Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
1977
Album Summary
Peter Gabriel is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter and producer Peter Gabriel, released on 25 February 1977 by Charisma Records. After his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public in 1975, Gabriel took a break to concentrate on his family life. In 1976, he began writing material for a solo album and met producer Bob Ezrin, who agreed to produce it. Gabriel hired several additional musicians to play on the album, including guitarist Robert Fripp and bassist Tony Levin. The album was later known as Peter Gabriel I or Car, referring to the album's artwork produced by Hipgnosis. Upon the album's release, it peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 38 on the US Billboard 200. It has since reached Gold certification in both countries for selling 100,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. The song "Solsbury Hill" was the first single which peaked at No. 13 in the UK. Gabriel supported the album with a tour of Europe and the US through 1977, featuring a seven-piece band including Fripp and Levin. The album was remastered in 2002 and 2011.
WikipediaThe first track sounded about as proggy as expected, so the rest of the album came as something of a surprise! Enjoyed the variety, and the Randy Newman impressions... Fave track - gotta be "Solsbury Hill" - it's an order of magnitude better than everything else on the album. Plus, I just rewatched Vanilla Sky...
A pretty good debut, solo album. Clearly, Peter was trying to find a sound, and I think it’s obvious that it’s songs like “Solsbury Hill.“
i kind of loved it? hadn’t heard any of the songs but solisbury hill, and that banged, but i didn’t realize it would be so weird. gonna check out more peter gabriel now
This was a good album. I found a couple of the songs a bit strange but it certainly had a few good ones. Favourite: Solsbury Hill
Haven’t heard this one before, I’ve only listened to So. But I really enjoyed the unique instrumentation and songwriting on this one. Looking forward to listening again.
Ok, this unexpectedly ruled. I've heard Solsbury Hill before but wasn't expecting the rest to be so good. I think I'm gonna give it a 5/5!
Prefs: Moribund the Burgermeister, Solsbury Hill, Humdrum, Down the Dolce Vita, Here Comes The Flood Moins pref: Waiting for the Big One
I didn't expect this to be good but I was surprised. I enjoyed it. I really liked Excuse Me and Waiting for the Big One.
Very like his work in Genesis, showing how much control he had in the band. Solisbury Hill is far and away the best known (and probably with good reason) but the album as a whole is pretty consistent.
Most tracks have a good intro, great riff, and interesting detailing. But the vocal parts lack tension; even when the song is not upbeat on the surface, it just sounds like they have all the answers, so there is no reason for me to care. So I would classify this as a solid nostalgic 70s rock album, but not a timeless classic.
More ‘prog rock’ than I would have expected and pretty polished for a first solo album, reflecting years of prior work with Genesis. Insightful lyrics re: the human condition that are typical of his other work. Big vibe change between the pop single and the other tracks - sound like different albums.
Not bad. Might be willing to listen to again but won't specifically seek it out.
Good album. Solid instrumental and good vocals. Were some parts that weakend songs but I enjoyed.
Awesome album. Some weird tracks but enjoyable. Humdrum, slow burn, down the dolce, solsberry hill
dis shit NOICE. Peter gabriel progboy goat genesis GANG. solsbury hill makes me wanna go on a ketamine bender. swing your dick and balls mr gabriel because you were ahead of your time with this one. sadly Phil Collins is the better musician. Minus one star. solid debut from an influential king
Gotta Love Solsbuty Hill, of course. The rest of the album feels a bit abstract, but still fun
I was never a big fan of Genesis, or any post-Genesis bands or projects, so Peter Gabriel was fairly anonymous for me before listening to his first solo album. My first impression was that the first two songs are fairly underwhelming. By a quick research I found that "Solsbury Hill" is a well-liked single from this album, but I really found it boring and uneventful. Nothing that would excite me, both in the Gabriel's singing and in the musical layer. When moving into the second part of the self titled record, I actually realised how good this is. "Humdrum" and "Slowburn" were a really fun songs, but the best comes at the end, with "Waiting for the Big One" and "Here Comes the Flood". Very nice and not obvious compositions, heavily influenced by progressive rock, with a lot of tempo changes. Interesting solos, piano at the last track and great singing made those two a great songs. I was curious of who was the main creator of the album. Gabriel was the writer of all of the songs, but the music was created by Robert Fripp and Tony Levin, both known from King Crimson, which explains quite a lot. It might be my subconscious, but last few songs on the album, and "Waiting for the Big One" especially, could be easily added to Crimson's discography and no one would notice that there is something wrong. To sum up, I am positively surprised with this album. As far as I know later records are a little bit more pop than alt/prog rock, but going on a trip into Genesis albums and early Phil Collins should be very pleasant. Possibly even on this list!
