response 25 of 104:

Jul 19 21:03 UTC 2000

  I'm not a big Kate Bush fan, either..

response 27 of 104:

Jul 20 05:57 UTC 2000

Peter Gabriel's peak for me remains his third and fourth albums, 
titled "Peter Gabriel" and "Peter Gabriel" respectively.  For years 
I had heard that the sound quality on the UK versions of those CDs
was better than the domestic releases, so I was delighted to have 
Leslie bring me back copies of PG3 and PG4 from Austria in 1999.
I've played them a fair bit in the intervening year, and those two albums
have held up pretty well, 20 years on.

Part of the unusual sound of PG3 is that Gabriel had the cymbals
removed from the drum kit.

Curiously, I have never had any interest in following Gabriel's career
back into the band Genesis, and I really don't know why I picked up his
first solo album in the late 1970s; probably there was a rave review in 
Rolling Stone, which I followed pretty closely in those days.
And the second album was a massive disappointment: except for the song
"DIY," I can't remember a thing about it.  Wasn't going to get the third 
album at all, but I took a chance on a used copy when an acquaintance
was liquidating his LP collection (because he had converted to a 
church which taught that rock was the Devil's work).   I brought it home 
and immediately decided I had acquired a masterpiece.
 
-----

Buried in a review on amazon.com I found a description of what's in the
second disc of the "limited edition" of OVO.   "Rappers Neneh Cherry
and Rasco appear in the bonus disc, accompanying PG in telling the 
story of OVO."  OK, I probably don't need the limited edition.

response 29 of 104:

Jul 20 06:01 UTC 2000

Prsonally, my favorites PG album is PG3, the one with Games with Frontiers,
Biko, etc.
 

response 31 of 104:

Jul 20 19:34 UTC 2000

  re #27:  OK, so he had the cymbals and Phil Collins removed from the 
           drum set.  Anything else?

  Peter Gabriel 3 is a great album.   "Security" (aka PG4) is also very good.

response 33 of 104:

Jul 20 20:09 UTC 2000

  It's more complicated than that, actually..  Collins really is a good
  drummer, and his pop music is pretty good for pop music if you like that
  kind of stuff (I generally don't, but it's not fair to dismiss him just 
  because I don't happen to like the style of music he makes..)

  Collins has performed on a lot of music I *do* like, for example Eno's
  "Another Green World" album.

response 35 of 104:

Jul 20 23:45 UTC 2000

I believe that PG3, and the song "Biko" in particular, were significant
steps in Peter Gabriel's path into becoming a leading supporter
& marketer of "world music."  Gabriel became involved with the WOMAD
group (World of Music and Dance), who produced some very influential
anthologies in the closing days of the LP, and then he went on to 
start up the Real World music label which specializes in folk and 
"roots-pop" music from less-well-covered areas of the world.  

response 37 of 104:

Jul 21 02:51 UTC 2000

We're still in the "closing days of theLP," technically.

response 39 of 104:

Jul 22 08:16 UTC 2000

  Really?  I'm going to go out on a limb and presume you're making this
  decision based almost exclusively on what you hear of each artist on
  the radio?  If so, there's a substantial selection bias affecting your
  comparison -- you're hearing only the tracks from each artist that radio
  programmers have chosen to play, so if that's the case then perhaps it's
  not surprising that they sound similar to you..

response 41 of 104:

Jul 22 19:52 UTC 2000

'family portrait' (i may have the title wrong) is my favorite peter 
gabriel tune

response 43 of 104:

Jul 24 05:11 UTC 2000

I think it's "Family Snapshot." I recall "Sanpschuss" being the German title.

"Shock the Monkey" is another radio track I'd have to say is typical of his
artistry. It was really only his titled CDs (inasmuch as PG4 wasn't
voluntarily titled "Security") that had obvious radio tracks meant for mass
and vapid consumption ("Steam", e.g. -- although I always thought of "Kiss
the Frog" as one of those mass consumption singles, and I thought Gypsi aid
she liked that one... oh yeah, and "Sledgehammer," which was almost as obvious
as radio song as REM's "Stand," which qualifies as possibly the most annoying
song ever written by an artistic, quality band).

From a purely poetic standpoint, I think "Family Snapshot" is one of the best
musical poems PG has written, from the emotional breadth of it (from anger,
to hatred, to desperation, to poignant forlornness).

response 45 of 104:

Jul 25 23:19 UTC 2000

Mike: I hardly ever listen to pop radio.  OK, I've heard a lot of 
Collins in muzak situations (and in the recent Tarzan movie), but my 
knowledge of Gabriel is almost exclusively from stuff played to me by 
Gabriel fans, often in traded/circulated tapes.  I remember hearing 
about half of his album "So" on such a tape, and really liking it.  Then 
I bought it, and didn't like it at all.

response 47 of 104:

Jul 26 14:52 UTC 2000

Ditto.  I don't see any similarities, even in most of the radio releases.  I
can't picture either one of them writing the other one's songs.

response 49 of 104:

Jul 26 20:43 UTC 2000

"Sussudio" (or whatever it is) isn't annoyingly catchy?  "Two Hearts" isn't
annoyingly catchy?  Blecch.