TotW 07/29/2024 - 08/04/2024: PETER GABRIEL - Moribund The Burgermeister

One of my favorite early PG tracks. 14/15!

PS: I really was surprised when he played this live in 2007!

I don't like it as much as I used to and rarely if ever listen to it. It's ok. It's one of the tracks least well-served by the swampy production on that album, even if it somehow lends itself to the opening section. I quite like how odd an album opener it is, especially the anticipated debut album of a recently gone-solo frontman. It must have been a slightly baffling experience for Genesis fans eagerly awaiting his next move, getting the album home, putting it on and hearing the opening of this track.

As to the lyric, the terminology obviously suggests a German town setting, possibly of a few centuries ago? The unsettled mayor sees the townspeople behaving weirdly and tries to work out how to deal with it. No doubt it's a metaphor for panicking when one's authority/control is threatened. Or something. I remember reading a possible explanation that was quite literal, that centuries ago stores of rye could become infected with a fungus that if consumed made people lose control and convulse.

I was very struck by the performance of it on the 1980 tour, one of the very first gigs I ever saw, and this one was something of a highlight.

Quote from Zaar

I really was surprised when he played this live in 2007!

Am I right in remembering that tour was at least partly informed by fan choices?

First heard this in 1979 as I got into all things Genesis. The old cassette player I had further muddied the sound - which still seems a little dull today. But I loved it. The quirky sounds and the very clever lyrics were just what a sixth form student wanted to lap up in those days - At least they were if you preferred rock to pop.

I still put it amongst my favourite Gabriel tracks- Maybe top 20 rather than top

10.

I think he manages to make the music match the story, which is wittily told, another one which perhaps would be done differently today. At the time it seemed to me to have some of the old Genesis weirdness and complexity, but it lacks a top notch melody and Tony’s chords.

I’ve read in a few places that’s it is about the condition know as St Vitus’ Dance, which made the sufferer twitch and convulse and pray for a cure to St Vitus’. So the line ‘check if you can disconnect the effect and I’ll go after the cause’ to me was almost a conversation with the brain or nervous system.

Who knows? It’s Peter.

I listened to this album just the other day, and I still love it. I can't imagine how fans felt when it was released, considering it came after the Lamb. I'd be interested to know.

I like this track a lot, and I think it sets out PG's stall for the next few years at least. Musical, a bit odd, maybe even slightly dark.

Quote from Christian

The majority of the set, in fact. So yes. I was at the opening show in Gelsenkirchen and couldn't believe it.

Looking at the listings on setlist.fm it seems you saw one of only three performances of this track of the entire tour (and therefore one of the only three times it was performed since he stopped regularly playing it in 1980).

Odd yes, but enjoyable. Not a poignant masterpiece, but a quirky diversion that might have better worked mid-album.

I bought the CD of the 2007 Brescia concert to get versions of this and other songs (On the Air, DIY, Humdrum).

One of Gabriel's early songs that highlights a kind of style he soon abandoned. It is what I call his 'cabaret' style.

Quote from Christian

11 points

I have mixed feelings. It's a very bizarre track and it somehow connects to earlier Genesis stuff and at the same time, it doesn't. Nevertheless, I really liked the version he played in 2007.

I agree with all of that. Except I don't have mixed feelings about it!

I gave it 11, only because 14s/15s are reserved for the absolute stone cold classic.

This album alone has Solsbury Hill, Humdrum and HCTF

I've mulled over this for a few days, teetering between 8, 9 & 10, finally gone with 8.

It's OK, I used to like it a lot more than I do now, but looking at the album, Humdrum and all of side 2 easily top it.

Quote from foxfeeder

I've mulled over this for a few days, teetering between 8, 9 & 10, finally gone with 8.

It's OK, I used to like it a lot more than I do now, but looking at the album, Humdrum and all of side 2 easily top it.

interesting ...

I was thinking bout 9, 10 or 11 and have chosen 11 now. Mainly because it's rather unique in his repertoire and it has certain "Genesis moments". Cannot describe this better ...

pretty awkward track, imo. 7 pts.

It's almost as if Peter started out with the kind of thing fans might have expected from him -- weird & witty, with lots of character voices -- before moving on to other things.

14!!

Pretty close to his masterpieces, in my opinion!

It sounds like a cast off from the lamb to me. Very slippermanish (it's a real adjective) and cocoon cocoony. Not bad.

Good+ for me.

I enjoy it but don't love it. I have always felt this song really sounds like it could've been on the Lamb album!