Peter Gabriel's first solo record starts with 'Moribund the Burgermeister' that still contains quite a bit of the Genesis atmosphere of 'Lamb', but with the beautiful 'Solsbury Hill' Gabriel takes a different path. A perfect pop song with great lyrics and a catchy melody. Next song is the Bowie-like rocker 'Modern Love' makes it clear that this is going to be a varied album. When we continue in a kind of vaudeville style song with the somewhat strange 'Excuse Me' we are going all over the place. Together with Side B's 'Slowburn' and 'Waiting For The Big One' these are the songs on the album that drag it down from a superb debut. The songs feel too much all over the place. Closer 'Here Comes the Flood' is once again a brilliant song, and therefore a nice end to a fine solo debut. The stripped-down version of that song on 'Shaking the Tree' is also very worthwhile.
This album didn't make a huge impression on me, but it was consistently good. It's an interesting look at the interim period between the prog rock Peter Gabriel of Genesis and the pop start Peter Gabriel that I grew up with 4/5
The first half of the album was very interesting, unusual and creative songwriting. It has a few low points but an entertaining listen throughout
I like Peter Gabriel. He's such a little musical gremlin making music for small toadstool-dwelling gnomes. I'm basically saying that if Papa Smurf was real, he would listen to Peter Gabriel. Cool mix of pop and prog rock. I'm a fan. Going to blow smoke rings from my comically oversized pipe now.
I was expecting something very different. Something more experimental or psychedelic, but this album is pretty much diverse. I hear some psychedelic but mixed with old plain rock n' roll, pre-indie rock, and a choir(?). I'll increase my evaluation just because of my surprise.
Enjoyable poppy prog rock album. Standout is "Solsbury Hill" which is extremely catchy. Felt a little over-produced at times, with some exaggerated ballad-y moments.
"Solsbury Hill" is probably the best, most known song on the album and my personal favorite. Nice album though I suppose I was expecting to hear more known songs but that's probably on his other albums. 7/10.
After splitting from Genesis, Gabriel took a break and then released this solo album. And boy what a debut solo it was. Although he was essentially the leader of proggy Genesis for years he completely re-vamped his sound and this album sounds nothing like Genesis. So extra kudos to him for that. There are so many great songs here: Modern love, Down the dolce vita, Here comes the flood, Humdrum etc, but Solsbury Hill has to be one of his all time greatest songs. Overall this is a tremendous debut.
I remember eagerly running out and buying this album, being disappointed with the drivel Genesis had been putting out since Peter Gabriel’s departure. The wonderfully weird opener Moribund the Burgermeister did not disappoint. Solsbury Hill showed he was going to explore different styles, which he confirmed emphatically with Excuse Me. The production on big rockers like Modern Love sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it and realize now that the missing link was Alice Cooper – Toronto’s Bob Ezrin was producing both artists at that time! The Flood preceded by Dolce Vita is a great finishing combo. Between a 4 and a 5 for me.
Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was such an excellent LP I couldn't believe Peter Gabriel split from Genesis after that one. He was always the weird one in Genesis with the costumes, crazy acid induced lyrics (see Supper's Ready) and singing style. This made him the easy one to like. When his first solo album arrived I remember reading the song names before playing it and seeing the first song was "Moribund the Burgermeister". That made me so happy. I had no clue what this title and that's what I liked about it. It was weird which meant Peter was back in business.
Wow, didn't realize "Solsbury Hill" was Peter Gabriel! This is one of my favorite songs ever. The whole record is awesome! Love Petey Gabe's stuff, especially the more theatrical cuts. Hope more of his work pops up!
