About keymoon Expertise I can answer questions about Peter Gabriel`s musical career from early Genesis days. I know which song is on which album, I can tell which song by a single lyric line. I know much about his tours and other live performances and projects. I also know a bit about his personal life. If should I get a question I can`t answer I know where to get the information.
Experience I have been a Peter Gabriel fan for over 18 years. I have all of his albums (as well as all the Genesis albums from the PG period). I am a frequent poster on several discussion forums about Peter Gabriel. His music is one of the biggest passions in my life. It is a part of who I am as a person, so naturally I get all the information there is to get about it. I would love to be able to help other people with their questions about him.
Expert: keymoon Date: 1/6/2005 Subject: Peter Gabriel
Question 1) Why does he seem to dislike the idea of solo album titles(So, Up, Us, sometimes no title at all), even though the Genesis albums were pretty long and complex compared to other bands at the time(Selling England by the Pound, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, etc.)?
2) Is it true he was the first person to actually dive into an audience?
3) He is famous for his telling stories inbetween songs during the Genesis days. Do you know if there are any transcripts of them lying around?
4) And finally (about Mr. Gabriel himself, anyway)... how old is he? (Yeah, I know, that's a lot easier compared to the first three.)
5) Oh, and a friend who's a big Phil Collins fan was wondering which Peter Gabriel songs/albums (solo-wise, that is) has him playing drums on them. It's more of a Phil Collins question, (of who I am not nearly as big a fan of as Mr. Gabriel, though he IS an awesome drummer.) Thanks, though, if you do answer. I live in the dark side of Alabama, where just about NOONE listens to progressive music. It's always nice to know someone's into the same stuff. Oh, and the Who rock... but I already know everything about them.
Q#1 He always said he liked the idea of the albums being like a set , he always liked the idea that people remembered them by the covers and not by the names , and he always refered to soap boxes always looking different but having the same stuff inside , i think his point being the opposite to that , but i think he was pushed to have titles to the albums by the record companies so he chose the first one So because it had a nice shape , i presume US and UP followed in that fashion as well as being relevant to the song on there.
Peter originally saw his solo albums like magazines...and thought the distinctive covers would be enough to distinguish them from each other. He never felt the need to title them until his US record company insisted he do so.
Peter had requested that Phil did not play any cymbals, because Peter didn´t want such a light sound on his record. At the beginning, Phil had a few problems adjusting to this rule, hitting the air where the cymbals used to be. But when they fixed another drum to the spot the cymbals normally are, everything went smoothly from then on.
Peter, together with the studio engineers, discovered by chance the effect that was later to be called "gated reverb" - and Peter immediately liked what he was hearing. This had been when Collins and Gabriel had been working on an unreleased song called "Marguerita", so Peter just asked Phil to give him 5 minutes of consistent solo drumming, to be treated to the new effect. In the end, this drumming ended up on "Intruder".
After the Gabriel session, Phil wanted to use the new effect on his own recordings, and came up with "In The Air Tonight". Unfortunately, "In The Air Tonight" was released earlier than "Intruder", so Phil ended up getting all the credits for this revolutionary new drum sound, which Peter took a bit sourly.
I hope these answers are satisfying for you! Please let me know I you want more information!
