Customer Reviews

Barry Williams Show

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first single off Peter Gabriel's newest work "UP". It's a upbeat, somewhat danceable song that attacks the destructive influence of the shock trash-talk shows andJerry Springer on TV viewers minds. It's actually quite a great song and while not necessarily the wisest choice for the first single, it sure deserved better chart success than what it got.

BTW, about the title of the song, when Gabriel was finished producing the song, he didn't at that moment know that there actually was an actor named Barry Williams, who played one of the charachters on The Brady Bunch. When Gabriel found out, he invited Barry Williams to star in the video and so he did. I hope this will clear things up.

The remix of My Head Sounds Like That isn't as interesting as the original. I like the original better. The version of "Cloudless" on here is merely just a shortened version of the original on the "Long Walk Home: Rabbt Proof Fence" soundtrack. Nothing really must is offered on this item IMO.

Unlike the wonderful CD singles that were released for "US" a decade ago which harbored really interesting material, this single is just a waste of money.

You get the album version of "Barry Williams" (why do we need that?), the "Radio Edit" of the same (boring duplicity), a Gabriel-less "Cloudless-Radio Edit" (with Gabriel's vocals removed, why would it receive radio airplay?), and finally, but very least, an downright annoying, drum-machine-driven remix of "My Head Sounds Like That".

Small wonder this CD5 has not been made available in the U.S.; perhaps even the record company bean-counters couldn't bear to inflict it on us. What a disappointment!

I think this song is wonderful. Leave it to Peter to make a song about "Jerry Springer" type television shows. Peter pulls no punches. The searing sarcasm of these lyrics is dead on. "Got the reputation of a surgeon/ Cause they cannot feel they cut/ It looks very simple but it really is an art/ They call the studio the hospital/ Making money from the sick/ We let people be themselves there is no other trick/........ What a show! The Barry Williams Show/ It's my show! Dysfunctional excess is all it took for my success/ What a show!/ And when the punches start to fly/ the ratings always creep so high/ SHOWTIME!!" I wish this song was released about 6-7 years ago. I would have made my friends listen to this song everytime they made me watch "The Barry Wiiliams Show".
On this single there is the Barry Williams Show (radio edit), The Barry Williams Show (album version), My Head Sounds Like That Remix by Roksopp and, Cloudless (radio edit). I was dissapointed with this single. I think radio edit versions are useless. I understand why there are radio edit versions of songs, especially Peter Gabriel songs. No radio station is going to play a seven-and-a-half minute song. No problem, I understand. I think the radio edit versions of songs are appropriately named. They are for the radio. They are chopped down and distilled. What Peter Gabriel fan turns on the radio to listen to him?
I buy PG's singles because I know that three out of the four songs will be new. They might be remixes, updated versions, or songs I have never heard. However you break it down, there will be at least two songs you can get no where else. That is why I buy the single.
The only new song on this single is My Head Sounds Like That Remixed by Roksopp. I should say it's the only different version of any of the songs on the single. This remix is bursting with readiness to be played in clubs. It is itching to have something mixed on top of it. It is malleable. It is waiting. I am sure it is already being used.
If The Barry Wiiliams Show is the first song you have heard from Peter Gabriel and you want to hear more don't buy this single. Go buy UP and work your way backwards. If you are a Peter Gabriel fan and haven't heard Cloudless, the real version of this song is on The Long Walk Home. (I read a nice opinion about The long Walk Home. I must paraphrase: The auditory fullness, depth, surety and openess of Passion conjures up the ideas and feelings of a middle-eastern journey as easily as Whitman's poetry conveys nature. Immerse yourself in either and it is as if you are there. The Long Walk Home is no different. This time around we are introduced to the Australian outback.) If you are a Peter Gabriel fan who has Up and The Long Walk Home and you are like me, happy to gather any and all new songs, then I highly reccomend purchasing this single.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but why is Peter Gabriel's new radio song called "The Barry Williams Show"? Is he aware that Barry Williams is the name of the actor who played Greg on the Brady Bunch? There is of course no talk show with Barry Williams in it - is this supposed to be what it would be like if there were? (Unlikely - Williams may have done some lousy shows before, but he isn't Jerry Springer, after all.) Or if "Barry Williams" is supposed to be a purely ficticious host of a representative talk show, the name is ill-chosen. Anyway, the song itself is a somewhat mundane but certainly apt attack on horrible television talk shows. The chorus is vaguely catchy and the production is slick, though Gabriel's lead vocal begins with an uncharacteristic rasp to it which isn't very effective. Overall, a rather dark and plodding tune.

THIS SONG IS SO FUNNY ICOULD HARDLY DRIVE WHEN I FIORST HEARD IT. IT POKES FUN AT AMERICAN AND UK TABLOID TV LIKE JERRY 'TRASH' SPRINGER. LISTEN TO WORDS LIKE 'MY DAUGHTERS SELLING SEX' ANYTHING FOR THE SHOW.
GIVE IT A FEW LISTENS I'M SURE YOU WILL AGREE IT ROCKS.

[SORRY TYPING HURTS AND I'M PARALYZED SO I GO FAST]

THIS SONG IS SO FUNNY I COULD HARDLY DRIVE WHEN I FIRST HEARD IT. IT POKES FUN AT AMERICAN AND UK TABLOID TV LIKE JERRY 'TRASH' SPRINGER. LISTEN TO WORDS LIKE 'MY DAUGHTERS SELLING SEX' ANYTHING FOR THE SHOW.
GIVE IT A FEW LISTENS I'M SURE YOU WILL AGREE IT ROCKS.

[SORRY TYPING HURTS AND I'M PARALYZED SO I GO FAST]

I don't know if Peter Gabriel was aware that Barry Williams, the actor, played a role on The Brady Bunch or that he even existed when Peter wrote the song, but at least Barry Williams isn't upset--he appears in the video for the track.

For those not yet willing to puchase the full Up CD, this is a good introduction to one of the best tracks--a wonderfully satirical look at television talk shows. As Peter said during his concerts, just as you are what you eat, you are what you watch.