Reviews (page 5 of 8)
All over the place and amazing!
3.5
Like Queen if they were actually good.
Solsbury Hill is great, the rest is overcooked
Peter Gabriel; very dramatic but not that good (the album, that is.) Solsbury Hill is by far the best song but isn’t enough to carry the album, many of the other songs are kitchy, weird, or just overdone. Not sure why this album is a 1001 Must listmaker, I guess because it’s Pete solo debut after Genesis. As you know, he improves as a writer and an artist. I believe we’ll be hearing from him again with So. L = (1.0*s) J = (2.7*s)
A rather mundane entry by PG with the only standout track being "Solsbury Hill." It's clear he was still trying to define his sound as this album is all over the place and pretty unrefined. I didn't like most of it but the ender "Here Comes the Flood" has a mysterious sound that does well at building something up but then goes too far into theatrical crowd rejoice and it loses me. Overall, slow and not that memorable so not sure why this made the list. 2.0 for PG1 but expect to hear more from him later.
Gabriel solo has some great albums but his early ones, like this one, are a one hitters. "Solsbury Hill" is by faaaaar the best song with the rest barely listenable. They get too stagey and even go as far as featuring Kermit singing saloon on "Excuse Me." It was not torture but "Car" was like driving a n old beater...a little bit of a rough ride. I think we will get more from Pete on the list with maybe another early one hit dudder and for sure a great one from the late 80s. PG1 gets 1.76 stars.
Unfortunately Peter Gabriel's debut solo album is a little too erratic for me. It's a valiant attempt to do something different and break out of the Genesis box, but it's too many ingredients throw into a blender. It showcases some of the roots of what would become his successful solo act, but for my money Peter Gabriel (Car) has too many experimental songs that almost sound as if they are trying to be artsy for artsy's sake. It may have been a better album if it was reeled in tad. I like what Peter Gabriel's solo work morphed into, but this initial record isn't something that I'll come back to. It's not terrible, just mostly skippable in a sea of other more notable work. 2.26 stars
I expected more from this because of his experience. It’s somewhat jam-band inspired and meandering musically. Brilliant, but his producers should have reined him in a bit more.
Grand.
Bit of a hodge-podge, but some nice tunes nonetheless.
This was a bit uneven for me as an album. Of course I can hear Peter Gabriel's talent here, but the album is all over the place. "Solsbury Hill," "Down The Dolce Vita," and "Here Comes The Flood" are the best songs on the album. The last two tracks were so stunning that I wanted the entire album to be like this. If Gabriel put together a whole album in the same vein as those tracks, it would be something special. But as is, the album is just alright.
My favourite Gabriel era is self-titled III and IV, and while I give this credit for ambition and restlessness, it's very patchy in terms of quality.
Odd mix of US stadium rock and folksy spangly guitars. Can see why Solsbury hill is a hit.
Surprisingly good and fun! Still some great progressive and creative tunes on here after his departure.
Sorry Pete
Peter Gabriel is capable of doing some epic shit. Peter Gabriel 3 and 4 are non-stop tour de forces of very cohesive sound, and some of my favorite albums . PG1 is... Interesting, because it's incohesive. I feel like it's his first foray finding his own sound after Genesis, and so its all of his experimental pistons firing at once. It's not my favorite, but I still really do like it. In between a 3 and a 4 star
I got less whiplash on Goliath at Six Flags NE than I did listening to this, but honestly each song is so solid on its own I don’t really care if it’s all over the place.
I always thought it was"Salisbury Hill". So that's a bit embarrassing.
A lot of varied music on here, and decently done, but nothing that jumped out as fantastic. I enjoyed, but it's showing its age.
Big, ambitious sound, with a couple of big songs, and some longueurs - mapped out the direction for his solo career, and for Simple Minds (and many others) too
4.5 - Not sure if it was how I was feeling, but just such a pleasant album
Some neat and quirky ideas. But ultimately Solsbury Hill is carrying. 3.6/5
Never listened to this before, really good!
Absolute monster of album. Super varied and simply excellent musicianship. I have always been a fan of peter but had never listened to this album as a whole just a song maybe 2. Now this is top 2 of his albums to me
Was kinda digging the 1st few tracks, then completely lost interest.
Previously rated: Peter Gabriel 3 (4/5) ************************ Like the previous one, this one is just varied enough, just eclectic enough, and just interesting enough for me to want to hear it again. Some it it sounds like Genesis/Phil Collins, I heard a Randy Newman-esque tune in there, and something else I can't remember a day later. One song sounded familiar, and that was Solsbury Hill, but I'm not sure where I heard it.
En vrai, quand même un ptit banger 🤏🤏🤏
I liked this less than I thought I was going to given how much I love Solsbury Hill
1.5
Not bad, but pretty average rock, not in a negative way.
1 star for Salisbury Hill
I'm not a Peter gabriel fan at all but Solsbury Hill, Down The Dolce Vita and Here Comes The Flood kind of go, whereas the rest of the album is middling to bad. very uneven, the phrase that keeps coming to mind, sensical or not, is "mud album"
Peter is still finding his feet here, but you can see where he WILL go.
I thought I knew Peter Gabriel. I did not. This album is a cornucopia of creativity. Some of it is not to my taste but it avoids boredom like the plague. Hats off to this genius for ditching ho-hum Genesis and spreading his wings.
317/1001 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Some moments of interest but overall not very memorable and trying to hard I feel.
Typical Gabriel quirkiness
I agree with the consensus about the variety of music in this album. And since it was his debut album, maybe it was more about finding what works. The first 3 songs - headlined by Solsbury Hill (a classic I've heard a bunch over my life) - were really solid. I don't know if I really liked another song until Down the Dolce Vita and that one was so different from everything else on the album. I like Peter Gabriel, so I'm struggling between giving this a low 4 or high 3. If half stars were a thing, it would just be a straight 3.5, but I'm willing to push this to low 4 territory.
Stylistically, this album is kind of all over the place, but its Peter Gabriel so pretty much everything hits. Its just kind of jarring to go from prog rock wanderings of Bergermeister to the folksy balladry of Solsbury Hill. And later dip into loungy blues on Waiting for the Big One followed by cinematic funk (?) on Down The Dolce Vita. The variety is nice, but it is kind of weird all pulled together. Will say that of the tracks. the last three were among my favorites. Waiting for the Big One has some really tasty guitar and the epicness of Down The Dolce Vita reminds me a bit of Quadrophenia and feels as though it is actively being pursued. I'll definitely come back for another tour. High 4 / 5.
Love Solsberry Hill, one of my all time favorites. Other than that this felt like a very discombobulated album, like it was supposed to be a greatest hits album or something. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it really didn't feel like an album to me. High 3. Maybe I was expecting too much being Peter Gabriel and all.
Solsbury Hill is an all time song for me that I have known forever so I was happy to see that come up on this album. After that the album got pretty sleepy but was still good musically. Down the Dolce Vita came out of nowhere with some unexpected heat and was an A song for sure, going to have to add that a playlist. Reading back on my past reviews of Peter, this was definitely my favorite album by him so far. Just some good old rock rather than 80s pop. ***Side note, on this album cover is that guy in the car supposed to look dead or is that just me????
