PETER GABRIEL 1 [AKA: CAR]

So. this was Master Peter Gabriel's solo debut. A very good debut album this is, cleverly distanced from the Genesis trademark yet comprising a repertoire full of inventive art-rock resources in an ordained eclectic framework. To a degree, Gabriel uses some sonic sources that seem quite related to the aggressive, somber moods that plagued the most intense moments of the epic "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" - this album rocks, but all in all, it is not your standard rock'n'roll album. A host of the backing musicians came from Alice Cooper, and there is also Robert Fripp tempting his way back into the rock business, so they could really move comfortably in the artsy feel that Gabriel intended to approach from these earlier days. The opener 'Moribund the Burgermeister' pretty much perpetuates the dynamic theatrics of his good old Genesis days in its mischievous combination of psychedelic rock, surrealistic Cabaret and electronic adornments. It's been a long while since Gabriel blew this one off his live setlists, but it still remains a personal Gabriel fave of mine. 'Solsbury Hill' is, indeed, a classic that refuses to leave live setlists up to this day - this bucolic midtempo song happens to be closely connected to the acoustic side of Genesis, although it clearly bears a less melancholic mood, it is celebratory of the freedom found on the threshold of a new way of life. 'Modern Love' is a catchy rocker that sounds like Peter Green's FM-meets-Rolling Stones. Later on, other rockers such as 'Slowburn' and 'Down the Dolce Vita' will provide fluid combinations of power and sophistication: 'Slowburn' features what arguably is the best lead guitar solo in the album (played by guest Dick Wagner, another Alice Cooper alumnus), while 'Down the Dolce Vita' states an electrifying mixture of rock, funk and orchestral OST, plus a typically prog rock interlude. Brilliant! The Barbershop parody 'Excuse Me' brings clever musical humor in a proper dose, followed by the lovely semi- ballad 'Humdrum' that shows Gabriel's vulnerability in a delicate fashion (including brief French moods and Latin cadences). But the prize to the most vulnerable song in the album has to go the magnificent closer 'Here Comes the Flood', which flaunts its epic romanticism with polished majesty. This is another song that somehow has links to the Genesis trademark, and now that I think about it, a ballad like this was necessary in the first Genesis-trio albums so they could be more valuable as art works. Well, we won't skip 'Waiting for the Big One', a slow rocker set on a blues tempo that portrays a constrained bombast: the use of a choir for the last chorus is a weird, yet strangely effective idea. A very good debut album this is, let me say again, and as such it deserves to be marked as an excellent addition to any good art-rock collection.