Intuitive Music

Peter Gabriel circa 1973

Peter Gabriel is considered one of the most creative and innovative producers, writers, performers and video makers from the 20th Century.

Born in Woking, UK, in 1950, Peter Gabriel started his career as a drummer and later vocalist with a group of classmates from the Charterhouse public school in Godalming, Surrey. He and keyboardist Tony Banks, whom had started a musical friendship since 1963, joined in 1966 the members of the band the Anon Anthony Phillips (guitar), Mike Rutherford (bass), and Rob Tyrrell (drums) to form a new project called The Garden Wall, which later would became Genesis.

After a a pop and soul oriented album on Decca Records “From Genesis to Revelation” (1969), featuring John Matthew on drums, Genesis created a very personal combination of progressive rock, classical music, and folk with the release of their second album “Trespass” (1970) released on the Charisma label. This combination of elements as well as the mysterious charisma of Gabriel as a performer onstage turned the band into one of the most important bands in the history of rock music. After the addition of guitarist Steve Hackett and drummer Phil Collins in 1970, Genesis recorded some of the most original, complex, and lyrical works from the 70’s.

Peter Gabriel, 1973

During the early 70’s, Peter Gabriel innovated the rock scene by fusioning live music with theatrical shows and storytelling supported in his fantastic lyrics, influenced by Greek mythology, English classical literature, zen philosophy and the British pre-surrealism of Lewis Carroll. In a desperate decision to attract the attention press media and following the footsteps of Arthur Brown, Peter Gabriel, appeared disguised onstage in 28th September 1973 National Sports Stadium, Dublin. He dressed a red dress from her wife and a fox mask, just like in the cover of the band’s later album “Foxtrot”. Despite the disapproval of some members of the band about this new look, it’s result was Genesis on the cover of the Melody Maker magazine the week later. During the period of the albums “Foxtrot” (1972) and “Selling England by the Pound” (1973) the shows became extremely plastic, closer to the theatre than the classic rock scene. Gabriel shaved the forefront of his head to increase an even more dramatic look and started featuring onstage a dozen of different surrealistic characters during the development of the different stories.

During this period, Gabriel even broke a leg during a show in Friars Inn when he jumped off the stage expecting the audience would hold him, but they didn’t. Not only he managed to go back onstage with a broken leg to finish the concert but 15 years later he would try again as a solo artist and inspired other rock artists. At the same time, Peter Gabriel stories and consequently the music of the band became more surrealistic, recording in 1972 the 22 minutes length epic “Supper’s Ready”, which was inspired by a vision that he saw in the garden of his girlfriend’s parents house. Gabriel related himself: “There was this room at the top of Jill’s parents house. This room was the coldest part of the house. I always used to get the shivers when I went in there. We had this strange evening up there which ended up with Jill feeling like she’d been possessed. I experienced some sort of evil at that point - I saw another face in her face. It was an experience I could not forget and was the starting point for a song about the struggle between good and evil.”

Peter Gabriel as the Sleeperman, 1974

The peak of Genesis theatrical period came in 1974, with the release of the double album “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”. The album was based on a conceptual story about a Puertorican grafitti artist in New York, which was played live on tour featuring a complex stage production that included costumes, light show and video show. In 1975, Peter Gabriel, after having recorded six legendary albums with Genesis, he quit the band to start a solo career which turned him into one of the most innovative producers of all times. Gabriel sent a press release leaving his statement very clear: “I’m not quitting Genesis not be a Bowie and I’m not quitting Genesis to be a Ferry”.

