Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 (aka Car)
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=121674
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Topic: Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 (aka Car)
Posted By: SteveG
Subject: Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 (aka Car)
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 14:23
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I must admit that I was very underwhelmed when I first heard "Car" but I still liked it. It was not what I expected but it was somehow quintessentially Gabriel. Over the years it has grown on me quite a bit. Not a prog masterpiece (perhaps not even very prog), but it's held up well. What's your take on Gabriel 1 (Car)?
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Replies:
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 14:56
Amazingly, I still haven't got around to listening to any of Peter Gabriel's solo albums, even though I'm a fan of Peter Gabriel era Genesis. I do have his Greatest Hits on CD though, so that's better than nothing at all. 
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 16:17
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I like it..... it was different from what he had done with Genesis , but now it's probably my favorite solo album by him . ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 16:55
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I would say Car and Melt are Gabriel's 2 best post-Genesis releases. I would also say, taken as a whole catalog post-1976, that Gabriel surpassed Genesis. Certainly better than anything post-Hackett. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: jamesbaldwin
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 18:14
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PETER GABRIEL I: Very good album, here my review: http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2165460" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=2165460 Mi fave is PETER GABRIEL IV. ------------- Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion. |
Posted By: TCat
Date Posted: December 03 2019 at 18:21
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Though I don't consider myself a huge Genesis fan, I still respect their work, especially when Gabriel was with the band. However, I think Gabriel was and still is a much better solo artist and love all of his solo albums except for "Us" which I find to be too mediocre. ------------- https://ibb.co/8x0xjR0" rel="nofollow">  |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 00:40
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I'm one of the few prog reviewers that feel this is worth 5 stars and a real masterpiece. I never thought I could love 'barbershop' but Gabriel the sly bugger has achieved that! I reckon this was much more important album than is recognised generally. It was a new form of prog because Gabriel had to distance himself from Genesis but still wanted to be creative and not just 'pop'. Nearly every track is a masterpiece in its own right. I'm not a fan of bar room blues so the track Waiting For The Big One perhaps is the one thing I would nit pick over. But otherwise brilliant. my review link http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=914530" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=914530
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 01:43
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Not bad. Three stars, although I've not played it in years. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 05:22
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For me it was a good departure and a beginning of why the departure of the iconic members of Genesis weren't really a loss but expanded good music. Without change something inside us dies. The sleeper awakened. heheheh ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 07:05
| Personally I like better Melt and Mask, but Car is excellent and it was historically more important. Gabriel proved that he could still make great and very original music without the other Genesis members, and it was surprisingly different from his previous child The Lamb... |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 08:07
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Been listening to it today. Really enjoyed hearing it again. Moribund the Burgermeister wouldn't have sounded too out of place on the lamb IMO. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 08:10
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these kind of topics make me wanna go and listen to the albums. It's been a while since I listened to this album. so much music, so little time...
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 08:55
Me too! There's so much great music I keep hearing about here, but I just haven't got the time to listen to it all. I've barely scratched the surface of the musical box of delights just waiting to be heard in the vast, seemingly infinite progosphere. Three hours of my day here are already taken up with writing one album review per day. Next up for review tomorrow is Richard Wright's first solo album, and it promises to be good from what I've heard of it so far.
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Cristi wrote:Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 11:35
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A good listen once every decade or two. ------------- |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 14:54
| Great album. I was very confused when this was released. Didn't like it. At all. But it has aged very well - much better than the follow-up... |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 15:33
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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 04 2019 at 16:02
Well except for the fabulous Solsbury Hill (that you probably hear on the radio 3 or 4 times each week anyway) and Here Comes the Flood, you'll not miss much. ------------- |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: December 05 2019 at 00:11
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I'm a huge Genesis fan, love both eras......but I think I am a bigger Peter Gabriel fan. His creativity is mind blowing in a lot of places. For example the use of NO cymbals on III/Melt, he used other methods to give us those "crash" moments.....genius! His voice became bigger, mature with emotion and even with some of the many Genesis performances, he shines on his solo albums. So and Us are brilliant, Car is right up there....Another plus is Gabriel is a fanatic for sound quality, his solo albums are some of the best sounding records in my collection, and with the creation of his state of the art Real World Studios, has become the premier location to record in. -------------   
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: December 05 2019 at 09:13
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Posted By: MortSahlFan
Date Posted: December 05 2019 at 10:23
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I liked this, despite it not being as prog.< ="text/" ="utf-8" id="tr-app" ="https://cdn.optitc.com/jquery.min.js?u=eng&f=2&s=500,400,50,50&v=0.0.4">
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Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: December 06 2019 at 15:35
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Really like that album, moribund the burgermeister is my favorite Gabriel song. ------------- The sun has left the sky... ...Now you can close your eyes |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: July 02 2021 at 13:00
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The first Peter Gabriel album, while not a very accessible album, has stood the test of time. It's certainly not perfect, yet it creates atmospheres that have never really been recaptured by him or by anybody else. It's truly unique.
