Title: Up
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Genre: Progressive/Art Rock
Year: 2002
Rank: High Priest
Why this doesn't cut it: I honestly don't know. I just can't get into it, and I've tried several times. I've never had to struggle to get into a Gabriel album before. Just hasn't happened. There are some tracks that are finally making an impression, though it's hard to ignore the turd in the swimming pool. Yeah, I'm talking about “The Barry Williams Show”. Bloody awful. But the thing about Gabriel is that prior to this his albums have always hit first time –
Us, Ovo, So and the four self-titled: all brilliant. I've never had to fight to try to like one of his before, and while this album is ok or maybe even decent, for a Peter Gabriel album that just isn't good enough. I expect more of him, and he lets me down badly here.
Is there anything good about it? “Darkness” is a good atmospheric opener that makes clever use of shades of light and dark in terms of musical expression. “Sky Blue” is okay too, and I can kind of get behind “No way out” but there's nothing that hits me with the WOW factor like say “Secret world” or “Biko” or “On the air”. Just mostly a half-decent collection of songs, mixed in with one or two real piles of crud. That would be ok for some artists, but it doesn't cut it for Gabriel. Not even close.
Has my opinion changed now? A little, yes, but it still falls far below the standard I expect from this man, and will remain my least favourite of his albums, one I will play, if at all, very seldom.
