Peter Gabriel

Shaking The Tree

Has Some Minor Flaws But It's Still Magnificent!

Review Score:

(10/10)
I've been sort of hoping that the re-mastering of this best of catalogue would mean that a proper new album from Gabriel would be pretty imminent. Unfortunately that so far doesn't seem to be the case and all we have to keep us going is yet another soundtrack. This collection of songs takes from the mid-70's when he shocked the world by announcing he was leaving Genesis right up to his biggest selling album "So" which saw him have a new more commercial and very marketable direction and then on to the first of many dabblings in world music with the Youssou N'Dour collaboration. Unfortunately I think that this new collection could have been updated to include tracks from his incredible "Us" album in '93 and maybe a couple of tracks from his soundtracks to 'Birdy' and 'The Last Temptation Of Christ'. But that's just a minor quibble cos what we have here are 16 amazing tracks from one of the worlds most amazingly innovative artists.

Gabriel was the driving force of Genesis, whose music has been the template for many groups nowadays not least Radiohead. His music has always been on the cutting edge. This c.d. goes from the quite raw beginnings of tracks like the acoustic driven "Solsbury Hill" with it's marvellous 'boom, boom,boom' end of chorus, and it goes right up to the lavish production of the Daniel Lanois produced 'So' album. The difference in quality is still quite startling despite all the re-mastering. Gabriel has of course become synonymous with 'World Music' nowadays what with his 'Real World' label giving new artists some great exposure. On this album he has two tracks with a distinctly African feel-his duet with the wonderful Youssou N'Dour on "Shaking The Tree" and of course "Biko". The latter track may not have any musical sounds from Africa but the sentiment of those lyrics brings back quite vividly the brutal regime of apartheid in South Africa. There is a slight Latino feel to early tracks like San Jacinto too.

'So' is represented by 5 tracks here. "Sledgehammer" may have been one of M.T.V.'s earliest major hits but it's still a fine song without all the visuals of that amazing video. "Red Rain" is a beautiful track full of despair and lavish synth effects and is one of my favourite Gabriel songs. Then there's the marvellous duet with Kate Bush on "Don't Give Up" which reaches an amazing climax when the two voices practically merge on that almost gospel sounding bridge. "Big Time" is a funky sounding track which is full of fun and has an exciting bass line. In some ways I wish they'd taken "Shock The Monkey" and "Solsbury Hill" from the 'Gabriel Plays Live' album as to me they sound far more powerful and prove what a stunning live performer Gabriel is.
This c.d. is perfect for those who do not want to shell out and get all of those early albums individually. Gabriel has long been one of the world's most innovative artists and while this collection may be playing it safe it's sort of an essential purchase. I just wish he'd hurry on and complete that new album-we've been waiting for nearly 10 years now!

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