Solsbury Hill rules. I still get Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins confused. Love the first few songs. Excuse Me is meh. Waiting For The Big One was another standout. This one went wildly up and down for me, but the highs I think were better than the lows. Low 4.
A very strong 3. Didn't expect much from this. A very eclectic range of styles that were all enjoyable in their own right, but maybe felt like it needed to stay more in one or two lanes. Enjoyable listen though!
This is weird and strange, fitting for an ex genesis member. Fucking hate the song Solsbury Hill. Don’t really enjoy many of the rest
The first track was actually pretty cool. And then...
I'm not sure what's great about this album. Sounds like a mess of songs with varying degrees of quality crammed together. An hour after listening to it, I couldn't have told you anything specific about it. But hey, thankfully it's short.
I think I enjoyed this more than some of Peter Gabriel's later works. It was a little too eclectic though. My memories of the not so great parts dragged down the score from a 4 to a 3.
Segundo disco de Peter Gabriel que toca en éste reto (el anterior fue So). Los sonidos con los que comienza el álbum parecen una continuación de lo que venía haciendo en Genesis. Y si a eso se le suma que en el trabajo están dos King Crimson como Robert Fripp y Tony Levin, nada puede salir mal. Sin duda más popero que Genesis, igualmente prevalece lo progresivo y la búsqueda artística. Gran debut de un señor artista.
Me gusta, pero me da un poco de rabia. Yo creo que álbumes posteriores me iban a gustar más.
Я люблю такой интересный артхаус с нагромождениями звуков классических инструментов. Solsburry Hill очень мелодична, заряжает энергией. Альбом не настолько сильный, как So, но тоже очень хорош.
Heard it before. Don't know how many of his albums are on the list (already got So before) but they're all gonna get a good score. Love you, Peter 4/5
Love it. This is one of his best!
een van me favorite nummer komt uit dit album dus ben erg benieuwd naar de rest. wat was dit een apart album en eigelijk kwam niks in de buurt van solsbury hill
This is a very scattered album. A wide variety of different types of songs. I wasn’t really wild about a lot of it. Solsbury Hill is great. But nothing else on the album sounds like this at all. I liked some of the subsequent Peter Gabriel solo albums much better.
It's a classic. But it's uneven
Unexpected flashes of glam here. That said, Gabriel did have some spectacular sartorial choices whilst at Genesis. Talking of Genesis, there are implausible…echos, foreshadow, something of ABACAB here. I think.
I can't tell whether he's being playful with the genre exploration or trying too hard to separate himself from Genesis but I cannot do listening to it.
This is the 2nd Peter Gabriel album I got. I like this one better than the last one "So". I kinda like the progressive stuff mixed with pop, rock and experimental from many bands of that era. I remember hearing "Excuse me" on the car of one of my band mates, after rehearsals, about 15 years ago. I was surprised when it came now couse I had it so buried in my mind that I never thought about it again until today!. I wonder how many other songs are hidden on my brain. Anyway, I think that's my favorite song of the album so far. Reminds me of "Lazing on a sunday afternoon" by Queen. I think Freddie Mercury got some inspiration from here for that song! 3 stars for now couse this album still has to grow on me. I'll probably change it to 4 soon though.
Fascinating mixture. I am sure I've listened before but probably not with quite the attentiveness of this listen. It's musically interesting and the songs are absorbing if not quite hitting the catchy high of Solsbury Hill on the rest of the album. Still very proggy. It's interesting that post Genesis both parts of the band learned how to write pop songs. Yet another Fripp collaboration. That man's a genius.
Really nice album listened to it twice in the background whilst working. Just overall pleasant sounds not sure I could pick out a specific single
It was aaaaight
There were only a couple songs that were actually good. The rest was just a mess.
Genesis is an important band and the solo careers are worthwhile. Mike Rutherford Mike and the mechanics was decent pop. Tony banks did interesting things. The drummer had a couple of minor hits think - what was his name? Will Tollans. But Gabriel was always the most interesting. Not everything he did was 1000 album worthy but we’ve had a couple already. The standout track on this is Solsbury Hill - a document of Gabriel's thought process about leaving Genesis. It’s 7/4 time signature set it apart from everything and its lyrics get me every time: ‘son I said, you can keep my things/ they’ve come to take me home’. Apparently an anthem for parents worrying about their serving in the gulf war. Gabriel was a pioneer in world music - that hateful and reductionist term that means nothing. But he used the music of other cultures with ability, subtlety and respect. This album is really a throat clearer though with a magnificent band - Robert Fripp and Tony Levin are a part of the lineup. 3.5 stars.
Overall, I find this album over-produced and bombastically theatrical, heightened by Bob Ezrin's arrangements and productions. Gabriel still hasn't shaken his prog tendencies. Not a great combination, unfortunately. I think the Ezrin thing works better with much more basic, dare I say cartoonish, material like Alice Cooper or Kiss or The Wall. In the context of Peter Gabriel's songwriting, this just seems overly cerebral and complicated and pompous. Even something as deliberately whimsical as Excuse Me just comes off like a self-conscious Randy Newman off-cut. Even Gabriel admits that 'Here Comes the Flood' is over-produced (and, hoo-boy, is it ever), but I would go further to say that the whole album is over-produced, mired in theatricality and artifice. Solsbury Hill is a lovely song, and the most emotionally authentic moment on the album, but hard to take seriously anymore; it's use in trailers and soundtracks as a signifier of 'heartwarming emotionality' has become a cliche. See, for example, this 'trailer' for The Shining, as if it was a romantic comedy: https://youtu.be/XIeasQTs6_g?si=-wNiQuX8qoRHra1b Not technically Gabriel's fault that Solsbury Hill became a trope, but it is a bit tough when the best song on the album wears out its welcome. I hope the licensing and royalties have bought him a really nice house. I own this album, but now I remember why I don't play it much. If I want to listen to Peter Gabriel, I always reach for his third solo album ("Melt") in preference to this. Peter Gabriel has an ear for unusual sounds and musicians, that he isn't flexing yet. I mean, this has probably the most boring playing Robert Fripp ever did in his whole career (I blame Ezrin). Gabriel let musicians stretch out much more on subsequent albums (especially "Melt"). 2.5 stars, rounding up, because it's not to my taste but not actually _bad_.
Ein Neubeginn. Ein ablösen von Genesis. Hier hört man einen kreativen Künstler, der sich beweisen will. Das geht nur in der Unabhängigkeit. Ja, es zündet gewaltig. Unglaublich abwechslungsreich sind die Songs, sehr detailliert die Arrangements. Down the Dolce Vita und Here comes the flood sind schon gewaltig und zeigen die Genialität von Mr Gabriel. Solsbury Hill ist sozusagen die Unabhängigkeitshymne, eine Erklärung für den Soloschritt. Volle Punktzahl
Nerdy.
This was alright. I recall being ambivalent about So and that's more or less how I felt about this one. Not bad, just not my thing. I could see it growing on me with repeated listens, though.
Not really my type of music
Didn't do absolutely anything for me. At least it wasn't painfully boring.
