done this... oh, it doesn't bear thinking about. DE
7. Down To Earth (From Wall-E original motion picture soundtrack, 2008)
Co-written with American Beauty film-score composer Thomas Newman, this was Gabriel's best pop song in years. Melancholy but uplifting, it played over the end credits of Disney's like-minded animated movie, Gabriel singing about a world being rebuilt from scratch, with support from the Soweto Gospel Choir. Deserved its Grammy Award. MB
8. Biko (From Peter Gabriel "3", aka "Melt", 1980)
Political songs have an odd life. Instant anthems, they go out of fashion as topical brouhaha subsides and return to the canon as their stories combine with our cultural DNA. Like Free Nelson Mandela, Biko makes a virtue of simplicity: drums, voice, hectoring melody, bagpipes (bagpipes?!), it's made to be belted out on street corners, around campfires and on television with choirs of caring celebrities. "The world is watching now," sang Gabriel. And he was right. DE
9. A Different Drum (from Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ, 1989)
The highpoint of Gabriel's soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's film. Youssou N'Dour and original E-Street Band man David Sancious supply backing voices over dramatic repetitive drums, but the piece flowers into life when Gabriel starts singing. Who knows what he's singing, random phrases perhaps or just wailing? But it works perfectly. MB
10. San Jacinto (From Peter Gabriel "4", aka "Security", 1982)
Gamelan tinkling beset by booming, power-chordal thunder: one of Gabriel's most powerful numbers is also one of his most exquisitely balanced and reflective (see also: the brilliant Mother Of Violence from "3"), as, gripped in some peyote transportation, he ponders the spoiled birthright of the Native American (Sit'N'Bull Steakhouse, et al). "Issues"-based songwriting as timeless impressionism. DE
Compiled and written by Mark Blake, Danny Eccleston, Ian Harrison, Andrew Male
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 5:13 PM GMT 18/03/2010
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Comments
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What no Here Comes the Flood, tut, tut.
Posted by matty3198 at 11:18 PM GMT 18/03/2010 Report Abuse
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The Intruder, opening track from PG£ - Post-Rock starts here!
And what happened to Mercy Street?
San Jacinto is the nuts, mind.
Posted by Psodal at 1:06 PM GMT 19/03/2010 Report Abuse
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The Intruder, opening track from PG3 - Post-Rock starts here!
And what happened to Mercy Street?
San Jacinto is the nuts, mind.
Posted by Psodal at 1:07 PM GMT 19/03/2010 Report Abuse
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I actually have a very different top 10 (did you guys only listen to the first few albums?!):
Downside Up
Tower That Ate People
Digging In The Dirt
Secret World
Signal to Noise
Mercy Street
Lay Your Hands on Me
Family Snapshot
Here Comes The Flood
San Jacinto
Posted by Martin Brindley at 1:43 PM GMT 19/03/2010 Report Abuse
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humdrum
Posted by Anonymous at 3:45 AM GMT 20/03/2010 Report Abuse
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In Your Eyes
- should be in this list!
Posted by Jimmy at 6:02 AM GMT 22/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Nothing from 'Us'? For shame Mojo.
PG is one of the most innovative artists in popular music, but I still get the impression critics are only willing to acknowledge this within the very narrow parameters of his 'post-punk' years. A pity.
Here's my top ten:
Solsbury Hill
Intruder
The Rhythm Of The Heat
In Your Eyes
The Feeling Begins (but really, all of 'Passion')
Here Comes The Flood (solo piano version)
Come Talk To Me (his best ever lyrics)
Steam (even better than Sledgehammer!)
Make Tomorrow
Growing Up
Posted by Cowtools at 10:58 AM GMT 22/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Very tough to pick ten, I think Signal To Noise is one of his best songs since the security album.
Posted by Anonymous at 12:31 PM GMT 22/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Wallflower.
Posted by Mike Wiseman at 9:59 PM GMT 22/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Wallflower.
Posted by Mike Wiseman at 9:59 PM GMT 22/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Definitely Wallflower and In Your Eyes is the "best song yet written"!
Posted by Tim at 6:19 PM GMT 23/03/2010 Report Abuse
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"Here comes The Flood" german edition
Posted by Anonymous at 12:31 PM GMT 24/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Indigo and Family Snapshot - hasn't anyone heard these songs ?
Posted by Phil Wood at 10:56 AM GMT 25/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Oh my God!!!! What about "WALLFLOWER"!!!! Luigi from Italy
Posted by Luigi at 3:34 PM GMT 27/03/2010 Report Abuse
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what about "Wallflower"
Posted by luigi at 3:37 PM GMT 27/03/2010 Report Abuse
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"In your eyes" and "Wallflower" Absolutely!!!
Posted by Luigi at 3:55 PM GMT 27/03/2010 Report Abuse
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1. Games Without Frontiers
2. Solsbury Hill
3. No Self Control
4. Mercy Street
5. Digging in the Dirt
6. Intruder
7. Don't Give Up
8. Lay Your Hands on Me
9. Growing Up
10. In Your Eyes
Posted by Kool Sucka M at 10:55 PM GMT 27/03/2010 Report Abuse
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Nice list, but Big Time will always be my favourite. :)
Posted by Sam at 9:01 PM GMT 07/07/2010 Report Abuse
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Here's my list :
1. Lay Your Hands On Me - Peter Gabriel - 4
2. Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel Plays Live
3. Red Rain - So
4. It's Accomplished - Passion
5. Walk Through The Fire - Against All Odds
6. Not One Of Us - Birdy
7. While The Earth Sleeps - Strange Days
8. San Jacinto - Peter Gabriel -4-
9. A Different Drum - Passion
10. Make Tomorrow - Ovo
Posted by Stone at 6:52 PM GMT 16/11/2010 Report Abuse
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Peter_gabriel_top_10.. Awful :)
Posted by www.mojo4music.com at 8:15 PM GMT 19/04/2011 Report Abuse
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