Customer Reviews

Shaking the Tree

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This is one of a very few best of compilations ever that stands out as a great work of art on it's own. All too many times, best of compilations are just singles or tracks thrown in together mostly in chronological order or if you are lucky, some attempt at making the whole album flow as a cohesive work is made but usually to little avail.

"Shaking the Tree" is an exception; all the tracks are very good and are ordered in such a way that there is a distinct flow that makes you feel that this was just a great album and not just a collection of tracks. To use the cliche, there's synergy here as the whole is greater than the some of its parts.

As I alluded to earlier, very few compilations fall under that category. Sure some may moan that "In Your Eyes" is not here but I'm not too bothered about that. "So" is a work of art on its own and so if you are a true Peter Gabriel fan, you should get a good remastered version of that album in addition to this anyway. As for me, I'm waiting for "So" to come out in a similar (or even better) repackaged/remastered version before I go get it. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for that to happen.

I tried very hard to find a weak track on this album but there really isn't one. It's come to the point where if you amend this with bonus tracks or even switch the track order in the future, that would amount to diminishing the quality of the product and virtual sacrilege.

This has happened before with The Little River Band's Greatest Hits (girl in pool). They made a remastered version that changed everything from the track order to adding bonus tracks that were truly pissed poor and totally destroyed a classic best of compilation.

Other albums that fit in the good category that "Shaking..." falls under are: "Diary..." (China Crisis), "Greatest Hits 1" (Queen), the first Little River Band greatest hits version and only a very few others out there.

That said, this version is a great one to have although the sound quality is good but not great as compared to some other remastered discs that are out there but a must have for anyone who wants to know what a good best of package should both look and sound like and for those who want the best version on one disc of Peter Gabriel's work that is out there. Oh, and don't forget to get a similar version of "So" once it comes out as well.

Very highly recommended.

When Peter left Genesis in 1975 (his role as lead singer being taken over by their drummer, Phil Collins), critics predicted the end of Genesis. They were wrong, as Genesis thrived while Peter took some time to establish himself as a solo artist. He eventually did so, as this compilation of his solo music up to 1990 proves.

Games without frontiers and Sledgehammer both peaked at number four in the UK, with Sledgehammer going all the way to number one in America. An outstanding duet with Kate Bush, Don't give up, also made the UK top ten - it was later covered by Willie Nelson and Sinead O'Connor - their duet can be found on Willie's album, Across the borderline.

Some of Peter's less successful hits are particularly noteworthy. Solsbury hill (a top twenty UK hit) is based loosely on the story of his split from Genesis. Biko (only a minor UK hit) is about Steve Biko, the murdered South African activist. It may not have made much impact on the UK singles chart but it became an anti-racist anthem. Peter's interest in world music led him to record Shaking the tree, a duet with Youssou N'Dour, a renowned Senegalese singer.

There are many other excellent songs here. A more recent double CD, hits, includes some of his later hits, but this is a great compilation in its own right.

There aren't many compilations I would bother to collect on SACD, but Peter Gabriel made this collection interesting even to those of us who already have all of his albums. For the ardent fan, the real treats will likely be the all new and quite superior version of HERE COMES THE FLOOD that first appeared on his debut album and the title track for this compilation co-written by Senegal's very own Youssou N'Dour. This collection works for both the ardent and the casual Peter Gabriel fans because those who assembled it knew which songs to present as remixes, such as I DON'T REMEMBER and I HAVE THE TOUCH, and which ones to leave alone, namely FAMILY SNAPSHOT, MERCY STREET, and BIKO. Admittedly, the shortened edit of DON'T GIVE UP took a little getting used to, but that's the only song here of which I have even the slightest criticism. As compilations go, this is definitely one of the best.

And I was equally pleased with the dynamic sound quality of the SACD. The individual instruments on a song like SHOCK THE MONKEY are so very distinct from one another that the first time I heard this, it was as if each instrument had it's own set of speakers dedicated to them! Now that's the difference between SACD and a conventional redbook compact disc. It is a shame that SACD has struggled as it has, but I am still hopeful that more and more people will see the light when it comes to this wonderful format. Thanks to the third party engineering magicians at Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, more and more worthy titles are getting the SACD treatment they so richly deserve.