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Rating:
HOWEVER.
I've been closed in my thinking/defecating room for more than half an hour, attempting to download my intestines while waiting for yesterday's MP3.
A nice moment of contemplation, no doubt, usually bearing the usual crappy thoughts or, alternatively, pondering crap, a much more interesting and articulated subject.
Unfortunately for me, the connection is poor, the broadband of my butt is narrower than I imagined. Therefore, I help myself with whatever circulates within arm's length: books, magazines, brochures, abandoned receipts, puzzle weeklies... basically, everything adds to the broth for the hot soup I should be serving.
Under a pile of MARIECLAIRE, ESPRESSO, and WILD HEAPS, I glance at the Moroccan pirated copy of this album "UP" by Peter Gabriel purchased on a beach in Fregene in the winter of 2002 from a certain Jasef.
A record with a gestation of over 10 years (!), a "nocturnal work, sometimes even leaden, created with the attempt to channel an introverted existentialism into a formally impeccable and aesthetic song form, but also an album where excellent production sometimes compensates, or attempts to do so, for some compositional and inspirational shortcomings... a modern and timely record" (as reported by M. Chiusi on OndaRock). Considering these crappy times, I add (adhering to the theme), the album is quite pompous and tremendously "heavy" colored here and there with that slightly danceable rhythm, truly irritating, remnants of a rather widespread tendency among these almost 60-year-olds who play every card to attract a younger audience that, when asked "ever heard of Genesis?" respond "yes, I played it a few years ago, it was a SEGA video game, right?".
But beyond all that, the question that presses me most now is: WILL IT REALLY SUCK?
I try to load it on my i-pod and attempt a listen... "Darkness" not bad with that contrast between the piercing riff insert and the fake-calm of the rest of the song... mmhh... utility = zero. The following "Growing Up" is quite weak and dispensable with that silly and banal 4/4... nothing... the big urge is still missing, damn it... with "Sky Blue" we are in the classic "Gabriel-like" ballad where our guy throws together a sugary series of soul-like chords, laid over his typical charming and still charismatic voice... a 6-minute and 37-second ball with 45 seconds of a cappella ending... alright, but all in all nothing so significant for the task I set myself...
I take my eyes off for a moment on a brochure advertising a Bus Trip to Monterotondo with Padre Pio drawn, dressed as a driver, winking, all for just 19.90 euros... indeed, my stomach has a half-jolt... I look at the little brochure without attention because by now curiosity about this UP has made me impatient... I press PLAY on the i-pod again.
"No Way Out"... still this fake-lounge background from a 3rd millennium piano bar... boring and soporific at just the right point... no chord variations, one tonality, practically one spilled note for almost 8 minutes... I move on with "I Grieve"... same diffused and foggy atmosphere, muffled rhythms, funereal pace for 6 minutes then late drum insertion!!... yet the stomach holds... calm seas on that front... the album is passable and I can still hold back the bulk of the issue. Damn!!
Even the next track "The Barry Williams Show" half funky and catchy (not by chance the flagship single) is not much help... it is pleasantly listened to without giving me that shockwave I seek. Did I perhaps choose the wrong album? I start to suspect it...
With "My Head Sounds Like That" we return to a state of drowsiness... I rest my chin on the bathtub and begin to nap sitting on the toilet... I wake up to the next "More Than This" as banal as ever and quite hideous... and indeed... ZAP: finally the belly reacts and I feel a slow stir of dark presences in revolt in my deep being!! ABOUT TIME, I say to myself and let the track play in its entirety...
I move immediately to "Signal To Noise" with world music openings (so dear to the now bald archangel)... well, not bad... it might be the presence of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's voice that enlivens and embellishes it all, in short, a decent piece although too orchestral in the finale but in the meantime, my stomach locks up again... nothing to do... everything wrong, everything to redo!!
For what I need, I need crappier music and this, all in all, is not as hideous as I expected: boring yes, but hideous would be unfair!
I close this CD in the acetate cover still scratched by the sand, disappointed but in the end also happy I didn't completely bury my youth idol and thus decide to play it safe: desperate times call for desperate measures!
I take a yellowed copy of the Libero newspaper that I keep hidden here for big occasions.
The time it takes to read the headline and the three side articles and my body starts working like a Swiss clock again.