There's a couple of songs I like on here, not just Solsbury Hill. Humdrum and Waiting for the Big One are alright. Only Excuse Me genuinely annoyed me, but the whole album doesn't really hang together. The difference between one song and the next is often jarring as there is such a mish-mash of styles. It makes the whole weaker than the sum of its parts.
Some of it was quite good, but no real desire to listen to it as a whole album.
Sounded more modern than 70s to me. Might've been a 4 with more listens, but too far behind to be doing that
Mixed, didn't hate it
Decent.
This one was a bit of a roller coaster. Most of the tracks were really good, like on for a 5* review good, and then there were a couple of ones aiming for something quirky that were absolute 1* stinkers. You can tell this is his first go at a solo album, and he fixed this for the later ones we have done. Interesting but not perfect.
Solsbury hill is a classic. First solo album he went deep into experimental and it just felt like the album was all over the place
Solid Gabriel. Always experimental sounding.
Nice and weird.
Prog rock Peter Gabriel with a hint of Randy Newman and a little taste of what was to come in the 80s. I adore Solsburry Hill, both the song and the music video full of artsy montages and cabbages. Love this guy.
Peter Gabriel is a legend. But I think I prefer his later stuff better.
Ein ganz spannendes, abwechslungsreiches Album. Manche Songs pompös, fast schon bombastisch produziert, andere ruhiger und zurückhaltender. Hat Spaß gemacht! Besonders gefallen haben mir das skurrile Excuse Me und das epische Down The Dolce Vita.
Favorite Track: Solsbury Hill
I liked this, interesting prog rock album. Stand-out: Solsbury Hill, Here Comes the Flood
This was somehow simultaneously really boring and also zany and full of too many ideas in each song. This more folky prog but bluesy rock and roll and also symphonic stadium rock (again there's too much going on in this record) stuff isn't my thing. Solsbury Hill sounds like one of the sample songs that comes with Windows XP/Vista to demonstrate how the visualizer on Windows Media Player works. Sorry that's such a random observation. Then near the end it sounds like Star Wars theme music but with a white boy funk/arena rock lean. There is just too much going on and none of it is interesting. Only the last song (Here Comes The Flood) was tolerable to me. It sounded like a Bowie or Elton John song so that was fine. This album is so fucking stupid
Took me far too long into my life to hear this album. So much good on here, will be listening again.
This album gave me whiplash. I’m too confused to hate it, but didn’t vibe with anything enough to love it.
In loosening himself from the shackles, Peter Gabriel could now focus on becoming a new man. Having amassed a closet shelf of alter egos during his time in Genesis, it was bound to become a burden rather than a platform. His first solo record, the first of what would be four self-titled albums, was the platform that allowed Peter to express new emotions and explore new sounds while, at the same time, dish out small reminders of who he was before. The results are occasionally exhilarating and beguiling, maintaining the interest of the listener throughout. Not a bad first step that would become big leaps in a new world. Favorites: Moribund the Burgermeister, Solsbury Hill, Modern Love, Excuse Me, Down the Dolce Vita, Here Comes the Flood.
3.5
This album is so disjointed. Different style songs . I’m not sure what he was going for. Solsbury Hill is the hit and by far the stand out track. Then there’s a song called Excuse Me that sounds like Randy Newman. His best was definitely ahead of him.
spennandi. tilraunakennt en með lögum sem minna á randy newman eða kinks inn á milli. aðraaðra. 3,5.
I love Peter Gabriel and this album has a couple good songs, but it sounds like a man finding his way. A bit raw and unpolished, but decent.
I liked some songs but not the best Peter Gabriel.
This is an interesting album. It's a little random but you can tell it's a collection of stuff he was sitting on after Genesis. It's a little Randy Newman meets The Who. It's cool.
The beginning of this felt like a soundtrack of any 80s action film. It was quite entertaining. Towards the end I thought it took a completely different gear and I was quite surprised. Wasn't so into it either. Overall a good laugh!
I wasn't a fan of that. There were some good tracks but the whole thing was all over the place and really didn't come together as an album
I actually loved this album and was pleasantly surprised by it. It’s all over the map, genre-wise; has some Randy-Newman-esque songs, the classic Solsbury Hill, the funky dark opening track…easily 3.5 stars.
I really enjoyed some of these tracks, but the whole time I was thinking about how much I’d rather listen to genesis; this whole album just felt like genesis-lite to me , which I guess makes sense. But still. Perfectly fine project, I just can’t ever imagine going out of my way to just listen to this specifically.
what a wild album, what a wild guy solsbury hill is an all-time hall-of-famer
Dad rock royalty. This is like the pinnacle. Some experimental stuff here but a pleasant enough sound that I feel like it could work for anyone. Favorite track: Modern Love
I have always liked these early "The unnamed" albums: Car, Scratch, Melt, Security -- and the "Plays Live" album with "I Go Swimming". This might not be the best of his 4 first albums, but it's damn good.
Skip this album and listen to his later works instead. Other than Solsbury Hill and Here Comes the Flood the rest was a jumble. The best part of this album is that autoplay led me to listening to "Us" which is an easy 4 stars.
Had never listened to this before. Appreciate the construction of the album...it's not just a random collection of songs.
During track 1: eurgh just another of THOSE albums. Going to be fine but dull. During track 2 (solsbury hill): okay I know this one, actually bit of a banger tbf. Probs an outlier tho. Tracks 3 onwards: okay not super special but actually a fair few bangers
The one big hit obviously, but some of the rest of the songs were interesting diversions.
I thought I'd listened to this album before but I don't think I have. It's bit of an odd mix of things, as if he was searching for a style. It's right there: Solsbury Hill! I also like Here Comes The Flood a lot but several of the other tracks do not thrill me at all.
So not my taste
Начинался альбом хорошо, но потом скучновато пошло...
да нормально, но тоже не моё
I...didn't love what I heard from Genesis during this project. So I was hesitant about what I might get from Peter Gabriel's first solo outing. I guess I shouldn't have been. He probably left Genesis because he wanted to do stuff he couldn't do while he was with them. I actually really liked this album. Some original ideas, a mix of sounds and genres without being scattered, and a certain charm about the whole thing. It's far from my favorite album, but given my low expectations I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't overstay its welcome, either. That was my biggest issue with "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." It was far too long for being not that great, with pretty obvious filler throughout. This wasn't that, and I appreciated it. Overall it's a three star experience for me. Good stuff and I'd like to hear more of his solo work. Standout Tracks: Solsbury Hill, Modern Love, Waiting for the Big One, Down the Dolce Vita
I don't think Peter Gabriel had moved on far from his roots in Genesis by the time he recorded this album, and it's far from his best. It's not clear why this album makes this list - I thought it pretty uninteresting. I liked the big single from the album (Solsbury Hill), and the cover is very good.
Felt incohesive as an album, but definitely had moments of greatness.
Really don’t remember this one. Sounds okay, a bit dramatic.
This was great. So varied and interesting, with awesome writing, production value and musicianship. I was genuinely impressed by some of the orchestral and odd instrumentation on a bunch of these tracks. Each one could be a completely different musical act -- other than the fact that Peter Gabriel's super-distinct voice is present in them all, of course. I listened to it twice -- five stars, easily.
