Gabriel’s solo career-Prog or not?

we discussed Gabriel, along with some others some time ago.. .  just had to wait till the time was right.  I had a little birdie telling me that a category that would be right for him and others like him would be coming here.  

well this has been settled in the smoky back rooms of PA's...


Peter Gabriel is being moved to Crossover....

darqdean wrote: Now that Art Rock has split into three more easily managable sub-genres is there room for Peter Gabriel in Crossover Prog?   I think so, eventhough individual songs may not exactly fit the definition, the way the albums are constructed, the flow of songs, the instrumentation, unusual influences, lyrical structure and 'concepts' are prog. Also, as a musician he writes sublimely progressive music on those instrumental albums that occasionally get over looked when discussing his solo output (Birdy, Passion, Ovo, The Long Walk), some of which would almost qualify as Advant Prog.

Yes, definitely - Micky and I have discussed that quite often, and he intends moving PG to Crossover ASAP. In fact, a few months ago (before I temporarily retired from the site), there was a poll about moving PG to Art Rock, but the results were unclear, and the idea was abandoned for the time being. However, now the time is ripe for him to be moved to a category which is much more suitable to his music, because of the features you have just highlighted.

Yes, he IS. His music may be poppy, but outstanding, worldy, interesting, progresive rock/pop at that. Even in his definitely poppy album SO, he still manages to give his songs an special atmosphere, use special instrumentations, he makes the album sound proggier than it is. UP and MELT are prog. US (to comment on all 4 PG albums that I have), well, kind of sucks but it's still an "elegant" album to use a good adjective.

Peter Gabriel is a progressive rock artist. For eample, nobody really faults Yes for having a hit on Fragile - Roundabout, refering to the good old days.  Besides, good progressive rockers evolve and reinvent themselves continually; sometimes testing the water in other genres.  His (PG) influences are eclectic, and he's always original.  Those who don't accept Gabriel as continuing to be active in prog after departing Genesis simple have too rigid a definition of what "progressive" rock is all about.

I love 'So' (and all his albums) as well, but remember that according to this site's current definition, Art Rockers, as wide-ranging as they may be, must 100% Prog. Last time this came up I felt Gabriel belonged in Art, but now I think ProgRelated is just about right.








Edited by Atavachron - April 10 2007 at 00:25

No nit not.

I think his post Genesis material at best is Prog-Related. I give him the nod only because of his contribution during the Prog years and his first solo album, which was very creative. After that, his albums seemed more standard weird.

Edited by StyLaZyn - April 02 2007 at 12:18

I think it's not progressive but have some elements, but honestly, I absolutely don't care. I love many of his work, especially PG1, PG3, Up, progressive or not ! Call it what you want ! Don't waste your time, just listen and appreciated the talent of this master !

I think Peter Gabriel's solo work is progressive, in the sense that the style of his music has certainly had changes and taken influences from different types of music through the years.

But is it PROG?

Short answer: no.  If I were to describe prog rock as a general term to someone, and mention a list of bands as examples, I wouldn't mention PG.

Long answer: yes.  Since the term "prog" has about as many alternative defenitions as the music itself has sub-genres, it could be comfortably called prog among other prog enthusiasts, and those enthusiasts would certainly know what you mean (even if they don't necessarily accept it).  If you called it prog to a layman, they might get confused.

Either way I'm glad solo PG is listed on this site, or else I may have never started listening to it and loving it.

Thanks to eduardossc for justifying some of Phil Collins work too, always a good thing to do on this site.