I/O

I'm surprised by the current success of this album on progarchives (4.24 after 74 ratings), as after listening to it three times I find it a collection of mostly forgettable songs that would work well as background music of a shoes shop but surely not as an album wrapping what should be the result of 20 years of song-making written during the maturity years by a revered artist.

Admittedly I'm not a fan of the modern Peter Gabriel, whose records I've found mostly disappointing ever since "Us", but I am particularly unexcited by this kind of plain songwriting, that to me seems to lack any light of actual inspiration (except for the intense "playing for time", that resonates with the best character of Gabriel's voice) and is mostly supported by the obviously excellent production (although over time I grew restless towards Tony Levin's recognizable style and I find records where he plays somewhat annoying).

I also don't understand the point of providing two mixes, dubbed "light" and "dark". To me that just doubled the pain of listening to a disappointing record twice, once through what sounds like a weird-feeling, glum and dry filter.

Just my two cents, of course, and I might as well have missed something essential. I was tempted to give it another listen to make a song-by-song analysis but ended up deciding that life is too short and the musical landscape too vast to try and validate a record that didn't convince me after multiple listens, despite the respect (and love) I have for the musician.