PETER GABRIEL 1 [AKA: CAR]

I will see this extraordinary artist perform his music live in Sweden in May, so I thought that as a little warm up for this great event (to me it just doesn't get bigger, Gabriel might as well be god) I gonna try to review all of his albums, or at least most of them.

The first album, or "Car" as we also know it, use to be my favorite album of his. But today things seems to have changed and, even though containing great songs like "Solsbury Hill" and "Here comes the flood", the overall experience of the album feels more like a punk-rock-glam revolt from his roots in progressive music. The elements we might recognize as prog mostly feel a bit overproduced, a bit to much.

I got mixed feelings about opening track "Moribund the Burgermeister", I have to admit its a pretty damn exciting song, but its far from the Gabriel I prefer. Its probably the song closest to his previous work on Genesis "Lambs lies down on broadway", as he sings with the same kind of theatre and attitude in his voice. I love the idea about switching between two moods in the song, one mysterious and a bit creepy and one more rock and awesome. This awesomeness (Im trying to write about awesomeness as an objective word, am I kidding myself?) is working some days when the sun is shining and everything is going your way, but most of the days its too much glamrock for my taste. With another way of tackling the song it could have been much greater. I don't know how many things i really need to say about "Solsbury Hills", its lovely and just makes me feel good about everything. I prefer the live versions though, more stripped down and personal. Next song "Modern Love" is just more of that riffing glam rock, so I leave that track alone. "Excuse me" just freaking funny, barbershop with great vocals and some twists and turns here and there. I guess its a proof of Gabriel not yet being comfortable with not being in Genesis, haven't really grown out of that flower costume yet. In this song it suits his just fine!

"Humdrum" is fantastic and probably the sound he should have aimed for with this album. It sounds like Gabriel is finding himself, instead of singing out out the heart of some strange character (as with Genesis, which he does great!) he sings out of his own heart and it just becomes so much more personal. The arrangement is great on this track, a bit more scaled down with a lot of keyboards och classical sounding guitar.

"Slowburn" is an okay song but, just as with Moribund and Modern Love, its a bit too much glam rock. Its a bit annoying to think he had the great Robert Fripp playing the guitars and made him play glam/punk instead of something more? Fripp-ish. "Waiting for the big one" use to be the big one I waited for the whole album through. Its an epic blues song, just as strange as it sounds. Gabriel is really finding a bluesy voice for this one, but I don't think it suits him that well, it might be a bit too acted. For epic and strange blues, see mr Tom Waits instead (Why in earths name isn't his music on progarchives? "Bonemachine", for christs sake!) "Down the dolce vita" is like Waiting for the big one, minus the blues. On a good day this is a great track, but most of the time its just too much.

Closing track "Here comes the flood" is one of the greatest songs he´s ever written, but you won't realize that before you hear the live version with only Gabriel´s voice and a piano. The studio version is dramatic as hell, but a bit too much glam here as well. I think he´s trying too hard to make it powerful, but forget how powerful the song is just in it self (or haven't discovered it yet) All in all, this is a good album and a really good debut. It doesn't leave many clues about the future and all the great albums he will do, it sounds more like someone trying hard to not create a progressive fairytale album, but in his voice he´s still there.