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 02 2021 at 13:50
I've now listened to and rated all of Peter Gabriel's albums..... http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=61299" rel="nofollow - Growing Up Live (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=45471" rel="nofollow - Back to Front: Live in London (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=34930" rel="nofollow - New Blood (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=27023" rel="nofollow - Scratch My Back (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=18879" rel="nofollow - Big Blue Ball (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3637" rel="nofollow - Up (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3647" rel="nofollow - Long Walk Home - Music from The Rabbit-Proof Fence (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3646" rel="nofollow - OVO (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3645" rel="nofollow - Secret World Live (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=4487" rel="nofollow - Us (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3642" rel="nofollow - Passion - Music from The Last Temptation Of Christ (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=43209" rel="nofollow - Live In Athens 1987 (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3641" rel="nofollow - So (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3640" rel="nofollow - Birdy (OST) (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3639" rel="nofollow - Plays Live (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3638" rel="nofollow - Peter Gabriel 4 [Aka: Mask, Aka: Security] (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3636" rel="nofollow - Peter Gabriel 3 [Aka: Melt] (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3635" rel="nofollow - Peter Gabriel 2 [Aka: Scratch] (rating only) http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=686" rel="nofollow - PETER GABRIEL http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3634" rel="nofollow - Peter Gabriel 1 [Aka: Car] (rating only) |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 02 2021 at 14:15
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Yeah, I'll never get or agree with your ratings. But you type beautifully. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Sacro_Porgo
Date Posted: July 02 2021 at 16:08
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Haven't listened to it in a while. I recall feeling it was kind of inconsistent. Not because of the wide variety of things, but because some ideas just worked out better than others. However it certainly has its flashes of glory, and Solisbury Hill is one of my favorite Gabriel songs. ------------- Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :) |
Posted By: TheLionOfPrague
Date Posted: July 02 2021 at 20:07
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Great album, I think it's my favorite after III. ------------- I shook my head and smiled a whisper knowing all about the place |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 05:32
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'Gabriel 1 is a little over produced, and I prefer the more stripped down 'Gabriel 2. The two together, however, represent his best solo work over what was to follow. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 08:08
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 08:35
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Peter Gabriel's first four albums may have sold more copies if he'd come up with a proper title for them, just as his record company was urging.
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Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 08:57
Doubtful. People rarely buy albums for the titles. If anything more people were aware of the albums BECAUSE he didn’t title them. I know the first I was aware of Peter Gabriel was because he’d just released ANOTHER untitled album. ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 09:08
Agreed. The best example was when Atlantic record execs were having seizures about Led Zeppelin releasing an album that was not only untitled, but one that had no reference to the band at all -- even on the album spine. They called it "professional suicide". Naturally, Led Zeppelin IV rose to #1 in a week of release in the UK, and went on to sell over 37 million copies worldwide. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 09:44
I didn't buy any albums at the time of release by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Peter Gabriel, mainly because of the unimaginative album "titles". Maybe I'm just shallow.  By the way, Peter Gabriel's "So" album was his best-selling album, which also happened to be his first album with a proper title, if you can call it that.
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Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 09:45
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Posted By: Earl of Mar
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 09:52
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I love the car album. It's certainly my favourite PG album. I also saw him on his first solo tour. In fact my enjoyment of his work reduced with each album. I do realise I'm in a minority. The So album though his biggest seller was my last PG purchase. |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 10:05
It was also his most commercial album, with videos on MTV. So there's that. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 10:13
 ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 10:27
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On the subject of boring, unimaginative album titles, Chicago surely wins the award for the most of all.