Peter Gabriel set his own recording studios in in an old mill in Bath, Whiltshire, UK, where he recorded four solo albums during the last 70’s concentrated in the exploration all sorts of innovative sound techniques, fusioning all short of music styles in a very personal way. Gabriel debuted as a solo artist in 1977 with the release of the “Peter Gabriel 1″ album, for which he got surrounded by a wonderful set of musicians including guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson, bass player Tony Levin later of King Crimson, drummer Allan Schwartzberg, percussionist Jim Maelen, guitarist Steve Hunter, keyboardist Jozef Chirowski and the essential advice and collaboration of Larry Fast on synthesizers and programming. The track “Solsbury Hill” reached number 13 in the UK lists. Taking a giant step from his Genesis past, Gabriel produced a personal explorative world centered in the sound language and it’s effects on the subconscious of the human psyche. During his solo career Gabriel has found a way to use the music to explore and heal his own psychological conflicts as a short of therapy.

Peter Gabriel’s obscure and acid second album, entitled “Peter Gabriel 2″, was released in 1978 and was produced by King Crimson’s guitarist Robert Fripp, bringing a crude dark sound that could be compared with the first works from Neu! and Can. The album also featured the collaboration of musicians like Tony Levin, drummer Jerry Marotta, and again the essential collaboration of Larry Fast on synthesizer and treatments. Two tracks from the album were also recorded by Robert Fripp in his debut solo album “Exposure” (1979): “Here Comes the Flood” (featuring Gabriel vocals plus tons of the guitarist’s looping technique) and “Exposure”. Fripp would later describe his experience in the studio as a “very demoralizing and depressing experience” after his constant confrontation with producer Bob Ezrin. During the tour, following to this album Robert Fripp accompanied Peter Gabriel on the shows with the condition of performing sitting offstage, hidden behind the P.A. system. He was actually introduced to the audience as “Dusty Rhodes”.

“Peter Gabriel 3″ (1980) meant an even bigger step into Gabriel’s career. For this album, the list of collaborators grew considerably, featuring Larry Fast (synths, processing, bagpipes, electronic production), Phil Collins (drums and percussions), Robert Fripp (guitar), John Giblin (bass), Tony Levin (introducing a new bass instrument called stick), Jerry Marotta (drums and percussions), Dick Morrisey (sax), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), Morris Pert (percussion), Paul Weller of the Jam (guitar), and Kate Bush (vocals). At this stage, Peter Gabriel had already started to investigate on the African rhythms and harmonies and he started introducing primitive bassdrum beats and literally removed the hats from the drum kit for the first time in rock music. This is the case of the opening track “Intruder”, which was born from a conversation with his ex-partner Phil Collins about making a song about a psychotic character. “Intruder” was Peter Gabriel’s personal vision, Phil Collins recorded his classic “In the Air Tonight”. The album also featured the anti-racism anthem “Biko”, dedicated to the South-African anti-apartheid non violent activist Stephen Biko who was tortured and killed in 1977 by the South-African police, being this the first Peter Gabriel’s incursion in the support for the human rights.

During this period, his love for African and world music took him to found in 1980 the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts & Dance) festival, an organization to promote the arts from traditional and contemporary cultures with performances, educational projects, and records. The first WOMAD festival was a failure though, and Peter Gabriel practically went to bankrupt. To be able to recover an finance the next edition of the festival Peter Gabriel asked for the support of his ex-friends from Genesis to perform an unique reunion concert to raise money. The ‘Six Of The Best’ concert was held on October the 2nd, 1982, at the Milton Keynes Bowl organized with the support of the Marquee Club and the National Jazz Federation. Gabriel wrote for the concert’s booklet: “With the concert we shall be able to pay off some of our dates and hopefully learn from our mistakes. WOMAD would be a great event to hold in Hyde Park for free if we could get someone to sponsor it and Ken Livingstone to arrange it, for example.”Larry Fast, Jerry Marotta and David Rhodes, it also had the collaboration of Peter Hammill from Van Der Graaf Generator on backing vocals, Roberto Laneri on sax, David Lord on keyboards, and Morris Pert on percussion. These is probably the most experimental of all Peter Gabriel albums in terms of sound and the better produced, where he found a very personal balance between experimentation, electronica and rock music.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel’s most commercial success wouldn’t happen until a few years later in 1986, with the release of the album”So”. After a period of hiatus, Gabriel was looking for a new music formula to give way to his creativity and he decided to take a step back to his soul roots and a step ahead in the revolutionary way of production. The album was produced by Daniel Lanois, who worked with Gabriel in the soundtrack for Alan Parker’s film “Birdy” (1985) and featured a super-team formed by Tony Levin, Manu Katche, and David Rhodes, plus the collaboration of Kate Bush in the duet song “Don’t Give Up”, and the revolutionary Senegalese vocals of Youssou N’dour. The perfectionism, presence, fresh and power of this album can place in the list of the best produced albums ever. “So” also featured the songs “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” that placed Gabriel for the very first time in the top of the charts. For the video of “Sledgehammer” Gabriel worked in animation with the Quay Brothers and it later was awarded with the No. 1 position in Rolling Stone’s top 100 videos of all time. Parallely to the album Gabriel Of produced in duet with Laurie Anderson the song “Excellent Birdsâ€? which appeared in the her album “Mister Heartbreak” (1984).

