PETER GABRIEL - i/o - Album tracklist discussion

He said in the Uncut interview that there is a surplus of tracks, and we will get 13 this year anyway. So I think he will continue in 2024, but i/o will also come out early next year then.

For more info about possible tracks, check our Making Of i/o special

https://www.genesis-news.com/c…he-Making-Of-IO-s161.html

Great website by the way.

If there will be 13 tracks on i/o, there might not be enough for another full album (o/i); but maybe an EP? I think in the Uncut interview he stated that he had 18 finished tracks in total. I hope we do get the surplus in whatever form that is. I particularly want to finally hear Baby Man 🙂

Any ideas what track we might be getting next (on July 3rd)? Someone somewhere said that it could be So Much?

To be honest, I'm getting really bored of PG's antics here. I'm not sure if he thinks this whole album speculation thing and the full moon release schedule fiasco is funny, clever or a super-sophisticated marketing gimmick.

In any event, the novelty has well and truly worn off as far as I'm concerned.

But no matter how much this pisses me off (which is a lot), I know I can't help myself and I'm going to buy whatever surround sound versions finally emerge!

Quote from Rising Sun

To be honest, I'm getting really bored of PG's antics here. I'm not sure if he thinks this whole album speculation thing and the full moon release schedule fiasco is funny, clever or a super-sophisticated marketing gimmick.

In any event, the novelty has well and truly worn off as far as I'm concerned.

But no matter how much this pisses me off (which is a lot), I know I can't help myself and I'm going to buy whatever surround sound versions finally emerge!

I couldn't agree more with this post, except the last bit, about buying it!

To be honest, I'm getting really bored of PG's antics here. I'm not sure if he thinks this whole album speculation thing and the full moon release schedule fiasco is funny, clever or a super-sophisticated marketing gimmick.

In any event, the novelty has well and truly worn off as far as I'm concerned.

But no matter how much this pisses me off (which is a lot), I know I can't help myself and I'm going to buy whatever surround sound versions finally emerge!

Peter has always been different. Isn’t that one of the reasons why we love him? I think the album in terms of the music is likely to be complete; but this is allowing Peter some more time to finalise the tracklist, artwork or other details, while sharing the music (or different mixes of it). I was part of the original Full Moon Club and basically, each month, we had a video featuring snippets of one of the tracks from Up, with Peter talking about it. We didn’t hear any track in its entirety until the album was released. This time around, we’re getting a video and a full track each month. Am I eager to have i/o in my hands right now? Of course. However, this is preferable to what we had in 2002, and I look forward to the Full Moon every month, wondering what track will be coming next, which I think is probably the point 🙃

Quote from Rising Sun

To be honest, I'm getting really bored of PG's antics here. I'm not sure if he thinks this whole album speculation thing and the full moon release schedule fiasco is funny, clever or a super-sophisticated marketing gimmick. In any event, the novelty has well and truly worn off as far as I'm concerned.

Quote from rjhatcher

Peter has always been different. Isn’t that one of the reasons why we love him?

I completely get the frustration and to some extent share some of it. Since seeing two of the shows that frustration has gone. I enjoyed hearing the six new tracks I knew and discovering the as-yet unreleased ones. They worked brilliantly on stage and re-fired my enthusiasm and anticipation for the finished album. It's not a conventional album release method but as rjhatcher said, PG isn't conventional. Also, we're all understandably programmed to expect the cycle of new album, followed by tour featuring the new stuff so when that pattern is disrupted it'll be perplexing/irritating/annoying to some. I totally understand anyone losing patience with it.

Ultimately as a PG fan I'm very happy having heard new material, and seen it performed live at two very absorbing and entertaining shows that have left me eagerly anticipating the completed album, whatever form it takes. And yes, that's said from the privileged position of having been able to attend two shows.

As a Radiohead fan I've been accustomed to unusual handling of new releases - they've been known to do whole tours which heavily feature unreleased material dominating the set, in one instance opening a London show with a song they'd just finished putting together that day (it was one of the best gig openers I've ever seen), as a way of testing new stuff. I'm also taken back to one of my first ever gigs, PG in 1980 when the show featured all except one track of his 3rd album which wouldn't be released for another 2 months.

