Your favorite tracks on ... "UP"

    • Official Post

    I went for No Way Out, Growing Up and Sky Blue.


    My first impulse was Signal To Noise, but I think the big drama of this song is starting not to age well.

    My second impulse was I Grieve. While it certainly is an outstanding song that depicts the numbness that takes hold when you lose someone very dear as well as the final reassertion of life, I cannot in good faith call it a "favourite" track on UP.


    Had the question been for the most accomplished song on UP, the ones that do what they do better than the other songs do what they do, I Grieve would have been first by a long margin on my list.


    No Way Out is, perhaps, my proxy for I Grieve. I like Growing Up for its general "life is a funny old thing" stance and the upbeat music, and Sky Blue for its meditativeness (if that isn't a word it should be).

    very interesting examinations


    actually there are indeed better versions of Signal To Noise, i.e. on New Blood or the one on the Tibet CD.


    I disagree regarding I Grieve - that really touches me, probably even stronger because of the very personal experience related to that song. So it will always be a favorite of mine (although I am pleased he never tried to do that with orchestra)

    some are wise ... and some otherwise

    i grieve, because the lyrics and the musical arrangement communicate very accuratley what this song means.


    i wonder how the 'up' album would have sounded if it hadn't been so delayed and over-produced. lovetown could be considered the missing link between 'us' and the later releases, that is 'ovo', 'long walk home' and 'up'.

    • Official Post
    Quote from JDH

    Growing Up

    More Than This

    Signal To Noise

    More Than This was high on my list in the beginning - but then I couldn’t stand it anymore. Sky Blue is the eine track that has always fascinated me. Probably because it’s a track where you can feel they had an idea and couldn’t make it work … until that day.

    Quote from Christian

    More Than This was high on my list in the beginning - but then I couldn’t stand it anymore. Sky Blue is the eine track that has always fascinated me. Probably because it’s a track where you can feel they had an idea and couldn’t make it work … until that day.

    I love Sky Blue. A little part of me thinks Peter “cheated” a bit by taking the vocals from the song Cloudless on the Rabbit Proof Fence soundtrack and adding them to the end of Sky Blue, but that feeling is overwhelmed by the vocals from the Blind Boys of Alabama. They are so beautiful and powerful they sometimes bring tears to my eyes.

    • Official Post

    I have always loved “Sky Blue”. Such an intense track. Saw this live with the blind boys three times (2 x Montreal and Toronto). One of my all time favorite Gabriel tracks.

    Then Growing Up and Signal To Noise

    Signal, Sky Blue, No Way Out.


    I had to 'sacrifice' Growing Up and I Grieve. I have a soft spot for My Head etc too.


    A complex multi-layered album that's still revealing itself 2 decades on. I recently revisited it after a long time and really enjoyed it. Initially I'm not sure Sky Blue would have made it on to my list but it's grown on me a lot over the years.


    Thanks for posting this, it's making me think another re-listen is due.

    Abandon all reason

    Darkness. Hands down.


    What an opener for that album.

    The "industrial" influence on the arrangement, the lyrics touching different topics regarding human depths by using relatable metaphors, the structure of the song, the tumultuous section coming back after the hopeful "it's not the way it has to be".


    Just an incredible song.


    My judgement might be influenced by the fact that at the time I've been listening to that album for the first time I was a massive fan of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile.

    I too love the industrial-ness of Darkness and see the resemblance to NIN. His vocal tone is edgy like his vocals on Melt. I also picked Signal to Noise and More Than This, the latter for its melodicism.

    Quote from The Hogweed

    I like TBWS a lot, no idea why Gabriel fans don’t like this (in general)

    My guess is that you weren't a fan when the album release was happening and TBWS was the first single. Or you were and have a strong streak of not caring what other people think. Because...Peter was coming back with a new album after ten years away (I know there was OVO and other soundtrack work, but for most people they were tuning back in after Us), looking like he aged 30 years, and leading with a single that in 2002 felt like it was at least five years out of date. It felt like a letdown, and was something that mild or non fans commented on incessantly.


    Looking back, the song is better than I gave it credit for -- from 2023, the difference between a 2002 song and the late 90s peak of daytime talk shows feels negligible. Still, it feels out of place on the album, a clear attempt to have a single in the Gabe-funk mold of Sledgehammer, Steam, and Kiss That Frog. If the album had Burn You Up, Burn You Down instead, and either that or More Than This had been the lead single, I think Up would have gotten a warmer reception in the moment.


    All that said: my selections were Signal To Noise, Darkness, and More Than This...since it shoulda been that first single and a concert mainstay.