Customer Reviews

Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch

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Peter Gabriel's second self-titled solo album from 1978, aka "PG2" or "Scratch" (see cover art), is Gabriel's least favorite of all his solo albums, but that's easily explained---the producer was Robert Fripp, the electric-guitar genius from King Crimson, who likes to record quickly. He convinced Gabriel to record "PG2" in six weeks flat, a pace MUCH too fast for Gabriel, who, as any diehard fan knows, likes to take his dear sweet time in the recording studio. As a result, Gabriel feels that his 2nd album never quite sounded as good as he would've liked.While I totally respect Peter's opinion, I have to admit that I disagree with him. Strongly, in fact! "PG2" is a fabulous album, and my personal favorite from Mr. Gabriel. And now that the album has been remastered (along with the rest of Peter's catalog up through "US"!), it's been made even more fabulous with *super* sound quality that was not available before. Throw in a complete lyric sheet to all of the songs in the CD booklet, as well as some very cool photos taken of Peter during 1978, and you've got one very, VERY satisfied customer in this reviewer!Gabriel may not have been happy with the brisk recording of "PG2," but the trade-off, I think, is that producer Fripp (who also contributes some very classy guitar parts) managed to capture Gabriel in the raw for the only time in Gabriel's recording career (though I'm certainly not knocking his other solo albums---love 'em all!). There IS some polish to the material here and there, but overall, this is a definitive in-the-studio, warts-and-all recording that sounds and feels as if it were played live directly to tape. Gabriel's vocals throughout are energetic, from-the-gut, rough & tough. The man *always* sings brilliantly, of course, but on "PG2," you get to hear him in a way that you don't get to hear on his other recordings, and probably won't hear ever again. It's Gabriel in the raw.Why else is "PG2" my favorite Gabriel album? Peter's songwriting. These are absolutely irresistible songs, every single one of them. Peter turned to somewhat-darker material on "PG3" and "Security," but on "PG2," the songs are wonderfully upbeat ("D.I.Y.," "A Wonderful Day In A One Way World"), rocking ("On The Air," "White Shadow," "Exposure"), heartfelt ("Mother Of Violence," "Indigo," "Flotsam And Jetsam," "Home Sweet Home"), jazzy ("Animal Magic," "Perspective"), beautiful & fun (all of the above). And Gabriel only works with the best musicians possible, and "PG2" is no exception, including guitarist Fripp, bassist Tony Levin, synthesiser wiz Larry Fast, and drummer Jerry Marotta. And Gabriel himself is no slouch on keyboards, either!I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that Peter Gabriel's catalog has finally been remastered (as we patiently wait for the new album), and I definitely plan on getting them all. You should, too. But I HAD to begin my remastered collection with my favorite, "PG2," Gabriel's underrated masterpiece. :-)

First, there's the voice. It's a scratchy tenor. Peter Gabriel was only 28 when he recorded his second solo album. I'm sure his voice never sounded darker or more naturally menacing before or after. His voice never sounded so confident, so triumphant, so full of sex and violence. Gabriel's second solo album (titled Peter Gabriel just like his 1977 debut and the two that followed in 1980 and 1982) was the first album I ever bought by the former Genesis lead vocalist.

The year I bought it from a Record Bar in the mall near my house must have been 1984. I climbed aboard the Gabriel bandwagon kind of late. (But before the mega platinum success of 1986's So.) Since Peter Gabriel was my first taste of the man's music, that might partly explain why it remains my favorite of all his stuff. But that fact does not explain why Peter Gabriel is still my favorite album of all time. But Gabriel's voice does. And his songwriting. And his choice of musicians and producer. And that cover.

Second, there's that album cover. Like Gabriel's voice, it's scratchy. It's a black and white photograph featuring a semi-preppy looking Gabriel (in a golf shirt covered by a London Fog/Lacoste-style windbreaker) bending his fingers and scratching jagged edges of white from the top of the cover to the bottom. Gabriel's hair is long but short. It's a thick buster brown -- just short enough to look right with the windbreaker and the golf shirt but long enough to show people that it's still 1978. You can barley see his eyebrows. But you can see his dark eyes. And you can see a day or so's growth of hair on his face too. I think the cover represents sex. The back of the album represents violence. It must represent violence because it still scares me when I look at today almost 20 years later. Gabriel, dressed in faded jeans, rain boots, and a dark pea or raincoat, is hunched over. He's on an urban street somewhere -- a street lined with fences, puddles of water and mounds of snow. Gabriel has his back to the camera and he's hunched over. I don't know why. He's hunched over, and he's stepping forward with his left foot and dragging his right one. I can't see his face but it looks like his body's contortion stems from some sort of attack. He looks like he may be in pain. If the back of the album doesn't represent violence, it must represent pain.

