Peter Gabriel is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 2 June 1978 by Charisma Records. Gabriel started recording the album in November 1977, the same month that he had completed touring in support of his debut solo release. He employed former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, who was part of Gabriel's early touring band, to produce the album. Fripp used his Frippertronics effects on the co-written song "Exposure".
The album's cover artwork by Hipgnosis led to it becoming known as Scratch to differentiate it from Gabriel's other eponymously titled albums. Some music streaming services refer to it as Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch.[6]
Gabriel briefly considered working again with the producer of his first album, Bob Ezrin, but ultimately decided against it.[8] Gabriel instead selected Robert Fripp. Compared to Ezrin, who was more insistent on dictating the arrangements, Fripp favoured a more spontaneous work process that allowed Gabriel to contribute his own musical ideas.[9] Gabriel credited Fripp with creating a studio environment that was conducive to creativity.
Robert's approach to the process of recording was very good. He likes situations to happen rather than make them happen. On the first album I wasn't confident of my own ability in arrangement, whereas on the last one I was a lot more confident and had definite ideas.[10]
Fripp utilised his Frippertronics technique on the track "Exposure", which he and Gabriel cowrote.[11] He later recorded a version of the song as the title track of his 1979 solo album Exposure.[12]
During the assembly of the album package, Fripp wanted the liner notes to include Produced by Robert Fripp for Peter Gabriel to indicate his belief that he abdicated too much creative control to Gabriel.[9] Gabriel said that Fripp suggested this credit "because some of the style of the sound was not altogether what he wanted. He didn't want people to think that was exactly how he would have interpreted the music".[13] In a 1980 interview with Smash Hits, Gabriel stated that he failed to attain the results he desired on his second solo release in part because of his creative differences with Fripp. Gabriel believed that Fripp lacked an understanding of synthesizers and said that the two "spent too much time on theoretical arguments." He also expressed his opinion that "On the Air" and "White Shadow" were the only songs on the album that received sufficient attention in the recording studio.[14]
Artwork
The cover depicts an image of Gabriel with several vertical grooves gouged into it that end at his fingertips. He stands with hands raised, palms facing himself, and fingers bent to simulate the appearance of tearing the image. The effect was achieved by gluing strips of torn paper onto a photo of Gabriel in the appropriate pose, taken by photographer Peter Christopherson, then using Tipp-Ex correction fluid to touch up the spots where they met his fingers.[15]
In the NME in 1978, Nick Kent wrote: "Its brazenly left-field veneer left me cold at first, and it's only now that its strengths are starting to come across... once past the disarming non-focus veneer, there's a quietly remarkable talent at work – quiet in the manner of the slow fuse burn of 'Mother of Violence' with Roy Bittan's piano work outstripping anything he's turned out for either Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie. Closer to the root of the album, there's a purity, a strength to the songs individual enough to mark Gabriel out as a man whose creative zenith is close at hand."[8]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Peter Gabriel, except where noted.
On original LP pressings of the album, the audio of "White Shadow" (the last song on side one) continued into a locked groove.
Some editions of the cassette release had a different running order. "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" was track 11, "Home Sweet Home" was track 5, and "White Shadow" was track 4.
The original B-side of the single "D.I.Y." is a longer version of "Perspective" edited for the album and all subsequent releases.
↑ Brunner, Rob (12 July 2002). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 / Peter Gabriel 2 / Peter Gabriel 3 / Security / Plays Live / Birdy / So / Passion / Us". Entertainment Weekly. pp.84–85.
↑ "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel". Q. No.191. June 2002. p.137.
↑ Thomson, Graeme (November 2015). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 ('Car') / Peter Gabriel 2 ('Scratch') / Peter Gabriel 3 ('Melt') / Peter Gabriel 4 ('Security')". Uncut. No.222. pp.88–89.
Robert Fripp is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session musician and collaborator, notably with David Bowie, Blondie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, the Roches, Talking Heads, and David Sylvian. He also composed the startup sound of Windows Vista, in collaboration with Tucker Martine and Steve Ball. His discography includes contributions to more than 700 official releases.