Hadn't listened to this album in a long time, enjoyed re-listening. Solsbury Hill is a classic.
Usually, when artists go solo due to creative differences, they start to suck or become more stripped down. In most cases, even if the songs are decent, you feel like the band could make those songs better, or at least that's how I felt in cases like Stevie Nicks or Morrissey. But just like Donald Fagen leaving Steely Dan, Peter Gabriel shows he's full of a colorful diversity you just couldn't expect to find on their band's records. Not saying they're better, in fact these records tend to be less cohesive, but it goes to show how talented these artists are when they have full creative control. At heart, it shows that Peter Gabriel is a pop rock artist, who will fully realize his potential in his later masterpiece So. For now, he's exploring and finding what works for him. But as an audience member, I find myself enjoying every minute. It's actually a really great introduction to Gabriel-era Genesis, less busy and more spacious but still full of as much personality. "Modern Love" appeals to arena rock fans, "Humdrum" to adult contemporary, "Waiting for the Big One" to blues (and a bit of jazz), and "Down the Dolce Vita" to disco. But of course, the one that shines is the folk-like yacht rock "Solsbury Hill." Favorites: Moribund the Burgermeister, Solsbury Hill, Excuse Me, Down the Dolce Vista
The name of this song is "Solsbury Hill?" wow ok! I checked Spotify to make sure it wasn't glitching out and playing a different track hahah. Yea this song is a 5/5. Unfortunately Spotify started this album in shuffle mode so after the wild first track with weird guttural vocals it went to the rockin track 6, "Slowburn". The contrast wasn't bad or anything, and I think it would have been just as much of a leap as track 1 to track 2, "Solsbury Hill". I really hate accidental shuffle. I love the instrumentation on "Excuse Me". Love a good tuba oompah sound. Really enjoyed the album full through!
Solsbury Hill is a banger. Peter's voice is both so iconic and so well produced that its one of these distinctive sonic signatures in rock and roll. Down The Dolce Vita is also a banger. "stranded starfish have no place to hide."- Here Comes The Flood could be a fun cover.
This is one of the most eclectic albums I've gotten so far. Every song felt like peter gabriel just decided to pick a random genre and do his version of it. However, I wasn't super engaged by the album which might be more because it was on in the car while I was driving but nonetheless I didn't find too many of the songs enjoyable by themselves. The smooth jazz one was decent but other than that I already don't remember too much about it
Good album, enjoyed Solsbury Hill and would give the album another listen
This was enjoyable, a bit chaotic at times, but there were some very pleasant moments as well. He seems to enjoy contrasting sweet gentle melodies with sudden loud and harsh, almost zombie-like emotion-stiffling spells. There were times when I heard inventive musical arrangements and that is always a plus when someone creates a sound that has not been heard before. A lot of contrasting darkness and lightness, sound-wise, not entirely sure about lyric-wise. Solsbury Hill is a very sweet song and to my surprise I recognized that one.
Oh, how clever, he just names all of his albums "PETER GABRIEL". This is the one with his best song, which has been co-opted too many times in mediocre movies and movie trailers. It's also the album where he sound like Randy Newman on a couple of songs. Frankly, I like my Bob Ezrin produced albums to be a little more coked out than what we get here. Especially one from the 1970's.
Ok, two things: 1) Classic rock is classic (Solsbury Hill) but goddamn, Mr Gabriel, your range of musical styles here is all over the place. If I closed my eyes on Waiting for the Big One, I would swear that you were Randy Newman. In addition to blues, there’s honky-tonk, hard rock, chamber music, barbershop chorale, and funk. Holy schnikeys. 2) The album cover is so jarring. It looks like the artist is committing suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning in their car. Way to grab attention. Yeesh.
Solisbury Hill is obvs an amazing track, but I’m not that into the rest of it. 3/5
The very definition of curate's egg - Here Comes The Flood is magnificent, probably his greatest solo song (whether overproduced or not), Solsbury Hill a pop banger, and Humdrum a great track. But Moribund the Burgomeister, the cocktail jazz/blues of Waiting for the One and so on are perhap more like a rich 70s rocker struggling to work out what to say when going solo. Three stars but not evenly distributed.
