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Date:         Fri, 31 Jul 1992 08:43:00 GMT
From:         "OUT,
              OUT - YOU'LL NOT FEEL THE FALL-OUT..." <OLIVOTTO@ITNCISCA.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Peter Gabriel

Zimri Smith says:

>First, someone was right on the money when saying that Gabriel was
>one of the most innovative artists of the 80s. It is quite correct
>that he was employing African polyrhythms well before it became
>chic to do so. Someone mentioned Paul Simon and Johnny Clegg in
>the same breath as people who picked up on the trend. I'd say this
>is true of Simon, but not of Clegg; Clegg has been playing
>music influenced by traditional African forms for well over a decade,
>perhaps approaching two. This has always been the type of music he's
>played, as opposed to Simon. I suppose Simon should get some credit

        This statement was mine. Admittedly, I was quite uncertain
whether I should mention Clegg - I agree with you in fact, he had
took a different way than Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon, mostly because
he has lived in South-Africa all his life (I believe) and so that was
a natural culture for him.
        Actually, I included him because (shame!) it would be a bit
false to say that he had a huge group of followers before that kind
of music became widely-known here in Europe thanks to the efforts of
people like Gabriel (let's not forget he was the one who founded WOMAD)
and Simon. The comparison barely holds otherwise, anyway.

>for getting people to look into African artists such as Mahlathini
>& the Mahotella Queens, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, etc., but it made
>me sick to see Simon getting all this attention as a brilliant
>musical innovator for using this stuff. Gabriel was way ahead of
>him back in '79 and '80, when the third solo album (the melting
>face one) was recorded and released.

        Yes, yes! Personally, I didn't even like Paul Simon's ethnic
album. Gabriel came first, that's absolutely true.

>Anyway, it's also hard to generalize about Gabriel's solo efforts,
>as the albums are so different. The first two in particular have
>*completely* different sounds to them, and both of them sound
>completely different from the face-melt and Security albums. So if
>you haven't heard any of his stuff other than the "So" album,
>there's a lot of wonderful territory to be explored. If you don't
>particularly care for one album (hard as it is for me to believe
>this is possible), keep going. You may find yourself pleasantly
>surprised. And definitely don't overlook his soundtrack to "The
>Last Temptation of Christ", which is titled "Passion".

        Couldn't have said it better :). I believe that the second
one (the scratched cover) is probably the worst one (all is relative,
of course). Robert Fripp definitely over-produced some stuff, and the
recording was a bit poor too. Go for "Security" instead!

>I began by saying that Gabriel was definitely one of the most
>innovative artists of the '80s. I'd be surprised if he didn't
>continue in this mold and be one of the most innovative artists
>of the '90s.

        We all hope so. But, in this very sense, "So" was a turn-down
for many of us. When Gabriel toured in 1987 I saw him twice, and though
the band was great and perfectly tuned into the music I have always
thought that they couldn't reproduce some "So" stuff really powerfully
on stage. The music was worse, maybe?

        Ciao, Marco
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