Big fan of Peter Gabriel's music. He's always a bit out there with some of his tunes, but he usually nails it. This album is a classic and should be heard by everyone before they die. Can't miss: Solsbury Hill Slowburn Waiting for the Big One 4/5
Pretty good.
Had higher hopes for this, but Solsbury Hill was the only good song on this for me, the rest was meh.
Solsbury Hill is a great song. The intro song (Moribund the Burgermeister) also grew on me, but the freaky circus part kind of kills it ("I will find out"). The song (Excuse Me) got my attention because of the a cappella intro - I'm a sucker for vocal harmony. But the rest of the song is "meh".
You know song works well in movie trailers? Salsbury Hill. The "boom, boom, boom" allows for some fun editing tricks. Beyond that, this it feels like Peter challenged himself to make sound like each song comes from a completely different album than the one before it. And then goes BIG on each one.
Glimpses of some of the brilliance on 'So,' but otherwise such a mish mash of sounds (Kermit barbershop quarter on 'Excuse Me,' disco hair rock on 'Slow Burn'), that this sounds more like out takes than an album.
fan bra. ordentligt olika låtar utan att det blir för spretigt vilket är väldigt coolt. sista låten är episk
reminds me of meatloaf a little
I mean, you have to love him. Some songs are so bright and beautiful and built to impress and some sound like strange messes off in the corner. That's the beauty of Peter Gabriel. He's always willing to go for it and experiment and give it a shot. Great for a first solo album post-Genesis.
A little incohesive overall. Existing on the line or just past the line of prog rock. The lack of cohesion was bothering me more at first, but each listen the odd songs grew on me a little more. It's like this album is a calibration in process. I kind of agree with Gabriel's feeling that the album is a little over produced. I'd put Solsbury Hill up in a list of songs that have something else that transcends, like Sandstorm by Darude , the Mortal Kombat Theme or Call me maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.
Solsbury Hill Here Comes the Flood
Not really for me. Solsbury Hill is the main song to takeaway.
Not bad.
I definitely don't think this is near the levels of So or Melt. Both of those were so instant. This has a fairly poor middle. Start is great, comes back round at the end, but I didn't enjoy the middle, which is disappointing as the other two albums are two of my fav on the list It's still really good. Particularly the first 3 songs and the closer. Excuse me sounds like a bad Bugsy Malone song
Like many others have said the album lack cohesion. It’s a bunch of random songs put together. Some are quite good and other are out of place and not that great. Overall it’s a fine album.
I was wondering why this guy reminded me of Phil Collins….
I like Peter Gabriel but he fits into a category I consider as having "greatest hits syndrome." It is when a band or musician has a good number of hit songs and a large catalog of "regular songs" to go along with it. Some, but very few musicians and groups with large catalogs and a healthy dose of hit songs can escape this syndrome, that where a person would simply go buy or listen to their greatest hits album and be perfectly happy. Those that do not suffer this fate have lots of songs that "could have" or "should have" been hits or are fan/ cult favorites anyhow. I think you would have to be a Peter Gabriel superfan to not just go buy your favorite single album or a greatest hits album. This album has a few great songs and a few sort of Meh songs as well, as with most other albums by anyone outside a rare few...
pretty new to prog as a whole and before this, i was really only familiar with peter gabriel's hits so i was interested to see what i was going to get out of this one. i was kind of blown away! there are some great prog moments on here, some poppier moments, some really big swings that don't really land (i'm looking at you, 'excuse me.'). it's not a perfect album but i was really blown away by the highs. of course, 'solisbury hill' is the big one here and i was familiar with that, but i really adored 'moribund the burgermeister,' 'modern love,' and the really thrashy-disco-y track 'down the dolce vita.' overall, really artistic, really confident in being weird and non-standard.
This is definitely Peter Gabriel's most underrated album. It features some of the most passionate vocals in his discography, and some of the most beautiful and consistent guitar work I have ever heard. I still think that So is his best album, but this is easily a close second.
Peter Gabriel has a very distinctive voice that grates on me
Pretentious nonsense.
Sounds very false, like he was making music for soundtracks of films thst don’t exist to try hook that cash avenue.
Pretty good overall, although far from perfect. I appreciate an album with some variety to it, I just don't think the specific mix of genres and sounds here always works. That said, there were quite a few songs I did enjoy: chief among them "Solsbury Hill and "Here Comes the Flood."
Well in a sentence I could say “It’s Peter Gabriel innit” and award 5 stars but that would be lazy and not worthy of PG himself so some flowerification (made up word) needs to be done to justify why I love PG. When considering the quadriset (another one) of self titled albums before the holy grail of SO I fluctuate between this one and the last (Security) in deciding what my favourite should be. This one because it stopped me in my tracks and hit me straight in the face such was it’s freshness and divergence from what was the norm at time of release. It took my breath away but so did every release he has ever made right up to the present with I/O. But as I have mentioned Security and because for some ridiculous unknown reason it does not appear on this list, I must ask why? I’m at a loss to reason why when two of the greatest PG songs San Jacinto and Wallflower appear on that album. 1001 Gods take note please and in particular the one who served up N.W.A Straight Outtta Compton just two days ago. Anyway back to this album. It’s great but I’ve already told you that. Words are not enough but your ears will confirm. 5/5 18/1/25
Hated it at the start, got slightly better as it went on
I found it quirky and interesting. Possibly a little ahead of its time? I like "Moribund the Burgermeister" and "Modern Love."
Gabriel’s solo debut is a superb first step on his way to later domination with So and beyond. https://open.substack.com/pub/richcain/p/project-1001-peter-gabriel-1-by-peter?r=4ztyq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
3 stars for Solsbury Hill alone
Good listen
I don't care for it.
This was really good, I obviously know him from being with Genesis but have never dived into his solo stuff so I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I dug this! Will definitely investigate more of his stuff based on this!
Vaudeville, Folk, Glam Rock, and Blues are just some of the genres Peter Gabriel tackled for his first solo outing after leaving Genesis. True, the album contains monster hit Solsbury Hill and his somewhat-more-of-a-deep-cut Here Comes The Flood (albeit with overblown sound and chorus arrangement - I much prefer the later quiet version). But generally, the songs weren't quite there yet, and it's evident from the aforementioned selection of styles that Gabriel himself wasn't entirely sure about the kind of music he wanted to make a s a solo artist. Thus, this album is the beginning of his experimental phase, that would last for two more studio albums: an interesting, soul-searching, but somewhat messy experience. 2.5/5
Hhh
This album lacks the directness and the sense of fun that makes So so good. Solsbury Hill is a great song pointing at the direction he'd go over the next few years, but the rest is either still bogged down by the bloated pomp of the over-written ultimately very boring prog and glam sound, or, in the case of Waiting for the Big One, an embarrasingly bad attempt at loungey piano blues. The album is basically as pompous as the Wall but nowhere near as good, even if Here Comes the Flood has a bit of a Pink FLoyd sound and a cool guitar solo.
little too much rock opera
4.5/6
This album sounds like what it feels like to soak your balls in just below room temperature water
Kind of interesting
Some real good stuff!
