PETER GABRIEL 1 [AKA: CAR]

Making a clean break from the pastoral symphonic style of Genesis, Peter Gabriel's first solo album sees him apply his theatrical approach to singing to a set of intriguing art rock pieces, produced (and occasionally overproduced) by the legendary Bob Ezrin. It's an entertaining enough album - though I think it bogs down around the middle, with both Excuse Me and Humdrum being extremely skippable - but I can't help but feel that it represents a lost opportunity.

To my mind, Gabriel should have been able to something a bit more interesting and unexpected with a backing band including talents like Robert Fripp and Tony Levin (an encounter which would, no doubt, lead Fripp to recruit Levin into the reconfigured King Crimson some years down the line), but possibly this wasn't down to him - he's gone on record as feeling that the album was overproduced, particularly Here Comes the Flood, and having heard the sparser version he performs on Fripp's Exposure album I'm inclined to agree.

In short, the "Car" album is a decent start, but Gabriel hadn't quite found a compelling solo sound yet - as an album it just isn't that cohesive. What saves it is that as a collection of songs, it's a heap of fun - whilst the diversity of sounds on there does suggest a lack of direction, it also means that there is at least a wide range of stylistic exploration, and some of the individual songs are legitimate classics, even if others are creative dead ends. Call it a three and a half star album that's tantalisingly close to being rounded up to four stars - and go ahead and round it up if you're particularly well-inclined towards Gabriel's musical experimentation, which most prog fans will likely be.