PETER GABRIEL | The Making Of i/o - general info and discussion

    Hello, forum friends

    Finally we are getting to know the physical format of i/o. I think the cover is stunning and what comes after it will be too.

    I don't know how he will be able to put in one or two cds the different mixes of the songs.

    A BlueRay of some of the concerts would be nice.

    In LP format I imagine there will be two; there might be a box set with cds and merchandising of the tour i/o.

    The date is yet to be set and I think that as far as I know so far there will be no tour in spring, although some songs may be released in the next full moons.

    Quote from agentsage

    An image we've seen before (cover of Uncut Magazine, or at least the special edition) but it seems fitting for the themes of i/o. I was a bit worried the cover would be very neon. This is a pretty striking image.

    Quote from thewatcher

    Looks like a Hipgnosis cover. I like it.

    I wasn’t expecting this photo to be honest — I was thinking it might be a variation on the artwork for the track i/o by Olafur Eliasson. It’s definitely interesting and unique. For me, it’s very reminiscent of Peter Gabriel 2 and 3, which is probably why Peter chose it.

    I was kind of expecting he would use one of these photographs from Nadav Kander.


    I have to admit I prefer this one, which was used for the tour booklet. Hopefully it will be somewhere on the back or inner sleeve.


    Relieved too that we do not end up with the pink + yellow logo :)


    The selected photo is superb, so I'm immensely happy with it. This also fits in perfectly as the continuation of the greyscale cover of Up. Maybe we'll get the rest of those gorgeous Kander portraits we've seen during the tour inside the album sleeve.


    Certainly a long way from the initial yellow/pink graph that was our first introduction to i/o a year ago.

    Agreed. I love this album cover-nice image play with the hands, and in keeping with the "partially obscured face" motif he has gone with on most of his albums!


    I too am super relieved the cover is not pink and yellow LOL!

    Now we know that we fans will have to invest in two different records, a Bright-side and a Dark-side...


    Until the news was released, I was wondering what mixes would be chosen for the definitive version of i/o. That question no longer makes sense, but I am sharing my views anyway on what would be the "best" i/o. Purely subjective of course:


    - Panopticom: BS (not a great fan of either versions, I have to say...)

    - Playing For Time: BS

    - The Court: DS

    - Four Kinds of Horses: BS (my favourite on the album, but I think the DS is a bit over-produced)

    - i/o: DS (not a fan either...)

    - Love Can Heal: cannot really choose, both are great. Slight preference for DS

    - Road to Joy: DS (for the bigger splash)

    - So Much: Hard to differentiate the two, IMHO.

    - Olive Tree: DS

    - This Is Home: BS (This has been discussed on a different thread, but I really cannot distinguish the male choir on the DS version, and it is really a pity).

    Sorry if this has been discussed before in a thread I could not find...


    It seems interesting that the order of the songs will not be the same on the CD (i/o number 4 and Four Kinds of horses number 5) and digital download compared to the vinyl (4KOH is 4th, I/O 5th).


    PG has been known to pay attention to the order of the songs on the albums, and especially always putting at the beginning of each side of his vinyle releases the most complex songs (which is why in the original version of SO, it is respectively Red Rain and In Your Eyes, though now In Your Eyes has been pushed back to the end where it was meant to be all along...). There is more space on the outside of a vinyl, so the sound has a better definition.


    I am wondering if this is not the same phenomenon, with a preference for having Four Kinds Of Horses and its "musical worms" benefit from the added definition, compared to i/o. On the CD, he may have prefered to have two up tempo songs (The Court / i/o) and then two darker songs (4KOH / Love Can Heal..). This is just me guessing, however, so happy to hear if anybody else has any information or wants to speculate some more :)

    I do know on vinyl they used to arrange the tracks based on which ones they think will be the most successful and that would affect much of their decision:


    Side 1 would open with a great track, and then finish with a great one-therefore compelling the listener to want to turn it over instead of stop listening and ignore side 2. Then side 2 would open strong as well, making the listener want to keep going.


    Not sure if that's what's happening here, but that was how they used to determine tracklist order, at least for LPs.

    Quote from BillysNumber

    I do know on vinyl they used to arrange the tracks based on which ones they think will be the most successful and that would affect much of their decision:


    Side 1 would open with a great track, and then finish with a great one-therefore compelling the listener to want to turn it over instead of stop listening and ignore side 2. Then side 2 would open strong as well, making the listener want to keep going.


    Not sure if that's what's happening here, but that was how they used to determine tracklist order, at least for LPs.

    That said, vinyl often constrained and dictated the running order. This is why albums such as So and But Seriously have different vinyl orders to other formats. Gabriel was especially frustrated that he couldn't end with (the full version of) In Your Eyes (originally).


    Similarly, the increased playing time of CDs versus - perceived - listen tolerance dictated running orders. Many wonder why Calling All Stations did not end with The Dividing Line, especially as it did so on pre-release cassettes. It ended up around the 45 minute mark because it was believed that more casual listeners would get no farther than that. (And has nothing to do with the quality of the material, before anyone makes a snide remark.)

    Not sure if those (very valid) aspects are still relevant in 2023, especially for i/o. Each of the four sides is not too long. Having said that, the album contains 12 tracks, which I think didn't happen before (with the exception of "Scratch My Back", but that was another story).

    The running order of tracks is always an issue (and I think the musicians spend a lot of time deciding that). For me, it was a surprise that Peter took the Full Moon release running order in the end (except for vinyl), but it's I think the best decision to open with "Panopticom" and close with "Live And let Live".

    ... any moment that we bring to life - ridiculous sublime

    Quote from ShroudedMan

    Not sure if those (very valid) aspects are still relevant in 2023, especially for i/o. Each of the four sides is not too long. Having said that, the album contains 12 tracks, which I think didn't happen before (with the exception of "Scratch My Back", but that was another story).

    No, my comments do not relate to the current situation and certainly not to i/o specifically. I was just making more general points in reply to the similarly non-specific ones concerning historical vinyl ordering in the comment I quoted.