Quote from Backdrifter

As a Radiohead fan I've been accustomed to unusual handling of new releases - they've been known to do whole tours which heavily feature unreleased material dominating the set, in one instance opening a London show with a song they'd just finished putting together that day (it was one of the best gig openers I've ever seen), as a way of testing new stuff. I'm also taken back to one of my first ever gigs, PG in 1980 when the show featured all except one track of his 3rd album which wouldn't be released for another 2 months.

In a similar vein, I've only recently finished the experience of hearing the new Smashing Pumpkins album, an insane 33 tracks, debuted one per week across 33 weeks of a podcast. The album itself was released in three 11 track chunks at the one third and two thirds mark. Overall I really liked it, it gave me a chance to really listen to each track in a way I wouldn't have if all of them had dropped in one go. They also played several new ones when I saw them in Boston last year and it was great, very refreshing to hear new tracks in that setting.

As a result of this, and other previous novel release methods, I don't find Peter's approach frustrating in the least. I quite like it, but appreciate that it's not for everyone. I would say if it's particularly annoying for someone the best thing to do is steer clear of it and just wait for the album to drop.

Added to all the above is the 21 years album interval. I can well believe many irritably thinking, you've kept us waiting that long and now you do this?! Perfectly logical reaction.

There is an interesting David Rhodes interview on the GuitarGuitar website about the current tour

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141879/

He encapsulates PG's attitude to the i/o release succinctly:-

GG: Right! So, this is the new - and somewhat unusually unreleased - I/O record we’re talking about. Are there three tracks released so far?

DR (David Rhodes): Yeah, there are six tracks out now.

GG: Oh, I’ve missed a couple! So, it’s an unusual thing for such a big act to be touring an album that isn’t out yet. Was that a deliberate thing, or just how things occurred?

DR: I don’t know, I mean, it seems like a slightly odd decision but Peter delights in being playful and quirky, I think. Actually, I think he’s also reached the time in his life when he doesn’t really give a fuck! (laughs) Which is fun! He’s just said, ‘Well, this is how I’m doing it. This is how I want to do it’.

Can't be clearer than that!

Hello, friends of the forum

I hope that the next Full Moon theme will be a good song or that in view of the good live performances you will decide to record an American performance.

Peter could surprise us with a "new song" that didn't appear on the tour; let us know if you plan to do more shows in Europe, for example.

I'm not so much interested in cover versions as in a date for the LP/CD release.

Or maybe take stock of what the first part of the tour has been like.

I usually walk for an hour a day and put on my wireless headphones the Berlin or Paris performance, and it's a blast.

After 7 tracks, in my opinion I/O is going to reveal as a real great album. The only two songs that I don’t think are excellent are Panopticom and I/O, but maybe they are a step below the others because in older times they would have been the singles from the record. For what I can hear from live recordings, I think that This is Home and Love Can Heal are also real masterpieces. The only criticism in my opinion is about the amalgam of songs. There's a huge predominance of intimate songs, almost only piano/voice (including the two unreleased songs I mentioned before). With the risk that the album as a whole may be monotonous. What do you think about that?

Quote from Christian

Don't think so

Let's assume the album will have 12 tracks and What Lies Ahead is NOT among them

Then we have slow tracks:

Love Can Heal

So Much

And Still

Then there is Playing For Time, which has a more powerful end section

This Is Home is something in the middle, as is Four Kinds Of Horses

The Court is also not "slow"

i/o, Panopticom, Road To Joy, Olive Tree and also Live And Let Live are quite up-tempo / up-lifting mood songs

To me, that's quite balanced, although I refuse to accept any "rule" how balanced albums have to be when it comes to the mix of slow and up tempo tracks.