Third, there's the songs. They are all boiled down versions of white noise, red heat, purple funk, and colorless loss. "On the Air" blows up with Who-like guitar from Sid McGinnis while glistening synth bells from Larry Fast tinkle in the background. Gabriel is playing the part of Mozo, a pirate radio DJ broadcasting from his amateur radio in a cabin by the river. Mozo is lost and lonely and he's screaming out via his microphone. He wants everyone to know "that Mozo is here". Gabriel's Mozo sounds like Ted Kaczynski to me minus the bombs and carnage. "DIY" is Gabriel's very unpunk sounding tribute to the punk ethos that prevailed in the late '70s. How unpunk sounding? Listen to Bruce Springsteen pianist Roy Bittan's playing. But you can hear punk in Gabriel's voice. Even when he just screams "Hey!" just before the song's chorus, you can feel Gabriel's rage and enthusiasm. "Mother of Violence" has some of the most achingly moving singing and melodies on the album. Mostly just piano, acoustic guitar and McGinnis's steel guitar, this ballad cries. "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" is pop reggae while "White Shadow" is one of two show-off pieces for the album's producer and co-guitarist, Robert Fripp. Fripp's solo at the end of "White Shadow" blisters. One of his best on any record he's appeared on, it's underrated at worst and masterful at best. There are five other great songs on Peter Gabriel but there's no real use in describing every one of them because there is a small part on the album's finale that is, as they say, "worth the price of admission." The lyrics on "Home Sweet Home" are nothing special. The words were taken almost straight from a newspaper story Gabriel read about a woman who jumped out of her window with her baby in her arms. The widower used the insurance money he got to gamble at a casino. He won big. So the story has a bitter/bittersweet ending. But it's Gabriel's voice that makes the song and makes the album. Near the very end of the song, Gabriel wails. He's not singing any words, he's just wailing and I've never heard any music before or since that makes my hair stand up like that. Chills. You get chills when you hear it and it's just wailing. I think that's the pain again. The pain of loss and the pain of having everything you ever dreamed of at the same time.

And fourth and last, maybe it's just because it's Gabriel's last rock album. Starting in 1980, Gabriel started mixing the ethic world music influences of Africa into his music. Don't get me wrong. I love all of those albums. The tribal drums with no cymbals. The singers from Senegal. It's all great. But maybe that has become a musical crutch for Gabriel. Maybe it's what people now expect of him. Maybe that's his signature. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. But I loved it when Gabriel just had to rely on the old-fashioned instruments and musical conventions of rock and roll. Guitars, drums, pianos, and the odd synthesizer here and there. Peter Gabriel is rock. Peter Gabriel is pop. Peter Gabriel is raw. Peter Gabriel is creepy. Peter Gabriel is scary. Scary with acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitars, and a piano. That was it for me. Nothing will ever come close.

This is a vastly underrated album. It's more solid and consistent than his first solo album ("car" or "windshield" or "1"). It sounds different and is far more subdued than his other albums. There are almost no booming drums or wailing vocals. There's also no hint of what's to come on his next album ("Melt" or "3"). This is essentially a vocals-guitar-keyboards-bass-drums rock album (whereas "3" introduced Gabriel's "Big BIG BIG drum sound", experimental synthesizer and from-the-throat singing"). The songs are also on the shorter side being more of a pop album length throughout. It's more similar to "So" than any of his other albums, excepting the sales, of course.

There are no incredibly well-known songs on this album, and maybe that's why it's Gabriel's most obscure album. That's too bad, because it includes some of his best songs and lyrics.

"Mother of Violence" is one of Gabriel's best songs. It also has a not too subtle message about a population living in fear (which has become a little too relevant for comfort these days):

Fear, she's the mother of violence
Making me tense to watch the way she breed
Fear, she's the mother of violence
You know self defence is all you need
It's getting hard to breathe
It's getting so hard to believe
Believe in anything at all but fear

Other great, underappreciated songs from this album are, apart from the obvious ones "On the Air" and "D.I.Y", "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World", "Floatsam and Jetsam", "Home Sweet Home", among others. The songs in general are strong with the exception of the one clunker "Exposure."