Ahh, it's just right to get certain satisfactions... the ultimate would be once a day!! : -)))
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Darkness (06:49)
i'm scared of swimming in the sea
dark shapes moving under me
every fear i swallow makes me small
inconsequential things occur
alarms are triggered
memories stir
it's not the way it has to be
i'm afraid of what i do not know
i hate being undermined
i'm afraid i can be devil man
and i'm scared to be divine
don't mess with me my fuse is short
beneath this skin these fragments caught
when i allow it to be
there's no control over me
i have my fears
but they do not have me
walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
the deeper i go, the darker it gets
i peer through the window
knock at the door
and the monster i was
so afraid of
lies curled up on the floor
is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
i cry until i laugh
i'm afraid of being mothered
with my balls shut in the pen
i'm afraid of loving women
and i'm scared of loving men
flashbacks coming in every night
don't tell me everything’s alright
when i allow it to be
it has no control over me
i own my fear
so it doesn’t own me
walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
the deeper i go, the darker it gets
i peer through the window
knock at the door
and the monster i was
so afraid of
lies curled up on the floor
is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
i cry until i laugh
Drums: Manu Katche, Dave Power
Percussion: Mahut Dominique, Ged Lynch, Richard Chappell
Bass: Tony Levin
Guitars: David Rhodes
The London Session Orchestra: Strings
String Arrangement: Peter Gabriel, Will Gregory
Orchestration: Nick Ingham
Programming: Richard Chappell
Additional Programming: Alex Swift
Bosendorfer, Mutator, Keys, JamMan, MPC Groove: Peter Gabriel
02 Growing Up (07:48)
folded in your fleshy purse
i am floating once again
while the muted sounds are pumping rhythm
all the walls close in on me
pressure's building wave on wave
till the water breaks - and outside i go, oh
one dot, that's on or off, defines what is and what is not, one dot
two dot, a pair of eyes, a voice, a touch, complete surprise, two dot
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
growing up, growing up,
gooking for a place to live
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
my ghost likes to travel so far in the unknown
my ghost likes to travel so deep into your space
three dot, a trinity, a way to map the universe,
three dot
four dot, is what will make a square, a bed to build on, it's all there,
four dot
my ghost likes to travel so far in the unknown
my ghost likes to travel so deep into your space
all the slow clouds pass us by
make the Empire State look high
as you take me in your sea-stained sweetness
it spills, it tingles and it stings
all the pleasure that it brings
till the door has let the outside inside here
well on the floor there's a long wooden table
on the table there's an open book
on the page there's a detailed drawing
and on the drawing is the name i took
my ghost likes to travel so far in the unknown
my ghost likes to travel so deep into your space
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
growing up, growing up,
looking for a place to live
my ghost likes to travel
my ghost likes to travel
moving inside of your space
my ghost likes to travel
my ghost likes to travel
moving inside of your space
my ghost likes to travel
moving inside
my ghost likes to travel
moving Inside of your space
my ghost likes to travel
moving inside
my ghost likes to travel
moving inside of your space
the breathing stops, i don't know when
in transition once again
such a struggle getting through these changes
and it all seems so absurd
to be flying like a bird
when i do not feel i've really landed here.
Drums: Ged Lynch, Manu Katche
Percussion: Ged Lynch
Guitars: David Rhodes
Backing Vocals: AD Chivers, David Rhodes
Tape Scratching: Tchad Blake
Programming: Richard Chappell
Additional Programming: Pete Davis, Alex Swift
Organ, Sample Keys, Bass Keys, JamMan and MPC Groove: Peter Gabriel
Additional Production by Steve Osborne
03 Sky Blue (06:37)
lost my time lost my place in
sky blue
those two blue eyes light your face in
sky blue
i know how to fly, i know how to drown in
sky blue
warm wind blowing over the earth
sky blue
i sing through the land, the land sings through me
sky blue
reaching into the deepest shade of
sky blue
sky blue so tired of all this travelling
so many miles away from home
i keep moving to be stable
free to wander, free to roam
train pulled out said my goodbyes
sky blue
back on the road alone with the sky
sky blue
there's a presence here no one denies
sky blue
sky blue so tired of all this travelling
so many miles away from home
i keep moving to be stable
free to wander, free to roam
i can hear the same voice calling
crying out, from my heart
and that cry, what a cry
what a cry, it's going to be
if i can stop to let it out, oh.
