# The Peter Gabriel Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732 "2002-07-25T08:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/1 "2002-07-25T08:03:56Z")
Lots of activity on the Gabriel front these days, so I thought I’d just start this catch-all thread. I really like the long overdue reissues that have been coming out, especially the digi-pak versions. Very classy. I got **PG1** , **PG3** , and **PG4** and will probably get **So** soon. They sound great. If you haven’t been to [http://www.petergabriel.com](http://www.petergabriel.com), get thee hence, as there’s a lot of cool stuff, including QuickTime movies of PG previewing and discussing the new tunes. There’s a discussion forum and polls where you can vote on the setlist for the upcoming tour (who’d have thought that **Indigo** from the underachieving **PG2** album would be so popular?) And check out Gabriel’s alchemist’s goatee! I’ve never thought of or heard that phrase before, but there’s no doubt that that thing PG is sporting on his chin is an alchemist’s goatee. The site is not all that well organized, so look carefully–there’s lots of neat stuff lurking there. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/2 "2002-07-25T10:01:37Z")
Sorry–I guess I should warn you that in order to access the videos and forums and such, you have to subscribe to the ‘Moon Club’. It’s free, but you do have to yield an e-mail address. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/3 "2002-07-25T10:13:10Z")
Ever since Peter got psychological counseling in the mid-80’s, his music hasn’t been worth crap, IMO. (Therapy is the death-knell for the tortured artist.) At least he’s only released 2 albums since _Security_, and spared us all a world of aural torture. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/4 "2002-07-25T10:28:05Z")
Ouch, **KGS**! Although I do sympathize with your opinion. I feel that after **So** –or perhaps even before it–PG fell victim to the Sting Effect (I trust this is self-explanatory). Still, what I have heard of the new stuff is encouraging . . . ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/5 "2002-07-25T10:44:06Z")
I hear he just got married … ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/6 "2002-07-25T12:36:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WV\_Woman \* > \*\*I hear he just got married … \*\* I don’t remember. I don’t recall. I don’t know anything. Anything at all. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/7 "2002-07-25T14:47:19Z")
Yes, he just got married. They had a baby not quite a year ago. I do think his lyrics have gotten a trifle self-involved since he got into the therapy thing. But I’ve been listening to the samples since they were started posting them (they post a new set every full moon) and I’ve liked what I’ve heard. Over at [http://solsburyhill.net](http://solsburyhill.net) there’s a report from someone who got to hear the whole album, and it’s pretty favorable. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/8 "2002-07-25T22:27:40Z")
Speaking of “Solsbury Hill”, after the line: “Son, he said, grab your things I’ve come to take you home” Peter says something to the effect of: “Eh, don’t bwee-ul” Just what the heck IS he saying? This has bugged me for years and all the lyrics sites I’ve been to don’t show the line. ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/9 "2002-07-26T01:00:17Z")
It’s just Gabrielese–it doesn’t mean anything, and it’s not really part of the words. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/10 "2002-07-26T01:26:39Z")
Peter Gabriel is my favourite singer of all time - witness from my top100 all-time favourite songs: 5 Carpet crawlers (Genesis) 9 San Jacinto - live (Peter Gabriel) 12 Family snapshot - live (Peter Gabriel) 13 Cinema show-aisle of plenty (Genesis) 16 Don’t give up (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush) 19 Wallflower (Peter Gabriel) 22 The lamia (Genesis) 27 Dancing with the moonlit knight (Genesis) 42 Firth of fifth (Genesis) 47 Biko (Peter Gabriel) 52 The rhythm of the heat (Peter Gabriel) 76 Suzanne (Peter Gabriel) 90 Blood of Eden (Peter Gabriel) I just bought his latest album (soundtrack to an Australian movie) - fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/11 "2002-07-26T02:42:28Z")
Dragon, do you mean “Long Walk Home”? How would you say it compares to his soundtrack for “Last Temptation of Christ”? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/12 "2002-07-26T03:09:51Z")
**Dragon** , the fact that you have numbered your favorite songs up to at least #90 is, frankly, quite frightening. 🙂 I should qualify my statements by saying that, up until the mid-80’s, Peter Gabriel was THE most talented artist working in pop music. Genesis is still one of my all-time favorite bands (although I’m partial to the Collins era), and many songs from Gabriel’s first four solo albums, especially “Solsbury Hill”, also rank among my favorites. Peter also puts on an _amazing_ live show. Back in '86, I saw him fall BACKWARDS into the audience during “Lay Your Hands On Me”, and he let the crowd carry him halfway across the stadium floor before clambering back on stage. One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen during ANY concert I’ve attended…while sober, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/13 "2002-07-27T09:44:31Z")
Just to bump this thread–surely there are more PG fan here that haven’t signed in–I’ll pose this question: what happened to him that made PG3 so different from his earlier stuff? I mean, PG1 and PG2 were ‘typical’ rock band records, exploring different genres with varying degrees of success. But suddenly with PG3, there was a way different aesthetic operating, most recognizably with the well-known edict that there be no cymbals. The advent of technology-- particularly samplers–seems significant, although it wasn’t until PG4 aka Security that this was readily apparent. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/14 "2002-07-27T11:48:40Z")
What happened with PG3 was he discovered African music and got himself a drum machine. That was when he started basing his songs on drum patters he was getting out of music he was hearing and trying to make on his drum machine. That’s what he’s said in interviews, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/15 "2002-07-27T14:58:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix \* > \*\*Peter Gabriel is my favourite singer of all time - witness from my top100 all-time favourite songs: > 76 Suzanne (Peter Gabriel) > \*\* Just to note, in case you weren’t aware, this song was actually written by [Leonard Cohen](http://www.leonardcohen.com/), although yes, the Peter Gabriel version is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/16 "2002-07-28T00:03:19Z")
**Melandry** Thanks, but as you could have seen in the link, I am quite aware of that. 🙂 **Revtim** I did mean the Long walk home. Difficult to compare to Passion (which I like as well), LWH is very much influenced by Australian music and sounds, just give it a try… **KGS** You scare easily, don’t you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-peter-gabriel-thread/120732/17 "2002-07-28T01:00:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix \* > \*\*\*\*Melandry\*\*Thanks, but as you could have seen in the link, I am quite aware of that. 🙂 > \*\* Well then, I apologize for not digging three levels into the link you provided in order to discover that you already knew that. :rolleyes: