Tweaking Launch to play a little more Peter Gabriel, and I decided to check out the "similar artists" link.
Listed therein:
Howard Jones
Robert Palmer
Mike & the Mechanics
Thompson Twins
Mr. Mister
A Flock of Seagulls
Talk Talk
Men at Work
Talking Heads
Supertramp
Genesis
Naked Eyes
Eurythmics
Kenny Loggins
Annie Lennox
Modern English
Soft Cell
Electric Light Orchestra
Okay, I guess whoever's in charge of listing similar artists for Launch went with the "hey, he was big in the 80s, so anyone from then will do" approach.
I personally think that as far back as 86's So album Gabriel did his best to teach popular music a lesson it just refused to learn: Change.
The guy is capable of a level of creativity that not only do popular artists not recognize, but they don't even know where to buy the tickets to sit in the nosebleed seats for a glimpse.
He's not huge like he once was, and I don't blame him. I think he gave up on us once the lesson didn't sink in.
***
His soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ, aka Passion, is gripping, and he hardly sings at all on it.
***
"Biko" still gives me chills every time I hear it.
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh, because
Oh, because
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
***
One more note:
KENNY LOGGINS????
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1 comment:
You know, I'd be willing to bet money that the guy who, as you say, just lumped Gabriel in with the 80s was thinking of pop fluff like "It's My Life" when he put Talk Talk on the list. The irony is that Talk Talk eventually abandoned that formula for an atmospheric, almost painterly approach that does bear some similarity to Gabriel's work. The albums Spirit in Eden and Laughingstock have turned out to be influential in certain circles, not to mention critical favorites. But putting them out was also the equivalent of busting a cap in the ass of the band's career as a hit singles act, and bandleader Mark Hollis abandoned the field like Gabriel, letting us wallow in our own tastes.
It's funny - when I wrote a big piece on the Gabriel reissues that came out a couple of years ago, I realized how hard he is to copy. I hear things in certain artists' work that definitely points a few Gabriel albums in the collection, but I very rarely hear someone that makes music that sounds just like Gabriel's. (No, Sting does NOT count.) He's a pretty unique individual in popular music.
Damn, now I've a hankering for Gabriel's last album Up, which I never got around to getting, for some reason. I'll have to seek that one out.
Michael
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