| Product Summary | | Label: REAL WORLD RECORDS/RA | | UPC: 00884108014523 | | Release Date: 6/24/2008 | | Buy.com Sku: 208155156 | | Item#: M46S4H | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 25332 | Format:  CD |
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(C) 2008 *** C Credit not known ***
| | Big Blue Ball is the long-awaited, much-anticipated collection of stand-out tracks culled from the all-star, pan-global collaborations that took place over three years of Peter Gabriel’s legendary “Recording Week” gatherings at his state-of-the-art Real World Studios in the English countryside.
Produced by Peter Gabriel, Karl Wallinger (of World Party, Waterboys) and Stephen Hague (Pet Shop Boys, OMD), it’s a nonstop stream of poignant, sterling performances by a truly stellar lineup of artists-- including Gabriel, Wallinger, Sinead O’Connor, Natacha Atlas, Iarla O’Lionaird and James McNally (both of Afro Celt Sound System), Papa Wemba, Joseph Arthur, Tanzania’s late music legend Hukwe Zawose, Hungary’s Marta Sebestyen, Tim Finn, Cameroonian starFrancis Bebey, Vernon Reid, Justin Adams, Jah Wobble, Billy Cobham, Rupert Hine, gospel group the Holmes Brothers, flamenco guitarist Juan Canizares, Japanese percussionist Joji Hirota, and many more…in all totaling 75 artists from over 20 countries.
Big Blue Ball’s songs were created and recorded between 1991 and 1995, but the album has been an active work-in-progress at Real World ever since, a labor of love with ace producer Stephen Hague working closely with Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger. Holding the disparate elements in place is the powerful backbone of big drum tracks underpinning many of the songs. Wallinger says, “Everyone was in orbit around this groove, and there is a universal language of dance, of dance grooves. That groove is the one bit that’s non-denominational on the album.”
"It’s a fine wine ready to be drunk. It was the most fun music making I’ve ever had. I’d love to do it again." Peter Gabriel
"It’s like a wall of sound coming at you, listening to the planet from outer space. It’s a real world-view of music, a snapshot of the music-making continents at that time. It’s a more apt time to release it now than ever before. I think it’s actually gathered weight with time, because it’s people from all over the world playing together, just getting on together. There’s an iconic aspect about that which is probably more important now. Things have become more partisan. It’s a timely reminder of how you can cooperate." Karl Wallinger
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Karl Wallinger (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Joseph Arthur (vocals, guitar); M rta Sebesty?n (vocals, flute); Peter Gabriel (vocals, piano, organ, keyboards); Hukwe Zawose, Natacha Atlas, Papa Wemba, Sin?ad O'Connor (vocals); James McNally (whistling); Richard Evans (guitar, mandolin, recorder); Vernon Reid (guitar, guitar synthesizer); Justin Adams (guitar, background vocals); David Rhodes, Paul Allen (guitar); Timothy Whelan (saz); Wael Abu Bakr, Momtaz Talaat, Hossam Ramzy & His Egyptian Ensemble, Adel Eskander (strings); Francis Bebey, Guo Yue (flute); Ronan Browne (Uilleann pipe); Stephen Hague (accordion, keyboards, programming); Eric Mouquet, Michel Sanchez (piano, keyboards); Angie Pollock (piano); Tchad Blake (harmonium, organ, keyboards, guitar synthesizer, drums, frame drum, hi-hat, shaker, tambourine, tom tom, bells); Rupert Hine (keyboards); Joji Hirota, Hossam Ramzy, Neil Sparkes (drums, percussion); Manu Katche, Billy Cobham, Ged Lynch (drums); Papa Wemba Band (congas, percussion); Laurent Coatalen (bongos); Arona N'diaye (djembe, sabar, percussion); Chuck Norman (programming); Andy Lee White, Popsy Dixon, Reddy Amisi, Jules Shear, Sevara Nazarkhan, Sherman Holmes, Tim Finn, Wendell Holmes (background vocals). | | Audio Mixers: Richard Chappell; Stephen Hague; Tchad Blake. | | Liner Note Author: Peter Gabriel. | | Recording information: Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, England (1991-2007). | | Authors: Karl Wallinger; Peter Gabriel; Richard Chappell. | | Photographers: York Tillyer; Andrew Catlin; Pete Williams. | | Unknown Contributor Role: Peter Gabriel. | | BIG BLUE BALL is an ongoing collaboration shepherded by Peter Gabriel, World Party leader Karl Wallinger, and producer Stephen Hague. The basic tracks for these 11 songs were recorded at Gabriel's Real World studios between 1991 and 1995, during week-long sessions with special guests, including Sinead O'Connor, Tim Finn, Marta Sebestyen, Papa Wemba, Jah Wobble, gospel group the Holmes Brothers, members of Living Colour, Afro Celt Sound System, and dozens of other American, European, Asian, and African musicians. Pieced together and remixed in the 13 years following the last of these sessions, BIG BLUE BALL still sounds primarily like a Gabriel and Wallinger collaboration, with those singer-songwriters' eclectic sensibilities prevailing, although the guest singers and musicians are fully represented as well. BIG BLUE BALL is available as a digital download, a standard CD, a deluxe CD with enhanced packaging, and a vinyl LP. |
Producer: Karl Wallinger; Peter Gabriel; Stephen Hague |
Engineer: Marco Migliari; David Bottrill; Paul Grady; Richard Chappell; Ben Findlay; Richard Evans; Alex Swift |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 06/24/2008 | | Original Release Date : 2008 | | Catalog ID : 80145 | | Label : Real World Records | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00884108014523 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Global Rhythm (Publication)
(p.44)
- "BBB's voices and instruments float in and out of the 11 songs like fragments of conversations pieced together to create poems." |
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