Excuse me but this was amazing! Obviously Solisbury Hill is the standout but here comes the flood was a close second. 4.5
Not my favorite Peter Gabriel but he always manages to bring an interesting melody or have the perfect sound at the perfect moment, hard for me to explain it much further than that
Wayyyy worse than So. Not awful tho I kinda like Peter Gabriel he was a good discovery for me.
Great music.
There's one song I recognize that I liked but otherwise it was okay
Solsbury hill y Here comes the flood himnos absolutos 4.5, pero por ser pedro gabriel llega a 5
uf discazo, gran inicio y gran final sobre todo
It was ok?
i love wacky prog rock. def gonna relisten to this in the near future
Second album généré, après 'So'. Certaines compositions sont plus progressives et originales que dans 'So'. Mais j'en ai apprécié assez peu. Je continue à préférer Peter Gabriel quand il était dans Genesis ... Je ne l'écouterais pas une seconde fois. =>2/5
“Solsbury Hill” stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album. An artist trying to find his solo sound, to varying degrees of success.
Wasn't looking forward to this one, but I actually didn't mind it.
Really awesome debut album as you can hear him searching for a post Genesis musical identity. I don't love this album but really appreciate the array of sounds he worked through. Solsbury Hill is a masterpiece. Here comes the Flood is another solid song.
01) Moribund the Burgermeister – 7,5 02) Solsbury Hill – 10,0 03) Modern Love – 7,5 04) Excuse Me – 7,0 05) Humdrum – 7,0 06) Slowburn – 6,5 07) Waiting for the Big One – 6,0 08) Down the Dolce Vita – 8,0 09) Here Comes the Flood – 8,0 TOTAL: 7,50 (75/100) Current ranking: 204/407
I thought that this was a very solid effort for a first solo album, and in spite of some of its weirdness, I generally liked it. Highlights were of course, Solsbury Hill, and I also really liked Here comes the Flood. I agree with another reviewer about Gabriel seeming to channel his inner Randy Newman on a couple of the tracks, but I also like Randy Newman. If I could, I would give this 7 out of 10 stars, but I will settle on 3. I will save it and probably will listen to it again.
Free from the confines of Genesis, Gabriel seemed eager to explore new directions. Some experiments work brilliantly, while others fall flat. The album's unevenness makes it somewhat difficult to rate—I'd give it a 3.5 if I could.
I’d listen to Solsbury Hill all day but the rest of this just did nothing. I get that it’s important and set a whole new direction for Gabriel. A direction that led to some really great stuff down the road from this record.
Fine. "Solsbury Hill" was the only song i knew going in and it was the only real stand out.
This was fine. Nothing really stood out, but it was pleasant enough.
Totally solid Peter Gabriel stuff here, with two astonishingly good songs in 'Solsbury Hill' and 'Here Comes the Flood'. Funny, because I have a very strong sympathy for post-Gabriel Genesis. I'd go so far as to prefer it, if we're talking Genesis eras. But we're not - Peter Gabriel is on the menu... ...and I'm ordering up a whole mess of it!
Made me sad. I miss my mom.
The one classic song (solsbury hill) but i enjoyed most of the others too
This is pretty well-crafted, but man is it a drag. Listening to this feels like I’m 8 years old and have been forced into attending an orchestra. Best song: Solsbury Hill
2,5
I liked this one! Back to something with a nice melody
I was just grateful for a melody at this point, honestly pretty solid stuff
John cusak ruined it for me
Been a long time since I listened to this album, possibly because it’s a little inconsistent. It starts and ends really well, Moribund the Burgermeister being very Genesis-like and Solsbury Hill still being among my favourite Gabriel songs, Her Comes the Flood closing in epic style. But, much as I love Bob Esrin’s production style, he’s a little bombastic for PG in places, particularly when his favourite Alice Cooper guitarist, Dick Wagner, shows up on Slowburn. And the Randy Newman sounding blues of Waiting for the Big One doesn’t suit Gabriel at all. Tony Levin and Robert Fripp would have a bigger impact on the better albums to come. Good, not Great.
Pretty good
A little all over the place, but the base of the songs are all great. Everything I've had from him in the list so far has been a fun listen.
3.5
His music is just all over the place and I love it
Decent, not memorable to me. The hit was cheesy. Fun but have to be discerning in my rating. I’ll likely not listen again and this reflects that
очень фреш, не дослушала но круто технично и интересно лайк
This one is a bit of hodgepodge. We all know "Solsbury Hill" which is great but the rest of it is kind of forgettable. Gabriel went on to better things,
Dès les premières secondes, on peut l'identifier comme du Peter Gabriel (percussions, sons des basses, des claviers). Certaines pièces étaient résolument plus pop que je ne m'y attendais, mais l'exploration des genres plus jazzés ou plus expérimentaux est bien présente.
“Solsbury Hill” rules, and there are some other moments I dig, but overall, there’s still a lot of that Genesis-era influence that I’m not into. 3/5
Peter Gabriel, fuera de su etapa en Genesis (la más reconocida del grupo) presenta una discografía inmaculada. Sus discos Este primero contiene dos clásicos como Here comes the flood o Solsbury Hill (Modern Love también es lo suficiente comercial y potente para disfrutarla desde la primera escucha). Excuse me y Down the Dolce Vita suenan a Genesis, obvio pues Peter fue una parte esencial del grupo. Humdrum y Slowburn (otro tema que, como Modern Love, comparte título con David Bowie) son de lo mejorcito del álbum. Colaboran Robert Fripp (estupenda guitarra en todo el álbum) y la London Symphony Orchestra en «Down the Dolce Vita» and «Here Comes the Flood», entre otros. Lancia Flavia, propiedad de Storm Thorgerson, cofundador de Hipgnosis los diseñadores de sus portadas (y de otras fabulosas de los 70, entre ellas las de Pink Floyd). La foto es en blanco y negro, coloreada a mano y esos reflejos en realidad son cortes realizados con un bisturí. Una obra de arte, a la altura del disco. Otros discos del 77: David Bowie- Low, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Ramones, The Clash, Television, Wire, Suicide, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop, The Jam, Suicide, Mink Deville, Kraftwerk, Iggy Pop, The Modern Lovers, Elvis costello... también Muddy Waters, Dennis Wilson, Fleetwood Mac, ELO, y Bee Gees....
I struggle with Peter Gabriel. This album seemed all over the place, and nothing really worked for me. Not a bad album in any sense of the word, but not something I'd seek out either.
Never heard of this before, I didn'd expect tha Favorites: Moribund the Burgermeister, Here Comes the Flood
A profoundly mediocre album. Favorite Track: "Waiting For The Big One".
Considering how much I enjoyed Peter Garbriel's '80s art-pop masterpiece 'So,' I was hoping I'd get at least some of the same enjoyment out of this one. It's certainly more country and rock-influenced than 'So', and sometimes it works exceptionally well like with the huge song 'Solebury Hill', an unbelievably hearty and soulful cut, or the explosive closer 'Here Comes The Flood', which has this soaring guitar solo sending it off. But other times, like with 'Modern Love' where you're getting these tacky arena-rock sounds, or 'Humdrum' which may have the most unflattering mixing on the entire album, the music really starts to show its age. It all felt like a scattered mess, with no discernable sound or direction. The songs were long but they never really went anywhere structurally, and they tend to meander around these uninteresting ideas for far too long, especially with a song like 'Slowburn'. I would say I'm sad, but knowing how much better Peter's music would get is at least somewhat comforting. This is a debut after all, and despite having never heard Genesis, I assume this takes a lot from that band's sound.
