PETER GABRIEL 2 [AKA: SCRATCH]

I have to give this album some credit because I remembered it to be much worse that it actually sounded revisiting it today. My main concern with Peter Gabriel 2 - "Scratch" has always been the fact that there isn't really a single great composition here and although some do come quite close the final product leaves much to be desired of considering the power if his debut album.

Compared to his almost non-existent contribution on the previous record, this time Robert Fripp's presence is much more apparent but as most of his collaborations outside King Crimson the this one lacks an understanding for the artist in focus here. The rock sound that this album was going for must have felt pretty outdated even by 1978 standards where punk was dominating the scene and anything remotely resembling Art Rock must have been looked down upon.

How Gabriel went from this to his masterpiece Peter Gabriel 3 - "Melt" is still a mystery to me, but now I'm definitely getting ahead of myself!

**** star songs: On The Air (5:30) D.I.Y. (2:37) Mother Of Violence (3:10) A Wonderful Day In A One-Way World (3:33) White Shadow (5:14) Indigo (3:30) Animal Magic (3:26) Exposure (4:12) Perspective (3:23)

*** star songs: Flotsam And Jetsam (2:17) Home Sweet Home (4:37)

Total Rating: 3,83