This album was produced by Robert Fripp who in an interview at the time complained that Gabriel's first solo album sounded "too American" and he wanted to take a drastically different approach for this one. Gabriel has said on more than one occassion that he wasn't happy with the results and, to no surprise, hasn't worked with Fripp since. This probably isn't a bad thing: the two personalities had vastly diverging views on how to make an album (especially on the subject of how long it should take to produce an album). There are also a few moments of uncomfortable musical incompatibility on this album. "Exposure" sounds far more like Fripp than Gabriel, and sounds out of place on this album.

Lastly, what a great cover. Probably one of Gabriel's best covers. It's great that the recent reissues of Gabriel's albums conserve his philosophy of no words on the cover. The original releases in the United States had the words "Peter Gabriel" plastered on the cover (no words on the cover apparently had the marketing people in the U.S. screaming for mercy). The reissue also includes the album's lyrics along with tons of photos from the recording and tour of this album. A good package.

Gabriel fans need to hear this album, but don't expect exactly the same Gabriel. It's definitely worth more than a few listens.

It was "D.I.Y." that introduced me to the solo work of Peter Gabriel. (The first one had been under my radar, a mistake soon corrected.) I knew Gabriel's work with Genesis and while I liked the band I didn't need to have it all. But then this song came out. I can still remember hearing it on the now defunct FM station WIOQ, sitting in my car and thinking, "Wow, I've got to get that." The line, "When things get so big you can't trust them at all; if you want some control you've got to keep it small," really spoke to me ; no doubt helped by the passion and anxiety in Gabriel's voice. When I listened to the whole album, I discovered an artist still trying to find his way to the world rhythms that he made his own. On this recording, Gabriel is still playing around with Genesis style characters and imagery here; on songs like "On the Air" with its hermit DJ and "Animal Magic's Professional," Gabriel revisits some older themes of separation and distance from the norm. But on songs like "D.I.Y." and "Indigo" you start to see the shell cracking as Gabriel touches on some personal spaces that always seemed to be held at arm's length before. Some songs are a bit too buried in Robert Fripp's production (Particularly "Home Sweet Home" which would have been better served by a starker setting.) but overall there is an emotional feeling here that serves as a harbinger of Gabriel's later work.

I've long thought Peter Gabriel's batch of recordings was the rock catalog most in need of CD remastering. Well, here you are in one fell swoop. This, the second Peter Gabriel album (with the clawing fingers cover) was the worst sounding of the bunch. The old mastering was flat and muddy; this one is a major improvement, bringing new life and unknown nuance to some songs. The sound doesn't knock you over -- I don't think the album was recorded all that well to begin with -- it just, finally, sounds like a good 1978 CD should. I always thought this album was a little underrated. There's some terrific, varied, off-kilter stuff here: "On the Air", the punk-philosophy-without-the-punk-music "D.I.Y", the harrowing acoustic "Mother of Violence", the melancholy "Indigo" and the driving "Animal Magic". Songs such as "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" and "Home Sweet Home" particularly benefit from the remastering. Nice. But I do have bone to pick with these remasters: the price. Amazon.com probably will give you the best deal you can find, but it's not good enough for a remaster with no bonus tracks or artist notes (I've seen these selling for [money] in stores). These should be budget priced, and shame on Geffen/Universal for the high cost. If you don't mind paying too much -- I bought all six of his studio remasters, so there you go -- buy all of them with confidence. The sound is better on each CD, some dramatically so like this one, some subtly better. But they're great looking, great sounding.

I can understand all those people who say that "Scratch" is probably Gabriel's worst Recording. I can understand why.
This Cd is very different from everything that Peter has made through his career.
This is in my opinion a Halfway between "1" and "3"
First album is popular because of Peter's departure from Art-rock legend Genesis and it contained some tracks that could have been next Genesis compositions. Third album is Kind of his OPUS MAGNUM and defines completely his musical styles, album genius from first to the last track.

Fans never liked "2" because it was sounding so different form "car" (1 album) and "melt" (3 album). It was also miles away from "so".

The first point why is it so controversial is that it was produced by Robert Fripp (legendary guitarist and composer of King Crimson). Fripp around this time was experimenting very much on his records, and sadly on other people's records. Peter became a victim (i know, i know it sounds so dramatic...) of his ideas and he couldn't control everything that was going in studio after the recording of album. Fripp added some echoes and sound effects and before the remastered edition the quality of sound (lots of treble, poor bass, distant vocals) was more than bad...
But know we have the remastered edition and thanks to it we can all give it a chance, and everyone else who never heard this before can enjoy it...
Still some vocals can sound distant a bit ("flotsam and jetsam") but basses and everything is in the right place (by the way, check out the SACD remaster edition - kicks ...!!!)

