Notes & Personnel Info |  | This is an Enhanced CD, which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. | | Personnel includes: Peter Gabriel (vocals, arranger, guitar, piano, harmonium, organ, Mellotron, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion, prgramming, samples); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (vocals); Richard Evans (acoustic guitar); David Rhodes (guitar, background vocals); Daniel Lanois, Peter Green, Tony Berg (guitar); John Brion (mandolin, chamberlin); Shankar (violin); The London Session Orchestra (strings); Christian Le Chevretel (trumpet); The Black Dyke Band (horns); David Sancious (Hammond B-3 organ); Danny Thompson, Tony Levin (bass); Manu Katche, Steve Gadd, Dominic Greensmith, Dave Power (drums); Richard Chappell (percussion, programming); Will White, Stephen Hague, Manhut Dominique (percussion); The Blind Boys Of Alabama (background vocals). | | Producers: Peter Gabriel, Steve Osborne, Stephen Hague. | | Principally recorded at Real World, Box, England; Air Lyndhurst, England; and | | Hype Studios, Singapore. | | "The Barry Williams Show" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. | | Japanese edition features a bonus disc containing a remix by Royksopp of "My Head Sounds Like That" and a radio edit of "Cloudless" from the film THE RABBIT PROOF FENCE. | | Though much effort has obviously been put into the sonic details of UP's production, and to fine effect, the album seems to represent not so much a new direction for Peter Gabriel, but rather a consolidation of the styles he's mined in preceding years. For instance, the opening track "Darkness" combines the dark, tension-filled paranoia of Gabriel's third self-titled album with the positive, seemingly therapy-derived lyrical direction of US's "Digging in the Dirt." Similarly, the heartworn emotionality of "No Way Out" brings to mind US's "Red Rain," but adds some slinky spy-movie guitar lines. | | With a decade passing since his last album of new songs, Gabriel clearly has much to say, and accordingly most tracks hover around the seven-minute mark and are filled with sophisticated, enticing touches in an agreeable electronic/organic blend. With nothing to prove anymore, Gabriel sounds appropriately unconcerned about commerciality, as the only thing that comes within shouting distance of an "accessible" track is the TV-sensationalism parody "The Barry Williams Show," whose length and gritty lyrics make it an unlikely candidate for the top 40. In the end, UP is the sound of a mature artist pursuing the perfection of his craft, giving little thought to anything but the realization of his distinctive artistic vision. |
Musical Guests | | Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | | David Sancious | | Blind Boys Of Alabama | | Tony Levin | | Steve Gadd |
|
CD