The song had some absolutely amazing songs but it also had some awful songs I could barely get through. I rate it in the middle since it was a mix of amazing and not so great.
There's a decent album buried in here but there's just too much of everything. It very much feels like throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Some of it hits but a lot of it really doesn't. There seems to be a desperate need to prove he can do all the genres. Still it's better than most of the proggy albums we have been tortured with on this list.
Bit of a scattergun of ideas. Not terrible, but not much better than mediocre. Fun fact: Peter Gabriel is 103 years old and keeps his youthful look by bathing in bull semen 12 times a week.
Totally not what I was expecting from Peter Gabriel! What a fun listen.
3 good/great songs, lots of weird and meandering ones. Sounds like Genesis produced by Bob Ezrin, accurately enough
A clear 80s sound, breaking new ground in 1977. Doesn't quite hit the heights of Gabriel's later stuff. I'm a gigantic Sledgehammer fan. But this is pleasant enough! Solsbury Hill is overplayed on the radio, but I like it! I like Pete!
I found this album to be so boring but I think I was just in the wrong headspace. It’s probably worth another listen but it’s not the kinda album I’d crave listening to, the tracks are a bit all over the place in terms of style
Solsbury Hill is sublime. There's so much joy and energy there. I can listen to it anytime and it always works. Here Comes the Flood hits like a punch in the gut (btw, brilliant use of this song in The Americans soundtrack)
There is some good stuff on here but I found the album to be quite disjointed and unsatisfying. 3/5
Certainly an eclectic collection of tunes, I do have some respect for old PG and his ability to change it up.
This is Peter Gabriel's first solo album after the break up of Genesis. I must say I'm not very crazy about either Peter, or Genesis' music, but am familiar with both. This album started out with a very weird prog rock song, then transitioned to the very popular and familiar Solsbury Hill. Modern Love, Slowburn, and Down the Dolce Vita are rockin runes, and the rest of the album was more really weird prog rock experimentation. There were constant tempo changes and nonsensical lyrics throughout. Overall, very odd and experimental, and nothing to really captivate me, so this just affirms my dislike of Peter Gabriel's style of music. It may make more sense if I was high. Favourite songs: Solsbury Hill, Modern Love, Down the Dolce Vita, Here Comes the Flood Least favourite songs: Waiting for the Big One, Moribund the Burgermeister, Humdrum, Excuse Me 3/5 (Solsbury Hill alone gave it +1 point)
Bleah. Amazing how good one song can be, and you might think, ah, this is going to be a set of songs so similar to the amazing song I heard that is on this album. But no.
This album was all over the place. I'm all for artists branching out and exploring different genres, but at least have the courtesy to explore them on different albums! But man, Salisbury Hill? I'm sorry, I love that song. So iconic, and in just about every movie trailer made during the late 80s-90s (BTW, did you see the trailer where they turned the Shining into a family comedy just by playing Salisbury Hill in the background of the clips? Genius!). So SH - solid 5; The rest? 2 (it ain't no Sledgehammer). 3.5/5
You can feel this albums influence on modern singer-songwriters. There’s a lovely sensibility to this that makes it hold up a little better than similar release. Likewise it gave Gabriel a blueprint for subsequent (even better) work.
I really liked it the first listen but my enjoyment dropped on the second. It has a great opening and closing stretch of songs, but the middle cluster was annoying. You can definitely hear Peter Gabriel working through his style as this album contains numerous style. Some work, some don't. Solsbury Hill is a classic though.
Give me Peter Gabriel's covers. You can keep the originals. Best track: Solsbury Hill
A debut album that demonstrates a large range of sounds, with the highlight being Solsbury Hill
Enjoyed this album. Big fan of the half halloweeny Moribund The Burgermeister.
La la la Liv-er-pool, Liv-er-pool! La la la Liv-er-pool, Liv-er-pool! X
This is a really interesting album. It was original and had great composition, the lyrics were good and you could hear it constantly innovating from all these different sources. This is definitely sometimes favourite album of all time, and if I were on The Desert Island with just this album I'd get really into it before dying of starvation. ... I'm just not sure I'd choose to listen to it ever.
