Okay it is now time to review Peter Gabriel. No, not Peter Gabriel I’ve already done that one, Peter Gabriel ditto and I really haven’t listened to Peter Gabriel enough yet to review it*.
I am cheating as Scratch** actually belongs to Mrs 1537, she was the teenage Gabriel nerd in our relationship, I’m busy playing catch up to her; in oh so many ways.
Scratch was Gabriel’s sophomore effort, released in 1978 and well-intentioned soul that I am, I find it a difficult LP to love. This is despite the presence of the estimable Robert Fripp as producer, wielder of Frippertronics and co-writer of the best track here.
When I picked Scratch out to listen to Mrs 1537 was enthusiastic about the first two cuts, ‘On The Air’ and ‘D.I.Y’ and so I settled down to enjoy. They’re awful. Gabriel does that thing where he makes his voice all nasal and strained, in that way which spoiled bits of Genesis for me too^. Not only that but the music is bobbins, oddly major chord bombastic sub-Meatloaf in places, albeit with some pleasant bubbling synth. Please Peter art it all up a bit for us, although not as much as ‘D.I.Y’ where my sole listening note just read ‘sub pub-level pretension, not fucking clever’.
As I contemplated taking the LP off and falling back on a half-written Ramones review instead, ‘Mother Of Violence’ happened. Talk about a saving grace, with added bonus insects. It’s a beautifully sung, sad song about fear, set to Roy Bittan’s keys and lovely steel guitar accents; I’m going to give all the credit to his wife and co-writer here, Jill. Scratch lives!
‘A Wonderful Day …’ irritates me, despite some rather good rhythms. At least he doesn’t sing it in a funny voice, although there is something quite trite about this one. ‘White Shadow’ is much better, I love the way it builds via Larry Fast’s synth whorls and some guitar frippery, never losing sight of its tune, for all its progressive tendencies. On original vinyl copies, like mine, the closing swirl of synths lasted forever, trapped in a closed groove – until you lift the needle.
His real voice, lovely. Then he jizz-jazzes all over it with woodwind, fucking woodwind!
I refer you again to my listening notes for ‘Indigo’. I like it better tonight than I did yesterday, the woodwind being less bothersome? is there really woodwind on it? or did I conjure it in a fit of pique? I hardly dare listen.
Next track ‘Animal Magic’ is much better and contains a rather fun ‘dancing’ piano part, it rocks in a rather fun slinky fashion, putting me in mind of Ian Hunter. I was chair dancing to it just now, aided by some properly rocking guitar.
I would have ended Scratch with the next track ‘Exposure’, it is excellent^^. It slinks into view in a shimmering heat haze of (I assume) treated guitar and then when the funky, minimal beat locks in, my word this is a kicker. Gabriel’s vocals are deep, earthy, monumental and then increasingly desperate, ‘space is what I need’. It is just incredible and like an outsize portion of everything Mr Fripp touches, sounds like it fell through a fissure in the time-space continuum from the future. At 4:18 it is only half as long as it should be and in a perfect world would come back in heavily after it fades.
There’s a touch of John Lennon about ‘Flotsam And Jetsam’, I rather like the sense of detachment it creates. Then Gabriel straps on his big rock panties again for ‘Perspective’, which puts me in mind of an offcut from The Little Shop Of Horrors^*; it boasts a great sax solo from Timmy Capello.
Sadly Scratch finishes with the pants ‘Home Sweet Home’, it really is dire despite having a lovely tune with shades of Young Americans-era Bowie. I think its the story I object to so much and even Timmy Capello’s best efforts cannot conceal the stench of it.
Well that was a bit of a ride.
For me Scratch just isn’t as good as Peter Gabriel (Car), despite carrying a some wonderful tracks in the shape of ‘Exposure’, ‘White Shadow’ and ‘Mother Of Violence’. The bad weighs more heavily than the good here for me, possibly because so much of it seems to be born from needless sodding about to no good affect.
In the trajectory of Gabriel’s solo albums Scratch is a slight stuttering diagonal diversion from the perpendicular.
1168 Down.
P.S – Because I love you:
*Okay so it’s an old joke I’ve used before, but it is mine.