This was a real grab bag of sounds, but incredibly creative and all around very enjoyable. Comes off like a British Randy Newman or Harry Nilsson, in a good way. Just enough pop sensibility to keep this “art rock” from sounding too artsy. A little bit of a rarity in that the first song is probably the worst, but Solsbury Hill makes up for it followed by the great Modern Love. The rest of it is equally engaging as it swerves through various styles, just like the apt name of “Car” it’s taken on.
This is #day115 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… here's to the first album of winter 2024/2025, aka Peter Gabriel's first solo record. Actually, this is the last one in a run of Gabriel records I'm revisiting after a while, but anyway. "There's no point in direction," sings Gabriel on the closing track. This particular line gave me an answer to why I struggled with this record. Another reason is that it still draws on the Genesis sound, so think of it as his most Genesis-like solo record, if you will, and I'm not the biggest Genesis fan out there. I might revisit them as well, though, we'll see. Car has its moments, like "Waiting for the Big One," whose bluesiness got my ears pricked, but out of the three Gabriel records represented on the list, it's my least favorite. Let it be a 3 out of 5. Looking forward to #day116.
interesting album. all over the place stylistically.
This’s alright. That Solsbury Hill song is great.
Not very cohesive at all. High peaks but pretty low valleys in my opinion. At least it is never really uninteresting so there is that.
Just not my bag. Maybe it’s his voice. Maybe it’s the echoey, big sound. The pretentious lyrics? All blended, and it bores me.
There's the amazing "Solsbury Hill" and then there is a very ambitious album that is all over the place. A little Randy Newman sound in "Waiting for the Big One". "Down the Dolce Vita" was the prog-rock version of "Eye of the Tiger". I'll give him props for doing whatever the hell he wanted but, damn, what a weird ride. He gets an extra star for that. I'm glad that he found the voice that he would go with for the latter part of his career.
Solisbury Hill jumped out - rest of this was ok yet odd. kept thinking it was going to go into the Toy Story song, although some parts felt like just a connection of noises, for what it was, surprisngly listenable
Gabriel > Genesis. Great debut album.
Gabriel flexing his wings as a solo artist for the first time leaves something to be desired, but the emotional powerhouse he became is apparent already.
It's an easy listening album
Melt is one of my great discoveries from this thing. I’ve listened to this one several times and it just hasn’t come together for me. Maybe he was still trying to find his voice after leaving Genesis? And Modern Love sounds like Bruce Springsteen
not as good as Melt :(
Solsbury Hill is unfortunately not enough to pull it up to 4.
Nett. Für Nebenbei ganz gut.
Solsbury Hill is definitely the highlight but the rest of the album is also pretty good.
I love the guitar work on Solsbury Hill which is really the only notable track on this whole album. The songs are all over the place. There's no sense of direction or cohesion and more than once, the songs left me puzzled. I was surprised at how much Gabriel and Phil Collins sound alike. A one and done for me but I'll listen to that hit single again. 2.5/5
Interesting to hear the initial transition from genesis to solo in full
This was alright to listen to. Possibly not his best album though. 3*
Liked this a lot. May be a slight overrating but it evens out with the previous Gabriel outing.
I tried, as I often do, to get on with this album. The hit is a classic, but is really all I can take of this album. As he moves away from prog and into something a bit more post punk on the later records, I start to come a bit more on board. But I don’t like his voice and this is just too reminiscent of a silly man walking about dressed like a flower. Which irritates me. That’s the problem with this album, for me; I can’t get to judge the quality of the music because listening to it annoys me too much.
Solsbury Hill is great, and gives me memories of my dad, so thats cool, but outside that this album is pretty humdrum. Which is unfortunate, Peter Gabriel has more hits, just not here.
It started off so strong! But then it fell off a cliff. The orchestral arrangements in the back half of the album were great, but I just didn’t really enjoy any of the songs past Solsbury Hill
I like this album more every time I listen to it
Had almost forgotten how great this album is. Others have noted that it's stylistically all over the place, but I don't have any problem with that. Really enjoyed listening to this again (I had this on vinyl at one point). Solsbury Hill and Here Comes The Flood are the best tracks.
Not much going on for me on this album. "Solsbury Hill" is a known song, and kind of the only thing this album has going for it. 2.5/5 Probably won't listen again
Avg for Gabriel
9/10. Gave off a combination of Supertramp and Elton John vibes. Fantastic album.
3.5
His debut album. Solsbury Hill. Slightly bonkers. Very varied album. Rock, circus, folk. Quite a bit of stadium rock. Did not grab me, but good album.
A couple of great songs, but not a patch on "The Lamb..." his last with Genesis.
This album, unofficially titled 'Car', is another example of a musician sounding technically impressive but not really doing much for me. 'Solsbury Hill' proves Peter Gabriel's ability to make a hit song without his Genesis bandmates. Some if his later work is a lot stronger. 'Car' just doesn't move me like I'd hoped it would.
Not for me. Here Comes The Flood is decent, kinda late era Pink Floyd and Solsbury Hill we all know and it's fine. 2 stars because as with all my ratings, I understand why some people will like it. 1 star reviews are for absolutely mind boggling shite.
Not the best Peter Gabriel record. There’s certainly a lot of great composition and arrangement. There’s still a bit of a Prog rock hang over. But the quality is clear. I’ll stick to the hits with this, though.
Liked one song
The shit run continues. I've had a few bad albums in a row, and this one is as bad as any of them. I already had one of his albums and gave that 2 stars .... after hearing this that other album now feels like it should have been rated higher. Utter horse shit. I could make better music than this.
Just an all time great songwriter. The feelings he can elicit through unique instrumentation is pretty special. Favorite track (beyond the obvious one): Here Comes the Flood
At times a bit overboard it’s a brilliant album with many good songs. Lush and strange in its theatrical elements.
The joy of going through these albums are discovering these pipelines between genres, these transitory moments. Here, on Peter Gabriel's first solo album, we go from prog rock to art pop. We get some long songs, and even the shorter ones tend to feel long on the ways that they change their structure. The only song I already knew off this was Solsbury Hill, which remains an amazing song and still the best on this album. It's also the most pop, and probably represents more of the direction Peter would head in. But overall, there's a lot to like here, and I'll be revisiting it. Fav tracks: Solsbury Hill, Modern Love, Humdrum, Slowburn
I have always loved this album cover. There’s a great documentary on Hipgnosis, an English art design group responsible for many classic album covers for artists such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Peter Gabriel including this album cover. It’s worth a watch and gives a peak into the thought that went into the visual side of this album. Peter Gabriel is an incredible artist and this album is well celebrated for good reason. All the musicians he assembles to bring his vision to life on here are insanely talented, I mean come on, Robert Fripp and Tony Levin from King Crimson?! Legendary stuff for sure. These songs are so lush, layered and oddly structured, and I mean that in the best way. Gabriel and crew explore many styles while maintaining a genuine sound throughout. I’d give this one a 4.
