X-Envelope-to: ALLMUSIC@AUVM.BITNET
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Wed, 12 Aug 1992 10:47:00 GMT
From:         "OUT,
              OUT - YOU'LL NOT FEEL THE FALL-OUT..." <OLIVOTTO@ITNCISCA.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Bambi Kovitz Meets Peter Godzilla

Gang,
        90 messages this morning!!! Well, this happens when that nice link
called UICVM goes to sleep for a couple of days.
        Anyway -- I log in and here's what I find... :) Sonia says:

>I've been listening to Peter G and I take back all those bad things I said.

        What an effect, wow! :)

>I really like his stuff--especially the Security album.  (I also heard his
>first album and it didn't make much of an impression, seemed more scattered or
>out of focus?)... But Security is genuinely distinctive, interesting music... I
>like the powerful polyrhythms/bass lines the best (I have a problem with music
>without a strong bass)... Each cut is like a little drama all its own, lots of
>color, power, emotion... I like the way the way tornadoes of bombast stir up,
>almost tongue-in-cheek, and then get blown away by a little gust of melody.

        Re the first album: I quite like it, but I agree that it was a bit
over-produced, and he still needed to get rid of some very "fat" harmonies
and atmospheres he had been used to with Genesis.
        That "Security" has songs which are "little dramas" is a bet anyone
could make, I think. One of the most clever things, musically speaking, is
how simply the characteristical density of the music is reached: cuts like
"Rhythm Of The Heat", with the tremendous percussive final, have really very
little in them. There are many ideas and many sounds, but not so layered -
you can really tell everything from everything else. This should be a lesson
to many people who tend to overblow their own music trying to make it sound
appealing and powerful.

>My only criticism (she said as she zipped up her asbestos suit) is that
>occasionally the vocals get too predictable... but I've always been one to
>prefer instrumentals to vocals unless the vocals are... (no, I won't even
>bother to say it).  Anyway, this is wonderful Brit (?) Meets Africa music,

        No asbestos suit needed: I think that Peter Gabriel *is* one of the
most interesting voices in rock, but he doesn't really have a great exten-
sion or a crisp timbre -- or at least he doesn't use it. I guess (and you
should be more able than me to judge) that at a certain point he was heavily
influenced by black music, though his style remains different: all those
guttural and throat-made sound are probably a straightforward derivation from
African techniques.
        Anyway, if you're getting interested, there is an official video
called "PoV" (for "Point of View") with a full Gabriel Concert in 1987.
There are some unforgettable moments, especially "No Self-Control" (from
tha 1980 album) and "Mercy Street" (from "So"). I saw him live twice during
that tour, and - believe me - seeing him in fetal position on stage, mut-
tering out "mercy... mercy... looking for mercy..." and then going into
hearttaking screams with the voice at wild pitches was an emotional shock.
All this is perfectly visible in the concert video, and I think you would
like it a lot. Also, since you know "Security" by now, you may also discover
what happens when he does "Lay Your Hands On Me"... :)

        Last point - if you can, try to watch the 10-years-old "Shock The
Monkey" video. It was a classic, also because he literally pioneered some
now common ways of making videos. And once I'll maybe tell you a story
about that album... [ALLMUSIC choir: "naaah, Marco, not again...!"].

        Ciao, Marco
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