A odd mixed bag, this one. Only recognized Solsbury Hill, though I don't know that I'd known its title or who it was by. And then there's some stuff that almost sounds like Randy Newman and so stuff wackier than that. Overall I liked it but it had no cohesion as an album.
I had hoped for more off the back of Solisbury Hill and the oddly named opener, but this album definitely peaks early then settles into a reliable mediocrity. Solisbury Hill guarantees it's place though
Peter Gabriel is clearly a man with a thousand ideas running through his head. One minute he’s singing in theatrical voices on “Moribund the Burgermeister,” the next he’s crooning on the pop song “Solsbury Hill.” There’s rockers like “Modern Love,” the old-timey throwback “Excuse Me” and multi-part songs like “Slowburn,” where he tries to capture the breadth of his musical interests in one dramatic song. I think it mostly works! It’s certainly interesting to hear him go for it all. At times I found it overblown the same way I do the proggy Genesis albums Gabriel made just before leaving the band. But these songs are more accessible. There seems to be more of an effort to cater to popular genres and styles. Gabriel sounds like he’s having fun too. “Solsbury Hill” is the clear standout. It’s a bright and catchy pop song but it isn’t simplistic or formulaic. Feels like his genius was more focused on this track and the result is a classic song.
3.6 - I like Gabriel's voice and songs like "Excuse Me", with its blend of barbershop a cappella and dixieland jazz, are playful fun. But there are moments where songs get dragged out, like on "Waiting for the Big One" that limps along for a full minute before ending on whimper.
Phenomenally eclectic, but rumbles along without any particularly weak moments. Good singing. Good composing (folk, orchestral, rock, blues, funk, pop, vaudeville)! Less prog than Genesis, but still wacky. I can see how Fish-era Marillion were influenced. 3.5 Good.
Some good stuff - Solsbury Hill stands out. There are other, much better later versions of Humdrum and especially Here comes the flood. This album was just a rough draft of later finished articles.
A rather incohesive collection of overly eccentric songs. Lucky for us, Peter Gabriel's solo music improved vastly as his career progressed. Let's just say I wouldn't have picked this particular album of his into this list.
I was surprised how little I liked this album. Don't think he found his voice yet. 2 🌟
I've heard of Peter Gabriel and I'm sure I know some of his bigger hits, so I was quite excited to get this album. I was actually kind of disappointed when I listened to it. The music wasn't horrid or abrasive, I just couldn't easily get into it. Seeing that this was his first album, I'm still excited to check out the rest of his discography and maybe even give this one another try.
Definitely a 70’s psychodelic rock album. It was okay, not my thing. Maybe I need to be high to enjoy it?!?!?! 🤷🏼♀️
I didn't care for this one that much, although I did think it had some good ideas. Not really digging it, unfortunately.
Just thought it was a bit all over the place and didn't enjoy listening to it
Notes - First solo album after his departure from genesis - Features Robert fripp and Tony levin of king crimson - This whole album is very all over the place - It works at times but it kind of made me feel like there was no central idea tying the songs together Fav - Solsbury hill - theres a good reason its the most played song on here - dense but catchy, pulls you in and keeps your attention Least fav - Down the dolce vita - cool use of orchestral elements but the song at the core feels less interesting than others on the album some cool ideas but don’t know if i see myself returning to this one, 2.5/5
All over the place and not particularly compelling beyond 'Solsbury Hill'. Is he trying to be a one man Queen? Why is there an orchestral disco number? What's with the Randy Newman style songs? Varied, curious, but far from great.
All of my Peter Gabriel knowledge comes from Peep Show. According to Toni, "he single-handedly created WOMAD." This album sounds like it was made by someone who single-handedly created WOMAD. Quite a lot going on, and some of it quite complex, but all of it very safe. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Solsbury Hill Date listened: 31/10/22
An enchanted princess once warned me not to listen to Peter Gabriel. He had fingered her in a children's fable and she did not like it. Not one bit.
whys he got his face that close to the window? he's gonna give it a lick isn't he. that would explain the state of this album.