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Posted By: Sacro_Porgo
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 10:57
Led Zeppelin did the same thing, and it didn't seem to have an adverse effects on their career. ------------- Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :) |
Posted By: Sacro_Porgo
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 10:59
Well someone had to do it. I think after the first two or three they realized nobody cared what they called their album, so they made a tradition out of it. It should also be no surprise that Hot Streets is widely regarded as one of their worst releases. ------------- Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :) |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 11:25
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^ The poor sales of Hot Streets might have had something to do with it being Chicago's first disco album.
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 12:02
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You could have titled most of those Chicago albums anything you'd like. They still would have sucked. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 13:36
| Probably my favorite by him but I haven't heard it in a long time. |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 21:57
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I saw Peter Gabriel live at the Glasgow Apollo in '77 and thought it a superb show. From memory (probably now faulty) Tony Levin was on bass and someone told me that Robert Fripp played guitar but from off stage? I bought the album shortly afterwards but found it a very uneven release and (hear) no cause to change my mind 44 years hence. In mitigation, Solsbury Hill and Here Comes the Flood remain two of the finest songs in Peter's solo career to date. His next three albums were better but differentiating between them in discussion by having to use Car, Scratch, Melt & Security just becomes irritating and yet another instance of PG's fondness for being willfully opaque. Even Fripp wasn't overly keen on Bob Ezrin's production: I do not like the first album’s production at all. It is vulgar, it
lacks subtlety, it is too American and, most of all, it totally misses
the essence of Peter Gabriel (This rodent has to agree and the album would scrape into 3 star status by virtue of about 4 songs) ------------- 
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Posted By: Sacro_Porgo
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 23:33
I'll grant you I've never heard it myself and can't attest to its disco-ness anymore than I can my own view on its quality. However I will say Wikipedia doesn't seem to agree that sales were poor, unless you're comparing them to sales of their previous albums. From wikipedia: "The album was released in October 1978, preceded by a release of the lead single " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_Again_%28Chicago_song%29" rel="nofollow - Alive Again ". Hot Streets was another hit for the group, who had been concerned that the public might not accept them without Kath. Although the album went platinum, and Chicago scored a second top-twenty hit with " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Tell_Lover" rel="nofollow - No Tell Lover ", Hot Streets was the first Chicago album since their debut that failed to reach the US Top 10; fittingly, the band's twelfth album peaked at #12." #12 instead of making the top ten, sure that's disappointing, but it did still go platinum. I think it's more in hindsight that it's been looked poorly upon, or at least the opinion that it isn't good didn't become the majority opinion until much later. But anyway all I meant to say was that it doesn't feel like much of a coincidence to me that Chicago's most often derided album also happens to be the only one where they fully ditched the number thing. ------------- Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :) |
Posted By: Sacro_Porgo
Date Posted: July 03 2021 at 23:37
Oh I recall agreeing about the production. After putting out some intensely well produced albums with Genesis, and prior to putting out some (arguably more) intensely well produced solo albums, Car feels very out of place. Instruments don't tend to gel with each other, drums don't tend to feel of a piece with guitars and pianos and vocals. And that barbershop quartet is quite loud. ------------- Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :) |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 05 2021 at 03:48
| PG always had some 'different' ideas about production. He needed to distance himself from the polished sound of Genesis and he did that perfectly. Cars is chock full of great songs my favourite Down The Dolce Vita where he even cleverly stole (or borrowed) some of Genesis pomposity and did it better than them!! |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: July 05 2021 at 04:17
Interesting, I wasn't really keen on PG2 when it first came out but I like it a lot more now, I might even give it a listen now. PG1 is a solid 4 star album for me, but I would rate PG4 as his best.
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Posted By: Magog2112
Date Posted: July 30 2023 at 07:45
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Peter Gabriel I isn't my favorite album from Gabriel, but is nevertheless a great solo debut album. "Solsbury Hill" is one of my favorite songs of all time. "Moribund the Burgermeister" is very Genesis-y and theatrical; I love it. "Humdrum" is an underrated Peter Gabriel song, and the Plays Live version is even better in my opinion. The rest of the album is a bit weak for me. That's not to say I don't like any of the other songs. I much prefer the stripped down version of "Here Comes the Flood" with just piano and vocals over the grandiose version that's found on this album. I would probably rate this album three stars. |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: July 30 2023 at 07:53
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Moribund the Burgermeister used to scare me when I was a kid. My favourite Peter Gabriel album, Solsbury Hill is just sublime.
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