In 1984, Peter Gabriel embarked in the production of the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s controversial film “The Last Temptation Of Christ”, released as “Passion”. Whatever Peter Gabriel produced for the film is closer to any of the early ambient works of Aphex Twin rather than to any typical soundtrack. Gabriel produced a beautiful and original work of ambient, electronica, and world music. The album won Gabriel a Grammy for Best New Age Recording and a nomination for Best Original Score.

Having grown an enormous interest in the world music, in 1991 Peter Gabriel founded the Real World label to host international artists from different cultures. He also turned his Real World studios into one of the wonders of the studio recording world. During the early 90’s he increased his involvement into human rights, appearing at the Nelson Mandela concerts at Wembley and working with Amnesty International to set up the “Human Rights Now” tour, which toured several countries featuring Sting, Bruce Springsteen,Tracey Chapman and Youssou N’Dour. In 1992, Gabriel initiated the “Witness” programme in collaboration with the Reebok Foundation in the USA, to arm human rights activists from around the world with hand-held video cameras and other tools of mass communication. He has also supported the launch of Greenpeace in Russia and also contributed to the ‘One World, One Voice’ album.

In 1992, Peter Gabriel commissioned 11 visual artists to interpret each of the 11 songs on his new album “Us”, whose works were featured at the British Contemporary Art Exhibition in 1993. “Us” also featured the collaboration of more than 20 musicians from all over the world, including the main band with keyboardist Richard Blair, programmer David Bottrill, percussionist Manu Katche, guitarist Daniel Lanois, bassist Tony Levin and guitarist David Rhodes. It also featured the collaboration of Peter Hammill on vocals, John Paul Johnes on bass, Sinead O’Connor on vocals, Shankar on violin and William Orbit on programming, to name a few. “Us” followed the tradition of the former album combined with a rich and complex fusion of world sounds.The album earned four Grammy nominations and two MTV awards in the USA. The album was followed by the ‘Secret World Tour’, which was produced by Gabriel and pioneering Canadian director/designer Robert Lepage, becoming one of the most advanced and revolutionary live shows ever where music, art, vision and technology became one. The ‘Secret World Live’ video released in 1993 gives a credit of it. That same year Gabriel set up Real World Multimedia and brought together a team of experts dedicated to the development, production and publishing of innovative CD-ROMs, releasing the CD Roms “Xplora” and “Eve”.

Peter Gabriel

In 1997, Peter Gabriel was invited by Mark Fisher to contribute with a production show for the central space of the London Millennium Dome in London, which was opened on January 1st 2000. The music for the production was released in the “OVO” album. After another period of hiatus Peter Gabriel released the album “Up” in 2002, surrounded again by an army of musicians that included MPC Groove, Manu Katche, Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Daniel Lanois, Peter Green, David Sancious and Shankar. The album is a continuation of the former “Us” but with deep incursions into electronica sounds as well as dark and industrial atmospheres.