This is a brilliant romp through a singular artistic talent.
"Who was the lead singer in Genesis before Phil Collins? Put your answer on a postcard and send it to the Peter Gabriel competition..." Ah yes, Smashie & Nicey taking the fun with a less than cutting edge Genesis – their white boy Soul direction after The Big G left is the subject of many pub arguments, but you cannot accuse Gabriel of taking the least line of resistance.
His work has been interesting at worst, sublime at best, always challenging and often perversely odd; he has constantly pushed himself, even during his most commercial 'So' phase and his canon of breathtaking songs is testament to his talent.
It's about more than music though; one could sneeringly refer to it as vertical integration, but Gabriel has followed his heart to touch tech and society in his own way. And videos are part of that; he has produced some corkers...
You're probably thinking about 'Sledgehammer', aren't you? Nothing wrong with that at all, that avowedly odd collection of stop/go animation was a hit, a gorgeously entertaining addendum to a rather tasty song. But that's not all, he's constantly tried to take a holistic view of his music and so the videos are not just "Gabriel and the band play the song" but little pieces of art in their own right.
And that's why this DVD collection is so wonderful. Entertaining and exciting, yes, but thoughtful and artistic too. They are all here; the groundbreaking 'Sledgehammer', companion piece 'Big Time', the audacity of the lack of movement in 'Don't Give Up' as Gabriel and Kate Bush clutch onto each other for the whole thing, the "iflookscouldkilltheyprobablywill" (as it sounds to me like it's sung) in 'Games Without Frontiers' and the visually arresting, washed out 'Shock The Monkey'.
Makes you remember all those other wonderful examples; the riot of colour that is 'Kiss That Frog', Sean Penn's odd blood flowing denouement to 'The Barry Williams Show', 'Biko' live and an arresting cobbled together 'Solsbury Hill' from two other videos and a film which is beautiful. Lastly of note there's a stark 'Father, Son' with his own home movies which could bring a tear to a glass eye.
Of course, this was released in 2004 and apart from new videos for 'Washing In The Water' and 'In Your Eyes', plus a 5.1 sound spit and polish, the previous purchaser will be potentially buying for the extras. They're a mixed bag of the refreshingly open and defiantly odd segue live '...Frontiers', a brash 'Tommy' meets 'Rollerball' video for 'Modern Love' and some of the trailers, ranging from behind the scenes jollity to salesman brio for 'A Family Portrait', 'Growing Up Live' and 'Secret World Live', plus some great pithy and arresting intros to some of the videos. Worth it? The jury is still out.
Taken all together, this is a brilliant romp through a singular artistic talent. For those who already have it, why not dive to deeper fathoms? For those who don't, this is an absolute pearler.
Steve Swift
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