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Staff
Reviews 86
Soundoffs 78
News Articles 19
Band Edits + Tags 178
Album Edits 247
Album Ratings 2400
Objectivity 65%
Last Active 01-03-23 11:21 pm
Joined 06-03-16
Review Comments 26,172
| Peter Gabriel: A Controversial Ranking
All of his studio albums ranked, plus a couple other things that deserve mentioning. | | 10 |  | Peter Gabriel
Us
Undoubtedly Peter Gabriel's most understated affair, it's also his most restrained. Rather than entertaining whatever fantasy he might have to the extreme, on this album he explores his varied musical palate more cautiously and subtly. It's a lovely album, but for every graceful beauty like "Blood of Eden" and "Come Talk to Me," there's an uninteresting cousin such as "Washing of the Water." It really is a solid album, but compared to his other heights, it's sorely lacking in terms of what he can accomplish. | | 9 |  | Peter Gabriel
Scratch
Surprisingly good but ultimately unmemorable, Scratch is probably his least well known album. Finding him at a crossroads of trying to match pop with his extreme artistic endeavors, it ultimately creates a string of solid but forgettable tunes. However, "Mother of Violence" is an absolute highlight of all of Peter Gabriel's work, period. | | 8 |  | Peter Gabriel
New Blood
Creating lush and creative symphonic reimaginings of Peter Gabriel's previous choice cuts, if this was all original songs it would stand as one of PG's best works. However, while honestly great, many of the tracks fail to beat or even live up to the monumental standing that most of their original versions accomplish. | | 7 |  | Peter Gabriel
Scratch My Back
Woven from the same musical cloth of New Blood, Scratch My Back features symphonic covers of many of PG's favorite musicians' tunes. Featuring his incredibly cataclysmic rendition of Arcade Fire's "My Body is a Cage" and turning the comedic "The Book of Love" into a loving tribute, a few covers, like his of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" fall flat. Otherwise, this is a surprisingly strong and cohesive album considering all its different influences. | | 6 |  | Peter Gabriel
Melt
Very strong but vastly overrated compared to his other works, Melt features Peter Gabriel finally striking that mix of pop and art rock he tried to achieve on Scratch, with inconsistent results. While "Intruder" and "Family Snapshot" rank among his strongest efforts, repetitive songs like "And Through the Wire" hold the album back from reaching the stellar heights of his other works. "Biko" isn't all that great either. | | 5 |  | Peter Gabriel
OVO
Ridiculously inventive and mind-bending, OVO sprawls across genres as if they were nothing, succeeding in almost every venture (except maybe in rap on the opener "The Story of OVO"). Catapulting from Irish jigs to dark electro-rock like on the excellent "The Tower that Ate People," the highlights far outnumber the faults, and from beginning to end there is something for everyone to get a kick out of. | | 4 |  | Peter Gabriel
So
Considered his true breakthrough into mainstream success (over half the songs on here were hits), So is by far his poppiest affair, though that really isn't saying much. With ridiculously fun hits like "Sledgehammer" paired with achingly gorgeous tunes like "Red Rain" and "Mercy Street," there's really nothing to complain about here aside from maybe the solid but monotonous duet "Don't Give Up." | | 3 |  | Peter Gabriel
Security
An absolute gem of world and art-rock music, Security features perhaps his most expansive sound while retaining a certain pop know-how on the surprisingly popular "Shock the Monkey." At once meditative and dangerous, every song on this shines and with only 8 tracks, there's no room for filler. The first two songs are the strongest and set the tone for one of Peter Gabriel's best works to date. | | 2 |  | Peter Gabriel
Car
PG's first solo album after leaving Genesis sees him at his most unrestrained and bombastic, seemingly adding no filter to any of his artistic decisions. From the jazzy "Waiting for the Big One" to the disco-horn-rock-wtf of "Down the Dolce Vita," this is a man with no compromises and no inhibitions, simply making music that sounds great and feels great with reckless abandon. Not only one of the best PG albums, but one of the best albums of all time. | | 1 |  | Peter Gabriel
Up
An absolute masterpiece of modern rock, Up perfectly encapsulates every genre and emotion used throughout PG's entire career in its 10 song track list from the harsh fear of "Darkness"to the breathtakingly gorgeous lull of "Sky Blue". This is one of the greatest albums of all time, with one of the greatest songs of all time ("Signal to Noise"). It just simply needs to be heard. | |
neekafat
02.12.17 | Idk if this is controversial or not, I just think the series title is catchy now. | rodrigo90
02.12.17 | The ranking makes sense, I haven't heard "up" yet, but I think is a much better effort than "us" | rodrigo90
02.12.17 | I cant understand what he was trying to do when he did scratch... | neekafat
02.12.17 | Scratch is really good but something about it is just totally off | neekafat
02.12.17 | You def need to check Up | TwigTW
02.12.17 | 6, 4, 3, 10, 2, 9 . . . I get what you're saying about Us. It is understated, but when it finally grew on me it grew hard. I haven't really listened to Up yet. I guess I should since you have it at #1. | Jethro42
02.12.17 | Never heard 5. I'd put 7 and 8 at the end. Good to see some love for 1 and 3. Up would be a bit lower than that for me because of ''No Way Out'' and ''More than This'' that are nothing too special for me, but album really is a great listen.
6 is my 1 despite of ''And Through the Wire''. And 'Biko'' rules hard. Us deserves a better spot. I have all his albums at a 4.5 or 5, except for Scratch which is a 4. Fan boy yesss. | SandwichBubble
02.12.17 | 6 being that low rustled me. I'm absolutely fuming.
Also, "mind-beding" in 5's description. | neekafat
02.12.17 | @Twig I feel like I'll like it more the more I listen to it, you totally should and let me know what you think!
@Jethro, You should check it out. Those two aren't the best but I still really like them. I totally agree, you should see my ratings haha
@Sandwich, fixed thanks! I guess it was controversial after all lol | Frippertronics
02.13.17 | could be that it came from an album that was far from his most accessible | Frippertronics
02.13.17 | and is a miracle in itself that Security actually got decent promotion outside of Europe | Rowan5215
02.13.17 | So is the worst one I've heard so far it's like a Peter Gabriel album with all traces of Peter Gabriel removed from it
Scratch is a bit dodgy but Exposure, Home Sweet Home and White Shadow definitely put it above either cover album and maybe Security
Up and Car are the best agreed | neekafat
02.13.17 | I really enjoy So but it's far from his best
Glad we see eye to eye there haha | AmericanFlagAsh
02.13.17 | Really need to check him out | neekafat
02.13.17 | Duuuuuuuude dooooo it |
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