During the recording Peter Gabriel was influenced by new wave and punk subculture and music. He was bald (he cut himself like that, nice haircut for him - check out in booklet), started playing on punk festivals and generally he became outsider.
Still he was searching for his own music style after Eclectic first album.

Slowly we have here all the things that we love Peter's music for: intelligent and brilliant lyrics ("Mother of violence","wonderfull day in one way world") charming but powerful melodies ("D.I.Y","white Shadow") and rocking tunes ("perspective"," Animal magic").

The albums open with "On the air" - Raw Punk-rock styled song, with expressive vocals and angry distorted guitars. This is almost a manifest - Peter is screaming all the anger from his throat. Weird "Exposure" is another great track from here. Interesting Bass line (phenomenal bass player Tony Levin) and claustrophobic atmosphere are making this track one of the darkest and strangest Peter's tunes ever.
There are also some more radio-friendly tracks on this album. "Flotsam and jetsam" is quite normal rock ballad with Slide guitar (country sounding), "Home sweet home" has got nice saxophone solo, but it is nothing real special. "Perspective" is a David Bowie styled fast rocker track, but it is not as expressive like "Modern love" (from first album) or even "animal magic".

The atmosphere of "2" can be monotonic for some people. Yes I can agree that the sound and many compositions maybe are a bit similar, but only while they are listened for the first time. All tracks have big depth and are very exciting. But the power of this album hides deep in its rawness and spontanic arranges. The appearances of great musicians (Robert Fripp, Tony Levin) and new fresh sound of the Remaster edition are making "Scratch" definitely one of Peter's most intrigue and extraordinary recordings.
Turn it up LOUD!!!!!!

Peter Gabriel's second solo album is probably the weirdest
step he took in his entire career; it sticks out as a
tentative experiment in the midst of his early prog-rock
with Genesis and the later dark-edged art-pop and world music
dabblings which would begin with his third effort. It is a further oddity given the atypically grungy, claustrophobic production of Robert Fripp, who also contributes guitar on a few tracks. It was clear on this album that Gabriel was still attempting to find his solo voice; he had scaled his songs down to pop size but had yet to find a cohesive sound. As a result
"Peter Gabriel 2" is all over the map, united only by its somewhat bleak tone and closeted production values. However,
in spite of a few generic pop-rock missteps which mar side two,
the quality of the songwriting is superb, and most of the tracks have a tendency to improve with repeated listenings. Opening
with the spirited rocker "On The Air"--which was to have been part of a rock-opera Gabriel was working on revolving around a character named Mozo--the album moves into a stripped down
homage to the punk ethic ("DIY"), an edgy, melodically gorgeous
acoustic hymn ("Mother Of Violence"), a last gasp at Genesis-style symphonic grandeur ("White Shadow"), an avant-electronic
vocal experiment ("Exposure", also featured on the Robert Fripp album of the same name) and a fragile ballad with recorders ("Indigo"). The overall effect may sound deceptively low-key at first but a closer look will reveal many favorite moments, still sounding fresh compared to the overplay of works like "So" and "Us". No Gabriel fan should be without it, and with the exception of a couple of minor numbers the album should generally appeal to fans of classic rock and art rock.

PG2 acts as a bridge between Gabriel's more mainstream debut and the alienated sound of PG3. The material, although not as strong as the third album, has moments of brilliance. White Shadow, despite the comments of the fellow from Emap (who the heck are they anyway?)is stunning, particularly the guitar playing by Fripp and the use of Fripptronics at the end of the song.

On The Air is an ironic comment on both this album and the first PG solo album since both didn't get a lot of attention by radio when they were released. There are moments every bit as dark and compelling as the best moments on PG3, just not as consistent. It's clear that Peter Gabriel was making up the rules of the "solo" game he had decided to pursue as he was going along. Here Peter has nearly abandoned all the rhetorical and musical flourishes that identified him with Genesis.

A bold album that sets out to change Gabriel's image and music in one fell swoop, PG2 isn't as successful as PG3 at achieving its goals, but it sure takes your breath away when it does.

Peter Gabriel's second solo album received lukewarm reviews when it was released in 1978, and continues to get something of a bad rap from fans to this day. Nicknamed SCRATCH after its wonderful cover art, much of the negativity surrounding the album arises from the change in sound from PETER GABRIEL 1 to PETER GABRIEL 2. On PETER GABRIEL 2, Robert Fripp signed on as producer; Fripp was previously the guitarist in the legendary prog-rock band King Crimson. Fripp claimed that his intent was to make Gabriel sound "less American" - what made Fripp think that Gabriel's music sounded "American" is beyond me - and to do so, he cut Gabriel's recording time down to six weeks (a miniscule amount of time for Peter Gabriel, who is known for taking his time in the recording studio). Fripp also pointed Gabriel in a less experimental and more safe direction, although Gabriel fans know that he has never played it safe. The result was a relatively unsuccessful release that Gabriel calls his least favorite of his solo albums. But despite all the bad buzz surrounding PETER GABRIEL 2, many fans are now coming to appreciate the album, and in my opinion, rightfully so.