I love me some Peter Gabriel! This is a great first solo album, but his albums get better as he goes on. I can't not hear the vocals and think of Silverchair's Young Modern album. A solid break away from Gensis, but the best is yet to come. I give this a 4.
There have been several albums lately that have had a moment where there's a slide whistle or similar, like "Excuse Me" on this album, and it kills me every time. I can't believe so many artists threw a slide whistle onto their tracks. This album is really varied, and often pretty quirky, but like a basic bitch, my favorite here is predictably "Solsbury Hill." 3.5
The highlight on this for me is Solsbury Hill. Peter has a great voice. The album is eclectic and has a lot going on. It made me feel like I was listening to a musical art exhibit. I hear similarities with Gabriel's voice and how Phil Collins sounds
One of my all-time favorite internet things is the recut trailer of "The Shining" as a family-friendly drama called "Shining" which perfectly employs "Solsbury Hill." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkVWuP_sO0
Well, it starts off like someone who is trying to escape from prog rock, but not actually managing to. On the plus side - the album plays like someone trying to escape from prog rock, but eventually kinda making it. Clearly rips Gabriel away from Genesis by the end, and that's actually a pretty cool thing. I can't think of a single solitary reason to listen to it again though.
Why is the London symphony on here!!! Isn't this his first album? Were Genesis or Yes or whatever overcompensated/ing band of the 70s big enough to rent out a whole symphony??? Wonder what the fees/artist relations needed to set up that connection. Very curious of there's a Phil Collins is a Peter Gabriel rip or vice versa fanbase sect
Not as good as I expected it to be
It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great.
Peter Gabriel clearly hasn't found his post Genesis musical direction on this album. Solsbury Hill is a nice pop rock song, everyone knows it for a reason, but the rest of the album is him trying desperately not to make the same music he made with Genesis and the result is kind of bland
The album has a kind of restless energy, shifting between moods. The production feels big, almost theatrical, like early Genesis but with a more personal edge. There’s a mix of experimental and straightforward sounds, giving it a unique push and pull. It’s almost like listening to a David Bowie record from the same era, but it has a darker, more introspective vibe.
Good music overall. This album had more songs I did not connect with than ones I did connect with. So though not for me, I see it's value.
4/5
Wel vet gemaakt, maar raakt me toch niet echt.
I don't know. I liked when he was in Genesis. This seemed ok, I might like it more on second listens Will I listen to again: 30%
Like his sound. Some memorable songs
First, I didn't realize that Solsbury Hill was a Peter Gabriel song even though I've heard it probably more times than I can count. Second, I wouldn't be surprised if this album was chosen on the strength of that one song alone. I didn't like this album, more than once I found myself saying you aren't David Bowie. I also don't think he knows how to end songs, and I'm pretty sure the radio edit of Solsbury Hill ends about a minute earlier than the album track. The end of several songs is just odd. The album itself didn't feel very well put together. Rock songs, jazz songs, a song that felt very much like I was listening to the B-Sharps. I do want to take an extra bit to talk about how freaking weird the second last song on this album is. If I've ever hard a song with more tonal shifts than this one, I don't remember it. It like the rest of the album is all over the place. You're not David Bowie, and this songs mix feels a bit dated. Vocals feel like they're lost in the wall of sound. I've heard Solsbury Hill more times than I can count, and this is the first time I realized it was Peter Gabriel. I think most radio edits cut off around the 3:45 mark, because boy this song ended wierdly. Now we have the B-Sharps coming in on Track 4. Is this ironic? Slide whistle and tuba. Humdrum's title sums it up well enough. Slowburn made me want to say you're not David Bowie again. Another song with a bizarre ending too. Nor are you Elton John. Waiting for the Big One feels like it belongs on a blues album. Does he just not know how to end a song? Down the Dolce Vita, has the strangest transitions I've heard. It is completely all over the place. I hate it.
I don't mind this record, I think it's okay. It had sections that made me pause what I was doing and say to myself "What the heck is this?", in a good way. Mainly the song "Excuse Me" is a good example. Is it the best song in the album, no I'd give that to "Solsbury Hill", but it grabbed my attention with how wacky and different it was. Same example of the section where Peter sings "I will find out" in "Moribund The Burgermeister" (great name for a song) Would I listen to this album again, probably not. Did I appreciate my time with it, yeah I did. 3/5
Great.
Well. It's better than Genesis' latest offering on this Project, but I feel I'm quite over prog now, and to be honest I began the process not exactly ready to embrace it. Two absolute bangers on this album - Solsbury Hill and Here Comes The Flood - get it up to a decentish score, but for a long time it was just a case of chewing through it.
So, Peter Gabriel's first album has Solsbury Hill and Here Comes the Flood as two great examples of what he is capable of as a solo artist. However, I found the rest a bit aimless and uninteresting.
Started incredibly strong
I've been so excited to dive deeper into Peter Gabriel - I've been working through all the Genesis albums outside of this project, but I've only heard So from his solo work. (I adore So, and In Your Eyes is one of my all time favorite songs ever ever). This album is the perfect bridge between those two points of his career. It did take me more than one listen to appreciate it as a whole when I only knew Solsbury Hill and was expecting all the songs to be more similar to that. But of course it's much more experimental prog pop, and really good overall. There's a few songs I wouldn't want to listen to all the time, but I still love Solsbury Hill and also really liked Humdrum and Here Comes the Flood.
Fantastic
This was a surprising album in a lot of ways. Salisbury Hill is iconic. He sounds like Randy Newman, and even the Band, at times. Unfortunately, the album finds its way to some middling prog-rock too often. I loved “excuse me”.
Solsbury hill (which I always assumed was an 80’s song) gets this to a 3 for me by a nose. That’s a strong stand out but the rest of this I just didn’t really get into. There was some interesting experimental use of instruments and sounds. Some of the tracks reminded me of show tunes you may hear performed live during a play/drama production. “Down the Dolce Vida” and “Here comes the flood” at the end helped nudge it to a 3.
An ambitious debut album clearly. Completely forgot that the standout Solsbury Hill went this far back. The musicianship is top notch, but other than the Hill single the rest of the album lacked cohesiveness given every song essentially exists in its own silo. At times I felt I was listening to Bowie run through a Danny Elfman blender which is not necessarily a bad thing. Just a little too avant-garde for me.
What the hell did I just listen to!?! The album was all over the place, but I thought had some really high moments. And you know what? I kinda liked it. Especially Here Comes the Flood. Much of it sounded oddly familiar. Bowie is the obvious ones but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Looked in the producer, Bob Ezrin. He has quite the mix of artists (Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, 30 Seconds to Mars, Mason). I’d go 3.5. I’m tempted to round up but not quite there…perhaps bc of the lack of cohesion.
