Peter Gabriel is one of the greatest musicians and multimedia innovators on our planet. His work cannot be relegated solely to the profession of singer and author of great records that have fascinated us since 1977—the year in which he officially began his career as a solo artist after leaving Genesis in 1975—and which have often established new rules in the art of sound recordings. Peter has always combined his musical talent with that of knowing how to combine images and gestures with his words and his sounds.
Let's start with a moment from his work with Genesis: from 1968 to 1975, he shared with his friends and colleagues the merit of having published six albums that changed the history of progressive rock, where the songs were often true literary masterpieces, epic and surreal. Peter immediately grasps the theatrical nuances of that music and decides to transform himself into a real singer-actor, inaugurating a new figure in the world of rock entertainment: an artist who creates costumes and masks to better describe the characters of their songs.
It couldn't last in a collective with five great musicians and authors. Although Peter is taken as a model by many contemporary artists and subsequent generations, his work within the band has to clash with the ideas of his colleagues. After the album “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” (1974), which is a real rock opera performed with costume changes, slide projection, and surreal scenography that makes the related tour a triumph of multimedia, Peter decides to leave Genesis.
His personal affirmation took place, however, in the mid-eighties. His music is enriched by his interest in the discovery of new sounds and new cultures, which will lead him to the foundation of W.O.M.A.D. (World of Music, Art, and Dance) in 1982 and to his "Real World" record label later, in 1989. His W.O.M.A.D. festival is an authentic multicultural and multimedia event where musicians and artists from every corner of the world are presented on stage. It is not a coincidence that Peter was chosen to write the multimedia show that will inaugurate the "Millenium Dome" in London in 2000. It is not a coincidence to see the best modern visual artists inside his album covers and videos since 1989.
This passion also spills over into his personal music; from 1980 until today, his records are rich in sounds and influences that come from all over the world. We invite you to listen to his third and fourth albums, “Passion” from 1989 and “Us” from 1992. Among his substantial discography, they represent his most exemplary works.
Precisely from the mid-nineties, Peter Gabriel's publications began to become more rarefied. We will have to wait ten years for the new album “Up” in 2002 and another twenty-one years for the most recent one. From 2003 onwards, we will see new tours and new records with the help of the Orchestra, where Peter will revisit his immense repertoire and also his success in a different way, such as the "Back to Front" tour of 2013 and 2014, where it is played his best-selling album in its entirety: “So” from 1986. To have a new album with new songs, we will have to wait until December 2023, when the new “I/O” is released. A new masterpiece that confirms his talent intact after over 55 years of career.
The new album: I/O
Peter Gabriel's new album is among the best he has produced in his entire solo career. I listened to it well in both versions, which—it's important to say—found its differences inside the mixes, which make the "Bright side" version more brilliant and lively and the "Dark side" version more sparse. Excellent guests like Brian Eno and our Paolo Fresu, but with support ensured by his band of regular collaborators such as Levin, Rhodes, Katche, and Ged Linch. Don't expect anything new, but expect many sounds that you will never find in the records of our Italian artists. This operation, based on the release of the album in different versions, makes you understand that Peter created this work for his fans and for an audience prepared to listen to him. Diametrically opposed to "So" (1986), which was released precisely to capture a new audience and the commercial success that was not lacking, that good-selling album created the hard core of followers that you see at his concerts. This album also satisfies many of his old fans who have followed him since the Genesis years. He is now far away from the sound of his previous band, but very close in some orchestral fillings and in some flashes of intimacy that refer a lot to things from his early days. Peter can afford it. He had great success in his youth; he wrote his name in the history of music, and now, aged 73, he can also afford to make records without searching for further gains and for a respectable bunch of devote fans.