**as it shall henceforth be known here.
^on Plays Live from 1983 both are tracks are much better by far as he sings them without sodding around with his vox.
^^as is the version re-recorded for Fripp’s solo LP.
^*which, for the avoidance of any doubt I think is great.
Not my favourite PG, but I do like it more than you. I remember when I started getting into his stuff I was just drawn to how much he danced around genres and the likes. Listening to it all pretty much back to back… the listening experience shaping the view of the album, I guess. Not so much based on the strength of an album or it’s songs, but on the shifting shapes of the sound. Does that make sense? Or is that just pure bobbins?
Pure bobbins, I do really like that Fripp one though!
I lined up outside my record shop for this one. So would that make me want to like it more than it deserved? No. It was new music by a guy who was full of ideas that worked for me. The only thing missing from all the musicians on the sessions was Roger Chapman doing a duet with Pete. I think that would have sold you.
(By the way it was pretty lonely waiting outside the shop plus cold. I think I got a little :”exposure”)
I love Exposure such a lot.
Fripp and Gabriel were two of my favorite music people at the time so yeah I’m with you on that one.
Haha this is polarizing. I gave it a go again, it doesn’t hold up to the others three.
4
3/1
2
For me. I also fine myself irrationally excited at the thought of a new album.
I know nobody asked.
My friend spotted him out and about in Liverpool a couple of years ago – I think his daughter lives/lived there. My friend didn’t bother him though.
I’m not sure I could’ve restrained myself.
Promise this is the final post.
You must promise to listen to Plays Live. Then reassess ‘D.I.Y.’.
Don’t worry, I did do Bruce – it’s in a footnote. I think it is interesting how few songs from Scratch remained in his set by then.
What’s your order, Joe?
Mine is:
Melt
Mask
Car
Scratch
Or, if you prefer:
3
4
1
2
Of the Peter Gabriels that I know thus far, I’d go 3, 1, and to be determined with 2 & 4!
4 is a goodie Geoff.
I’m going to be a smart arse here Bruce and go for:
Mask
Car
Deutscher Mask
Scratch
Melt (because I haven’t listened to it in 5 years).
OK. So I’ve just listen to the album again, stem to stern, and I think I can see what the problem is.
I reckon Peter simply hasn’t worked out who he is, musically speaking. Is he actually a punk? A young soul rebel? A Pop-Prog maverick?
The only track I actively disliked was the unfortunate wander into reggae with “A Wonderful Day”. The rest were fine, on their own terms, with great bass playing from Levin and, as you pointed out, some very creative synth additions from the under-appreciated Larry Fast. Some of the instrumental sections within songs sounded a bit like a few pages of manuscript found in the draw marked Genesis: Unused Scraps, but mostly they were quite nice.
In fact, that is probably my two-word review: quite good.
Well, who had their grumpy trousers on for this one?
You know how you always find a way to re-invoke your younger, hairier self for pieces on second rate hair metal bands? I wonder if some similar process might help here? Yes, some of the music is ‘of its time’ and yes, the album doesn’t hold together as a whole as well as some of his other efforts, but quite a few of the songs are really rather good. And the extensive use of contemporary synths was quite innovative, especially used in an essentially rock LP rather than the popular synth pop of the day.
I’m entirely with Ms 1537 on the opening pair. I wonder if it helped that I had ‘Plays Live’ before ‘Scratch’ and thus knew the energetic live version of ‘D.I.Y.’. Possibly. Anyway, this being your good wife’s record and not yours, it will remain in the 1537 collection for revisiting another day and perhaps be more warmly received.
I look forward to you tackling ‘Mask’ with a summary of all four to conclude.
Wow Bruce. Maybe it is because I never had a past with this record, so my listening context is all now?
Plays Live does have better versions of those two tracks, mostly because he’s not sodding around with his vocals. I do love Larry Fast’s work here too.
Exposure is the track for me though, that and White Shadow.
I’ve already done Mask – I only have So (mostly very good indeed) and Melt to go; Spoiler Alert – Love Biko and Games very much, the production grates a bit from memory.
I find myself agreeing with almost everything your day here, it’s a blip a low point a diversion. Luckily he sorted himself out and stopped trying to be a rocker