Your favorite PETER GABRIEL solo albums

    Passion is his masterpiece.


    I dig So very much, because it was the first album of PG I knew and, as far as I am concerned, features his best vocal performance ever.


    Between III and IV it is Melt - by a hair's breadth!


    I also like Scratch and Us, but PG really lost me at the turn of the century. He's in desperate need of a producer who'll give him a kick in the butt, like Daniel Lanois.

    1) So

    That's how I got introduced to his solo stuff. I still love We Do What We're Told a lot, a bit tired of In Your Eyes, but never of Sledgehammer.


    2) US

    It could be his "best" album in terms of music. Nevertheless, some tracks could be better, like he proved when he recorded a new version of Washing Of The Water with Jools Holland


    3) Scratch My Back

    I love this! Especially The poer of the heart and Apres mois!

    ... make tomorrow today!

    Like 1

    In order: 4, 1, So.


    I wanted to go with Us as the third choice but So has My two favourite songs he ever did (Mercy Street and Red Rain), so it needs to be represented. :)


    4 is his masterpiece IMO, and I adore the whole vibe and feel of his first album, especially stuff like Down The Dolce Vita, Here Comes The Flood and Moribund The Burgermeister.

    My picks are going with the crowd:


    IV/Security - I love the consistent sonic atmosphere (mainly due to his use of the Fairlight), the integration of African drumming rhythms, and some stellar songs. The Family and the Fishing Net is my one song to skip.


    III - The album seems so integrated thematically, with every song touching on some aspect of fear and violence. It also has its own unique sound.


    So - Catchy and commercial, but still clever and multi-layered. It has something as straightforward as Sledgehammer and something as left field as Milgram's 37 (although the early live versions are more dramatic).


    But there are a few other albums that could almost make this list for me.

    This is tough, as I love Peter's solo career.


    While it might not objectively be his BEST album, my favourite is US. When it came out I was a bit disappointed to be honest, after the behemoth that was SO. But it grew on me a lot, and for me it was humanness and honesty of it. I find it such an emotional, soulful album. At the end of the 90s I was going through a very rough time emotionally - this album and the Secret World album, helped get me through it. I couldn't even tell you how or why, but those 2 albums in particular helped. So this album means the most to me.


    Then PG3 - mainly because its absolutely bloody genius. Very little to say that hasn't been said.


    Next one is very tough - maybe PG1 because of the great tracks and the accessibility of it. But as an album I might prefer PG2, which is too often overlooked. A quirky pitstop on the way to full weirddom with PG3.


    I love SO of course like any right minded person, but my main issue now (and with PG4) is the very 80s sound, which hasn't dated well in my opinion.


    In a nutshell, I love most of them and like one or two. The only one that doesnt get regular airplay is UP

    Good to see 2 getting some support. It is indeed overlooked, and when not being overlooked, very often criticised and disliked. Even PG himself rarely played anything from it on tour. As for Up, I do like it but you're far from alone in your apparent aversion to it if aversion it is. It did take a while for me to click with it but I don't mind having to work at an album as long as it eventually yields the goods.


    "I love SO of course like any right minded person".... I'm choosing to see a wink and maybe even a slight nudge in the ribs accompanying that statement!

    Abandon all reason

    Like 1
    Quote from YouMightRecall

    my main issue now (and with PG4) is the very 80s sound, which hasn't dated well in my opinion.

    I have never had any issues with 80s production. A lot of fine producers came out of that era, Hugh Padgham being just one of them. Indeed, I much prefer the sound of a lot of records that came out of the 80s than I do the stuff that was around in the 70s.

    Quote from Fabrizio

    I was listening to SO the other day and I must say, in time it has decreased considerably in my list. I remember it had a huge impact on me, when it was released. It was Peter returning to a more traditional song structure but it hasn't aged well with me, although I still love Red Rain and I believe it is one of his best vocal performances, the other songs suffer of that infamous mid 80s flaws that spoiled a lot of music for me back then.

    Today, i listen the album So myself in youtube today. This album was more commercial to her old album and was very pop oriented, but this album as excellent. I love this album The only song then i not like in the album was There is The Picture. In fact, Sledgehammer was not one of my favorites, but in fact this song was good to listen and that song didn't bother me when i listen in radios. Mercy Street and We Do What We're Told remain in his habitual experimental styled, but beautiful. My favorite was Mercy Street and Red Rain, two incredible songs and a incredible time of tea for me. the fact that because many people ear too much the song Sledgehammer. In the other hands, example of Phil Collins,, No jacked Required was his best selling album, but it's was one of my least favorite album of Phil and the album was very inferior to her two first albums. The sales not rhythm with quality of a album for No Jacket Required. l'm 27 and i discover the Phil and Peter work the last year and months. I listen later the others albums of Peter later, because i love the album So.


    I didn't vote before to listen his albums.

    I went with Melt, Security, and Passion.


    Melt is where he seemed to find himself as an artist.


    Security has such a great mood throughout the album. It's almost an unsettled and creepy mood at times which is fantastic.


    And Passion is one of my all time favorite albums. A masterpiece and a standout from the world of Genesis. It's a journey going through that album filled with sounds of beauty, happiness, sadness, uncertainty, all in one.

    • Official Post

    interesting choice.

    I also think that Passion may be his best ever album, musically, but then egain I tend to see his "normal" album as more accessible, probably I want to hear him sing ...

    PG1 seems out of time, to me. The various styles on display seem strikingly different to pretty much anything else, to this day. PG4 - muddy sound, aside - transports me to South America (at least that’s what I’ve always heard - could be due to the Family & Fishing net?). Finally, Passion is possibly the best soundtrack ever written (which is saying something, given the greatness of Barry, Mancini, Hermann, et al.)

    Quote from Christian

    interesting choice.

    I also think that Passion may be his best ever album, musically, but then egain I tend to see his "normal" album as more accessible, probably I want to hear him sing ...

    Yeah, that would be the one negative on Passion - the lack of his singing. The pieces where does sing are great though, especially A Different Drum.