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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gabriel's Underrated Masterpiece, May 9, 2002
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. :-)
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite Album of all Time, November 23, 2004
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.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fear is The Mother of Violence..., April 13, 2003
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.
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