PETER GABRIEL 2 [AKA: SCRATCH]

The production job Robert Fripp did on this album is often slammed, but I think this is misguided - it's exactly the sort of raw and visceral New Wave approach which would come up trumps on Gabriel's next album. No, the problem here is that Gabriel just doesn't bring his top-tier material to the table this time around. Prog afficionados may lament the muscular rock production given to the likes of On the Air, but how could Fripp have seriously been expected to do anything different with these attempts at muscular rock anthems?

It doesn't help that Gabriel seems conflicted as to which direction he wants to go in. Tracks like Mother of Violence or the majestic White Shadow feel at points like Gabriel harking back to the progressive stylings of Genesis, whilst others like Animal Magic point to a quirky art rock direction and the Fripp collaboration Exposure is a stab at Frippertronic avant-rock (which would get a better version on Fripp's Exposure album). The plus side here is that any one of these directions by themselves is pretty good - it's just that the album would do a lot better if Gabriel would just stop vacillating and commit to one (and indeed on his next album he did, to magnificent results).

Sure, maybe this album did get swept away in Fripp's big MOR trilogy idea, and maybe it isn't quite as interesting as the other parts of the trilogy (Fripp's Exposure and Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs). But the album wouldn't have been overpowered by Fripp's ideas if Gabriel had brought strong ideas of his own to the table. And he didn't. What saves it is that this album finds both producer and artist at musical crossroads, so if you want to hear two of the most unfailingly interesting talents in prog workshop ideas with impeccable production and undeniably catchy song ideas, this isn't terrible. Gabriel's next three solo albums, however, would leave this (and its predecessor) in the dust.