Drums: Manu Katche
Percussion: Ged Lynch, Daniel Lanois
Bass: Tony Levin
Guitars: David Rhodes, Daniel Lanois, Peter Green
Hammond: David Sancious
Additional Vocals: The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Programming: Richard Chappell
Additional Prgramming: Alex Swift
Backing Vocals: David Rhodes, Melanie Gabriel
Firefly Keys, Bosendorfer, Bass Pulse, MPC Groove: Peter Gabriel
Samples taken from original track Produced by Daniel Lanois and Engineered by
David Bottrill
05 I Grieve (07:24)
It was only one hour ago
It was all so different then
Nothing yet has really sunk in
Looks like it always did
This flesh and bone
Is just the way that you were tied in
Now there's no one home
I grieve for you
And you leave me
It's so hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
And still life carries on
Carries on and on, and on, and on
The news that truly shocks
Is the empty, empty page
While the final rattle rocks
Its empty, empty cage
And I can't handle this
I grieve for you
You leave me
Let it out and move on
Missing what's gone
They say life carries on
They say life carries on, and on, and on
Life carries on in the people I meet
In everyone that's out on the street
In all the dogs and cats
In the flies and rats
In the rot and the rust
In the ashes and the dust
Life carries on and on, and on, and on
Life carries on and on, and on
It's just the car that we ride in
A home we reside in
The face that we hide in
The way we are tied in
And life carries on and on, and on, and on
Life carries on and on and on
Did I dream this belief
Or did I believe this dream
Now I can find relief
I grieve
07 The Drop (02:58)
moving down the fuselage
toward the open door
catch you looking down outside
to see what lies ahead
one by one
you watch them fall
fall through cloud
one by one
you watch them fall
no idea where they're going
but down
where they've gone
where they've gone
watching as the sun goes down
i sit inside this plane
notice how the city lights
are like the nerves inside the brain
one by one
they're going out
you watch them dim
one by one
you watch them fall
and wonder where they're falling to
Bosendorfer: Peter Gabriel
Programming: Richard Chappell
Mixed: Richard Chappell
09 My Head Sounds Like That (06:26)
the metal jangles as the key turns
unlock the door, wipe my feet clean
oh my head sounds like that
the oil is spitting in the saucepan
i squeeze the sponge and let the cat out
oh my head sounds like that
oh my head
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
the water's dripping in the hallway
the guy next door, he knocks his wall down
oh my head sounds like that
the knife it scrapes across the burnt brown toast
the freight train rumbles past my window
oh my head sounds like that
oh my head
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
around the axis we all spin
to determine what's left out and what's left in
what's left out and what's left in
what's left out and what's left in
who's left out and who's left in
who's left in
the moments come and go like water
i try to hold them but they're fading
oh my head sounds like that
oh my head
oh oh oh
Drums: Manu Katche
Percussion: Assane Thiam, Ged Lynch, Mahut Dominique, Hossam Ramzy
Guitars: David Rhodes
Bass: Tony Levin
Brass: The Black Dyke Mills Band
Brass Arrangement: Peter Gabriel, Ed Shearmur, Bob Ezrin
Loop Manipulation: Richard Chappell
Programming: Richard Chappell
Piano, Mellotron: Peter Gabriel
11 Signal to Noise (07:30)
You know the way that things go
When what you fight for starts to fall
And in that fuzzy picture
The writing stands out on the wall
So clearly on the wall
[Wailing]
Send out the signals, deep and loud
And in this place can you reassure me
With a touch, a smile -
While the cradle's burning
All the while the world is turning to noise
Oh, the more that it's surrounding us
The more that it destroys
Turn up the signal - wipe out the noise!
Send out the signals, deep and loud
Man, I'm losing sound and sight
Of all those who can tell me wrong from right
When all things beautiful and bright sink in the night
Yet there's still there's something in my heart
That can find a way to make a start
To turn up the signal - wipe out the noise!
You know that's it
Receive and transmit
Signal to noise.
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Other reviews
By Mr_Iko
"UP is a difficult product, it’s mature music from a mature artist."
"You will be captivated by Peter’s sober elegance, by his lucid sonic innovation."
By Mariaelena
Music is too necessary for Gabriel to be treated like any transgenic seed; it profits and is eternal joy that molds the soul.
An omnivorous man who does not know perpetual routine and is a constant nonconformist, he experiments to elevate and distinguish himself.