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I’d agree with that. With 7 tracks, I’d say we’ve heard over half of the album now. There’s the usual mix of existential tracks, such as Panopticom, The Court and Four Kinds Of Horses; however, we also have some really personal tracks — So Much and And Still, in particular, but also Playing For Time, Love Can Heal and even i/o (“I walk with my dog”; and “I’ll be all laid to rest… into the roots of an old oak tree”). I don’t recall Peter writing from his own experiences as much as this (except for Father, Son), so it’s going to be different in that respect. It’s a reflective album and a snapshot of the last 10 years or so of Peter’s life. The tracks are certainly less dense and more direct than Up, Us and So, too. In terms of balance, I think it’s great.

Hi, my opinion about I/o is that it can be a good album in their discography. It has an amalgam of songs with varied styles. There are more intimate songs like Playing The Time, i/o and So Much, for example. Others are more complex like Panopticom and Four Kind Of Horses. Personally I like the Court and Road To Joy the least, but we'll have to see how they sound on record.

Between the songs that have been released and the ones that haven't (if they appear live) there are about 12 songs...

How many songs will i/o have?

Release date? I imagine September 2023; March/April 2024?

In December 2023 there will be about 12 songs...

Quote from dibaldui

After 7 tracks, in my opinion I/O is going to reveal as a real great album. The only two songs that I don’t think are excellent are Panopticom and I/O, but maybe they are a step below the others because in older times they would have been the singles from the record. For what I can hear from live recordings, I think that This is Home and Love Can Heal are also real masterpieces. The only criticism in my opinion is about the amalgam of songs. There's a huge predominance of intimate songs, almost only piano/voice (including the two unreleased songs I mentioned before). With the risk that the album as a whole may be monotonous. What do you think about that?

After hearing So Much, I thought this myself for a bit...but then when taken with the other releases, like Road to Joy, Panopticom and i/o (not to mention a couple more upbeat releases surely to come like Live and Let Live and This is Home), I feel the "quiet vs upbeat" ratio is pretty well balanced as others have mentioned, especially with a couple songs that feel more or less "in the middle." At least compared to PGs other albums. Up had: I grieve, No Way Out, The Drop and My Head Sounds Like That which are all "quiet" songs.

Hello friends of the forum

Do you think that when the american tour starts, peter gabriel will continue the presentation of new songs in the full moon?

Is it true that there are still live songs to be released in two options, bright & dark.

By October Peter Gabriel will have about 10 songs, a good number to make an album?

I personally believe the songs he's playing in his setlists are the ones he plans to release during full moons this year-to me that makes total sense.

As for what actually makes it on the album-that's anyone's guess I suppose! I personally think he's using both the tour and the full moon releases to help figure out exactly WHAT to put on the album, based on the audience/fans' reactions to each.

I also am one of those who believe that because of all this, he will not release the album until early next year-or at the very earliest once the tour ends.

Now after 7 tracks, It only takes 2 more songs to complete it.

Album easy listening better than Us and Up.

Personally, I like the songs that have been played live. When I go for a walk I put on my wireless headphones with the Berlin and Paris concerts and it sounds great. The new I/O songs sound great. Better than Up and Us, in an upward line...we have a good peter gabriel back.

Quote from BillysNumber

I personally believe the songs he's playing in his setlists are the ones he plans to release during full moons this year-to me that makes total sense.

As for what actually makes it on the album-that's anyone's guess I suppose! I personally think he's using both the tour and the full moon releases to help figure out exactly WHAT to put on the album, based on the audience/fans' reactions to each.

I also am one of those who believe that because of all this, he will not release the album until early next year-or at the very earliest once the tour ends.

I agree that the new songs he played on tour are what he plans to release via the full moons this year; however, I also think that these will all be on the i/o record. The extras, if and when they come, will be after the album has been released.

I also think we’ve probably heard every track that’ll be on the album now. In the tour programme, 12 pieces of art were featured as being associated with a given track. For that reason, I’m now thinking that What Lies Ahead won’t be on the album, as this wasn’t included. After 21 years and being such a perfectionist, I feel that Peter would’ve waited until he was absolutely sure the tracks were finished and he knew exactly what he was going to put on the album, before starting the ball rolling this year. I could be very wrong about that though…

Am I the only person that thinks that the sequence of the songs released might be the i/o tracklist order, e.g. track 1 will be Panopticom, track 2 will be The Court…?