Peter Gabriel (1978 album)

Updated on Dec 30, 2023

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Length 41:29 Release date 2 June 1978 Label Atlantic Records		Artist Peter Gabriel Producer Robert Fripp

Released 2 June 1978 (1978-06-02) Recorded November 1977 – February 1978 Studio Relight Studios, Hilvarenbeek, The Netherlands Genres Rock music, Progressive rock, Art rock Similar Peter Gabriel albums, Progressive rock albums

Peter Gabriel is the second solo album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released in 1978. The album is the second of four with the same eponymous title. Guitarist Robert Fripp served as producer, whose influence on the album is evident in the use of 'Frippertronics' on the track "Exposure". The album did not sell as well as the first Peter Gabriel, but reached No. 10 on the UK charts. "Mother of Violence" was written by Peter and his first wife Jill Gabriel.

This album is often referred to as Scratch, referring to the album cover by Hipgnosis.

This album was originally intended as part of a loose trilogy with Robert Fripp's Exposure and Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs (all three albums were produced by Fripp).

Peter gabriel rockpalast 1978 full show

Critical reception

Writing in the NME in 1978, Nick Kent claimed "its brazenly left-field veneer left me cold at first, and it's only now that its strengths are starting to come across...once past the disarming non-focus veneer, there's a quietly remarkable talent at work – quiet in the manner of the slow fuse burn of Mother of Violence with Roy Bittan's piano work outstripping anything he's turned out for either Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie. Closer to the root of the album, there's a purity, a strength to the songs individual enough to mark Gabriel out as a man whose creative zenith is close at hand."

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Gabriel, except where indicated.

On original LP pressings of the album, the audio track of "White Shadow" (which was the last song on Side One) continued into the run-off groove, causing the track to play continuously until the tonearm was lifted from the record.

Some editions of the cassette release had a different running order: "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" was track 11, "Home Sweet Home" was track 5, and "White Shadow" was track 4.

The original B-side of the single "D.I.Y." is a longer version of "Perspective" edited for the album and all subsequent releases.

Musicians

Peter Gabriel – vocals; organ on 11; piano on 2; synthesizer on 5, 7

Robert Fripp – electric guitar on 1, 3, 5, 10; acoustic guitar on 5; Frippertronics on 8

Tony Levin – bass guitar on 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11; Chapman stick on 2, 4, 9; string bass on 6; recorder arrangements on 6, 9; backing vocals on 1, 4, 7, 10, 11

Roy Bittan – keyboards on 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11

Larry Fast – synthesizer and treatments on 1, 2, 5, 7, 10

Jerry Marotta – drums on all except 3; backing vocals on 1, 4, 10, 11

Additional musicians

Sid McGinnis – electric guitar on 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11; acoustic guitar on 2, 3; steel guitar on 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11; mandolin on 2; backing vocals on 7

Bayete – keyboards on 2, 4, 6, 7

Tim Capello – saxophone on 10, 11

George Marge – recorders on 6, 8, 9

John Tims – insects on 3