Never been able to get into Peter Gabriel other than In The Air Tonight (or even better the video of a gorilla playing drums to the song) and this album didn't do much to change my mind. I do enjoy Solsbury Hill but the rest of the album is a bit all over the place and need really clicked with me. Still decent, just not great. 3/5
Good stuff. I've been a fan of Peter Gabriel since I was a kid, though I don't now his whole catalog super well. But I think I will continue on listening to his older albums and catch up to the late 80's stuff I'm more familiar with. 3.4/5
Liked this quite a bit. It's sorta impressive how much Phil Collins sounds like Peter Gabriel. This is a cool album for 1977. Of course I knew Salsbury Hill, but I don't think I knew the rest. I enjoyed this although it slowed down a bit near the end. 3.5/5
B+
Enjoyed this a lot
Bit of a mixed bag. Enjoyed it overall though
could i write poetry to this? n
In the post-Syd Barrett musical universe, only Peter Gabriel could get away with a song as hokey and weird as "No Excuses." Otherwise, this album makes the bridge between his previous Prog work with Genesis and the more accessible world of Pop. "So" was a better album, but this one has "Solsbury Hill." Without that song, so many movie trailers and TV commercials would be incomplete.
Started really strong. But started to lose me a little in the second half.
Two of my favorite Peter Gabriel songs on this album, but also some that were a little too weird keeping it from being a 5 star.
An eclectic mix of music - worth a listen
Pretty shit. Only got 4 songs in but they were all pretty boring. Can’t give much more than 1star.
announcing your pop turn by writing an odd burble of a song about St. Vitus' Dance is a choice i think only Peter Gabriel would make -- as is following that with your biggest pop hit that is inexplicably in 7/4. the Car album probably isn't his best solo effort, but it sets up the general rule that you shouldn't really expect one thing or another from Peter Gabriel; he does what he wants when he wants. folk pop? somewhat tedious blues? tender ballads? stupid Little Orphan Annie bullshit as conducted by bass virtuoso Tony Levin? there is no one direction that Car is headed, and this spreads the project thin, but nevertheless takes it to some beautiful places.
3.5
Impressed. Not really my thing but this is a good album. Varied, interesting, compelling.
Extra credit for each song sounding so unique. Song to come back for: Solsbury Hill
Interesting, but I'm not going back to it. Reminiscent of Pink Floyd
#354. A few good songs, but not super impressive overall. It's OK. 3/5: fine Song added to playlist: Solsbury Hill I've created a playlist on Spotify that consists of the best and/or my favorite song from each of the albums in this book. This list can be found here if you are interested: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MAXDGLWlwLkFLb8veGfkA?si=FqkQQPgZTFWG0jAUJXLFZA&utm_source=copy-link
osea... ok??? 7/10
I am a simple human. I see Peter Gabriel, I am happy. It feels like a warm hug of nostalgia enveloping me, even though I was born way after these albums were released. Peter is my all-time favorite solo artist, so I might be a bit biased here, but I just love this album. He's figuring out his style after leaving Genesis, so there are many different sounding tracks on this album, but every piece is just great. His voice has a gravely tone that is so unique and captivating. I especially like Solsbury Hill (a pop song in 7/4, that perfect mix of pop catchiness and prog nuance to keep me interested), Here Comes the Flood, Slowburn, Down the Dolce Vita, and Modern Love. The full orchestral sections mixed with a funky driving rock beat really get me. I'm also a sucker for anything with Tony Levin or Robert Fripp. I hope his other solo work is on this list!
Bit odd at times but overall enjoyed
Not the best, but still an okay album with a few hits.
Opening track makes clear that PG didn't exactly leave prog behind. One finds a bit more theatricality (e.g., “Excuse Me”) and forced diversity than one needs, though one admires the trying on of diverse musical styles (“Waiting for the Big One”). The more direct music-making (the sublime “Solsbury Hill,” “Modern Love” “Down the Dolce Vita” “Here Comes the Flood”) is both distinctive and effective, while still possessing ample flair and originality.
4 estrelas
A varied and very eclectic album that keeps you on your toes at all times, some real highlights including the album closer 'Here Comes The Flood '
Noteworthy songs - 808080808 Magical Dream - Kinda catchy synth, but the rest is bland. Ancodia - Good background noise. Cobra Bora - Actually kind of cool, reminds me of Bomberman Hero. Pacific 202 - N64 vibes, but melody isn't great. Donkey Doctor - Nothing too special, weird ending. 808080808 - Really cool beginning. A little slow in the middle but stays interesting enough. Sunrise - Nothing remarkable. The Fat Shadow - Eerie. Very short.
Tsja... Ik vind dit dus een ontzettend nietszeggend album. Solsbury Hill is een bekend nummer en ook veruit het beste nummer van het album, verder is het gewoon vrij saaie muziek. Niet iets dat er uitspringt voor mij, niets wat ik ook echt kut vind, maar gewoon een heleboel meh muziek... Nee, dit is echt een album waarvan ik morgen al vergeten ben dat ik het ooit heb gehoord. Was nou maar bij Genesis gebleven joh! Laatste paar nummers gebeurt een stuk meer, waardoor ik dit toch iets meer waardeer, maar jezus de eerste helft van het album zou ik je echt niets over kunnen vertellen buiten dat het muziek is. 2e helft red het album voor mij, nog steeds niet voldoende voor een goed, maar laat tenminste zien dat Peter wel echt wat durfde te experimenteren, ook al was het begin van het album zo ontzettend saai! FAVO: Solsbury Hill, Down the dolce vita
Pretty good album. Solsbury Hill is such a good song. The rest of the tracks are unique and surprising. You would never know they are from the same album, but I like the variety.
The first song is titled Moribund the Burgermeister, I feel like I'm in for a very pretentious experience. Solsbury Hill is an amazing song and by far the biggest hit from the album. There is no way Peter Gabriel thought Excuse me was a good song other than as a goofy interruption. It's like he heard a Randy Newman album and thought he absolutely had to have a song like that on his album. This isn't a super cohesive album, no real theme or definitive sound. I suppose that's the danger of an art rock debut, it can end up sounding like an eclectic mish mash of postmodern songs. Slowburn is more of a standard prog rock song, could be an ELP song. Down The Dolce Vita could be ELP too. Even weirdos can't escape their time and place. Here Comes the Flood is a good song, an a good choice to end the album.
So good
I was never a Genesis guy, and certainly never a Peter Gabriel's Genesis guy, but man, does the guy know how to make songs that sound unlike anything else. He really and truly does have all the tools in his bag and he steadfastly refused to use the same one twice for the first decade or so of his solo career.
I can really understand people feeling the way that they feel about Genesis or any of its members' solo careers in any direction, but for better or worse through genetic fate I have a deep predisposition to Peter Gabriel.
the songs where he tries to sound like a bar room bluesman don't really cut it for me.
Solsbury Hill is a good song. Could do with out the rest of the album.
This was weirder than I thought it’d be. At first I was tentatively into it. Solsbury Hill is a classic, for instance. Then Excuse Me came on and it might be the worst song I’ve ever heard. Nothing after redeemed the album. I was expecting more of a In Your Eyes experience, and I wish this is what we got.
Não percebi nada de prog, nem de relevante.
Pure shite
Peters out in the middle (I don't care for the Moder Love-Excuse Me-Humdrum run) and it’s not exactly the most cohesive of albums, but pretty decent overall with some standouts (Solsburry Hill in particular).