PETER GABRIEL 2 [AKA: SCRATCH]

This album is badly underrated on this site - hence this review.... Overall the album has a great feel to it and while not as exotic as his first solo release it is probably more consistent in terms of quality of song. The instrumentation is relatively straight up and down with some nice lashings of synth, sax and recorders here and there. At times it almost makes me think of a Lennon solo album - just because of the vibe. Most of the songs are great - Home Sweet Home is just a great example of a 70s lament. Indigo is, as other reviewers noted, a haunting and sad piece. White Shadow is uplifting - Flotsam & Jetsam is a sweet and elusive piece of prog-pop and all the other tracks have their moments. It's a good listen and while you might miss the eccentricity of the 'car' album, this one has more quality songs and you can hear the beginning of themes that would continue to develop and dominate his music as he progressed - isolation and fear being among them. For me - this is his best solo album and the beginning of the end of his worthy output - from here it seems to go downhill and while he still did the odd good thing, alas, sadly his best days were behind him.