Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel I (Car)

PREMISE ... The following is a gut-written and very spontaneous review, based on my cultural background concerning Gabriel's production, in this case, his first solo work, which I had already reviewed a long time ago, with little success, for which I take full responsibility, and of which I acknowledge the reasons. At the time, I was a "mere" enthusiast, and my writing style was, if not nonexistent, at least fragmentary, or worse, didactic and uncoordinated. With this premise, finally, I wish you a good read, and I hope that here, in my declared spontaneity, I have done better than before, giving the tips in an engaging way.

41 years ago, on February 25, 1977, Peter Gabriel's first solo album, eponymous, like the next three that would follow, was released by Charisma Records (by Atco in the USA and Canada).

The sound in some songs is still reminiscent and indebted to certain prog rock suggestions and structures, for example, the opener, "Moribund the Burgermeister".

Peter is divided between Toronto and London for the recording of his first work, for which he is accompanied by many American musicians, some of whom will enter his entourage, more or less permanently (Tony Levin, a loyalist, plays the bass and the tuba (in "Excuse Me"), as well as leading the so-called Barbershop Quartet, also in "Excuse Me").

The producer Bob Ezrin, who had already worked extensively with Alice Cooper and shortly thereafter, in '79, would co-produce "The Wall" by the Pink Floyd, adds to the hefty rock crafted by the musicians and Peter imposing orchestrations, which at times, according to Peter himself, denature and weigh down the tracks.

Robert Fripp (King Crimson) plays the guitar; he risks a nervous breakdown due to the cuts Ezrin makes, forcing him to handle his instrument in a way not congenial to him.

In some tracks, one can hear the influence of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, especially in "Modern Love", a biting pop rock with rock 'n' roll tinges, strongly "American".

Genuine gems of Peter's solo production already appear here: "Solsbury Hill" (which thematizes the artist's decision to leave the band with which he was at the height of success), "Humdrum" and "Here Comes the Flood" (which will appear, in another more electronic and "frippertronicized" form, in "Exposure", the first solo effort of the guitarist, who about two years prior had temporarily disbanded King Crimson).

An essential album: still timid, derivative, but valuable.