Frippertronics is a tape looping technique used by English guitarist Robert Fripp. It marked the first real-time tape looping device, evolving from a system developed in the electronic music studios of the early 1960s by composers Terry Riley and Pauline Oliveros and made popular through its use in ambient music by composer Brian Eno, as on his album Discreet Music (1975). The effect is now routinely found in many commercial loop station guitar digital effects boxes such as the Boss RC-3.
Three of a Perfect Pair is the tenth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 23 March 1984 in the UK by E.G. Records. It is the group's final studio album to feature the quartet of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford, which broke up later that year, though all four would appear in the sextet lineup featured on THRAK in 1995.
Beat is the ninth studio album by the British progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 18 June 1982 by E.G. Records. It was the second King Crimson album to feature the lineup of Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Bill Bruford, and the first ever King Crimson album to feature the same lineup as its predecessor.
Discipline is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released on 2 October 1981 by E.G. Records in the United Kingdom and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States.
Evening Star is the second studio album by British musicians Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. It was recorded from 1974 to 1975 and released in December 1975 by Island Records.
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. Some music streaming services, including Gabriel's own Bandcamp page, refer to it as Peter Gabriel 1: Car.
Peter Gabriel is the third solo studio album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released on 30 May 1980 by Charisma Records. The album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, has been acclaimed as Gabriel's artistic breakthrough as a solo artist. AllMusic wrote that it established him as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians".
Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats is a compilation album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released in 1990 as Gabriel's first career retrospective, including songs from his first solo album Peter Gabriel (1977), through Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ (1989). It was remastered with most of Gabriel's catalogue in 2002. The vinyl version of the album is called Shaking the Tree: Twelve Golden Greats.
"Solsbury Hill" is the debut solo single by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. He wrote the song about a spiritual experience atop Solsbury Hill in Somerset, England, after his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis, of which he had been the lead vocalist since its inception. The single was a Top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 13, and reached number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977.
Mister Heartbreak is the second studio album by American avant-garde artist, singer and composer Laurie Anderson, released on February 14, 1984, by Warner Bros. Records.
This is the solo discography of Peter Gabriel, an English singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. His 1986 album, So, is his most commercially successful, selling five million copies in America, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. The song is the most played music video in the history of the station.
Exposure is the debut solo album by guitarist and composer Robert Fripp. Unique among Fripp solo projects for its focus on the pop song format, it grew out of his previous collaborations with David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and Daryl Hall, and the latter two singers appear on the album. Released in 1979, it peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Album Chart. Most of the lyrics were provided by the poet and lyricist Joanna Walton, who also coined the term "Frippertronics" to describe Fripp's tape looping techniques.
Sacred Songs is the first solo album by American singer/songwriter Daryl Hall. It was produced by guitarist Robert Fripp, who also played on the album. Its chart debut was March 29, 1980.
Peter Gabriel Revisited is a compilation album by Peter Gabriel which includes selections from his first two albums, as Atlantic had retained the US distribution rights to Gabriel's first and second albums. It compiles 7 of 9 tracks from the first album, and 8 of 11 from the second. AllMusic, noting that the compilation ill-served both committed and casual Gabriel fans, labelled this album "good but useless".
(No Pussyfooting) is the debut studio album by the British duo Fripp & Eno, released 9 November 1973. (No Pussyfooting) was the first of three major collaborations between the musicians, growing out of Brian Eno's early tape delay looping experiments and Robert Fripp's "Frippertronics" electric guitar technique.
"Here Comes the Flood" is a song by British rock musician Peter Gabriel from 1977. It first appeared on his debut solo album, Peter Gabriel (Car).
"D.I.Y." is a song written and recorded by English musician Peter Gabriel. It was included on his 1978 self-titled solo album and was released as a single in May with "Perspective" as a B-side, although it failed to chart.
"I Don't Remember" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released as the fourth and final single from his third eponymous studio album in 1980. Although originally only released as an A-side single in the United States and Canada, a live version released with the album Plays Live (1983) reached No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 75 in Britain for 4 weeks. The song was included in Gabriel's compilation album Shaking the Tree (1990) and two different versions were included in Flotsam and Jetsam (2019).
"On the Air" is a song written and recorded by English musician Peter Gabriel. The song first premiered on Gabriel's first solo tour in 1977 and was later included as the opening track on his 1978 solo album Peter Gabriel. For the album's accompanying tour, the song served as the set opener.
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