PETER GABRIEL 2 [AKA: SCRATCH]

The second PB album is not as bad as the rating says and its author dismisses it. The album may have been a bit rushed and that led to fewer interesting music ideas. I like the fact that the album is less flamboyant than PB's first album. In fact, it is now closer to pop than progressive rock. Peter Gabriel 1 had numerous instrumental sections that referenced Genesis as opposed to the more sparse Peter Gabriel 2. That's not to say that Gabriel became less ambitious; he still has the ability to create music that sounds like nothing he did before - "White shadow" has great synth structure, pedal-steel-guitar flavour and a semi-classical synth motive followed by a decent subdued guitar rock solo. "Indigo" returns back to the melancholy of "Slowburn".

While Peter Gabriel 2 was a bit of retreat from Gabriel's mighty music statements, it's far from being subject to dismissal.