What people search:
 | Title : Up
Author : Gabriel, Peter
Release Date : 20020924
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $18.98
Amazon.com Price : $10.95
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Editorial Reviews :
That Up exists at all is faintly miraculous. Over the past seven years, with guests including Youssou N'Dour, Peter Green, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Peter Gabriel has held recording sessions in Senegal, Atlanta, Singapore, the French Alps, and on a boat on the Amazon River, as well as at his own RealWorld studios. Having written and prepared over 150 songs, he's managed to cut this huge body of work down to just 10 tracks. There's a remarkable consistency and contemporary feel here that springs from a thoughtful layering process, with Gabriel combining tribal rhythms with complex backing vocals, samples, rock guitar, piano and--crucially--electronic effects. Indeed, the opener, 'Darkness,' begins with an aggressiveness that recalls the Prodigy, before hints of vulnerability and fear surface. Elsewhere, there is the dreamy 'The Drop' and the orchestral heights of 'Signal to Noise.' Throughout, Gabriel uses water metaphors to put forward his positivist message. And it's all brilliant, sophisticated, and soulful. The man's a marvel and Up is a masterwork.
Buyer Reviews :
As some critic once said, 'you don't listen to a Peter Gabriel LP as much as live it.' One of Peter's greatest strengths has always been a talent for drawing the listener into his web of sound, making the listening an experience rather than just a batch of tunes. Up is no exception; in fact, to my ears it's as phenomenal and magnificent a work as he's ever produced. Through a mere 66 minutes we're taken through numerous moods: fear, grief, sweeping loneliness, the peppy facade of show business, the minute details of the mundane, the almost-overwhelming feeling we get when the big scary world seems too chaotic and wild. Peter makes these feelings come to life, not just with his insightful lyrics, but with every part of the sound.
Despite its title, Up is not an overwhelmingly happy album. 'Darkness' establishes that fact right away with its slow-burning fury of screaming guitars and distorted wails. I have to give him credit; no Gabriel song has scared me like that since 'Rhythm of the Heat.' But going through the darkness is ultimately cathartic. 'I have my fears, but they do not have me.' The song shuffles between eerie creepiness and peaceful calm, settling on an almost-happy stillness in the end.
Though much of the music here may seem as dark and gloomy as PG2 or PG3, the whole message finds an ultimate positivity in the midst of it all. 'Growing Up' is brightly peppy, littered with solid techno beats and an irresistibly bouncy melody. 'Signal to Noise' gives an encouraging message amid an impression of overall disorder; its grand strings and the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan build to a phenomenal crescendo that's absolutely captivating. 'I Grieve,' reworked from the version on the 'City of Angels' soundtrack, finds some small comfort after a sad loss. 'The Barry Williams Show' is more good-humored than it has a right to be; the somewhat predictable show-biz scenario he paints has quite a cynical humor to it, and ultimately turns out happy (for us, not him) when the character finds that he's become another passing fad himself. 'We let people be themselves - there is no other trick.' Cute.
Up is a marvel of songcrafting, a work that's highly worldly and yet intimately familiar, worthy of all the stars I can give it. It costs so little for just this little piece of plastic, and yet those willing to truly hear will find riches beyond words.
(by rg429)
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