There aren't as many stand-out songs on PETER GABRIEL 2 as there was on Gabriel's first album, which housed such greats as "Moribund the Burgermeister" and "Solsbury Hill". The greatest songs on the album are the pushy opener, "On the Air", and "D.I.Y.", one of Gabriel's best songs ever. Contrary to what some people would leave you to believe, these aren't the only good songs on the album; in fact, there are plenty of other great songs on the album, such as "White Shadow", the sweet "Indigo", and the dark "Exposure". As a whole, the sound of the album is more consistent than that of PETER GABRIEL 1, but the arrangement of the songs is less consistent. While CAR explored many different styles, SCRATCH never strays far from safe pop-rock. For any other artist as experimentally-inclined as Peter Gabriel, this would be a major problem, but Gabriel deals with it remarkably well. Still, the individual songs lack the punch of those on 1, though the album seems to work better as a whole.

The biggest thing that throws people off of the album is the change in the overall sound of the album from that of Gabriel's first release. The music here sounds far less full and feels as cold as a winter breeze. There's far more synthesizers. The bass has adopted a sort of dour, amused tone. Roy Bittan, Bruce Springsteen's keyboardist, shows up to liven things up a bit, and does a very nice job. Sidney McGinnis plays the guitar parts, which range in sound from being very down-to-earth to far off into space. It seems to me that Robert Fripp was trying to make Gabriel a big pop star rather than just letting him be Peter Gabriel. This is where the fans are divided: some say that Fripp completely took over the project and used Gabriel as a puppet, while others say that Fripp tried to mold Gabriel into a pop star and Gabriel resisted by adapting to Fripp's suggested sound and playing with it. I'm with the latter. I think Gabriel did remarkably well with his "new sound".

Part of what's so fascinating to me about this album is how, like all of Gabriel's self-titled solo releases, it is completely unique. It never really sounds like anything on PETER GABRIEL 1, and it gives no hint whatsoever about what was to come on Gabriel's subsequent release, which wound up being his greatest album ever. Much of the charm of PETER GABRIEL 2 comes from the fact that it's completely unlike anything else that Gabriel ever recorded.

So all in all, how good - or bad - is PETER GABRIEL 2? Let me just say that the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" really applies here. Some people'll love it and call it a sensation, while others'll call it a mediocre follow-up to Gabriel's wonderful debut. Either way, it's not to be ignored. Give it a spin and see what you think. In my opinion, it's an excellent album, and it deserves a spot amongst Gabriel's other four stellar self-titled releases. All in all, a highly-underrated effort from one of the most talented musicians of the twentieth century if not of all time.

Well well, here we are: the black sheep of the Gabriel family. Arguably his darkest album and certainly his leanest and angriest in terms of production, PG2 is nevertheless underrated and overlooked in his catalogue. Blame Robert Fripp for the change in sound - his dark and clustered production fits the songs here, but does seem somewhat limiting compared to the usual expansive sound Peter's songs lend themselves to. While this album works very well for what it does, it's easy to see why Peter chose to keep Robert in the guitar chair the rest of the time.

Enough about the production - how about the music? While not as all-over-the-map as his solo debut, PG2 found Peter still trying all kinds of things in the search for his own style. "On the Air" and "DIY" are two of the most upbeat rockers ever to appear on a Gabriel album. The growth of Peter's songwriting is evident, ranging from material fitting for his time with Genesis (e.g. "Mother of Violence" and "Wonderful Day...," which would have been at home on Nursery Cryme) to "White Shadow" and "Perspective," which showed the direction he'd follow with later records. "Home Sweet Home" gets my nod for the most morbid song PG's ever done - and that's including the mental illnesses he explored on PG3 two years later.

Though only truly enjoyable in a twisted sense of the word, this is a much stronger, more solid album than it's usually given credit for. For those only familiar with the later work Peter became (even more) famous for, it won't be the best disc to appreciate. It's possibly the most obtuse and least accessible album he ever put out. If you already know & appreciate PG3 and Security, then you'll be prepared for what this one has to offer; if not, try giving those two a listen first. Those who aren't scared off.. welcome here.