Just saw it - quite a performance! I like Peter's voice alteration - could be how Laurie Anderson picked up on it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cbvYmld3kkA.html
@@jameshunter7303 I agree - this is the only track that has a story line and haunting keyboards. The rest of the album does not have that Genesis atomosphere.
Haven't heard this in SO many years. Hearing it now not long after Justin's Lamb reactions, it sounds like it could have easily come out of those recording sessions.
Released in the UK as the B side of Solsbury Hill, so it was widely available on pub juke boxes - much to the annoyance of the Queen/Abba/Status Quo crowd. For a long time I thought 'wot the bleedin' 'ell is this?' was part of the song. Happy days.
Completely different artist, Prince’s b-side, God. Used to play pool at a hole in the wall pool pub. While playing 8 ball, I put on God and the bartender came and literally pulled the plug. Hilarious.
Those 3 were fragments of the bedrock of our diverse musical heritage here in mid70s rockin poppin Wales and the rest of Western Europe & Scando World no doubt. B sides? Pub? Jukebox?
PG's first 2 LPs ("Car" and "Scratch") are great patchworks of many musical styles (prog, pop, rock, punk, reggae, funk, experimental...) but on his 3rd ("Melt") Peter really found his sound, his style, his way. For what it's worth, he never stops reinventing his art, such an amazing man!
I agree… Melt is probable my favorite …. Although scratch is a close second …. I love all of the first 3 overall. I saw SO tour when it came out… great tour but to my ears a lesser release compared to the first 3.
"They'll be sorry ...I'll make sure they're sorry..." Just as it is fading out.. that line always makes me laugh and I don't even know why.. This was about the 'dancing sickness' or St.Vitus dance as it was interpreted in the middle ages. A mysterious disease that brings on extreme seizures that give the impression of contorted dancing.
haven't listened to this in about 30 years! Had forgotten about it. Still can't make out a single word of the lyrics, but it's grand drama. And Peter's voice is superb.
In fact, initially, the other members of Genesis tentatively provided the music for Peter's first, but it sounded too much like Genesis and he opted for other musicians. The lyrics are about the odd illness called St Vitus dance.
The demos Peter recorded before making “Peter Gabriel I” did in fact prominently feature Ant Phillips, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Some of them were written with Martin Hall and can be found on RU-vid.
Here's what it says on Songfacts: This is about "Saint Vitus' Dance," which is a nervous disorder called chorea that which causes rapid jerking motions in its victims. Usually affecting children, it is associated with rheumatic fever. In the Middle Ages it's victims prayed to St. Vitus, who was said to have the cure.
To me, this song is almost an extension to The Lamb, it could almost come from that album..... now I’ll watch the video... and enjoy. Thanks 😊 [edit]. After watching, glad you see the Genesis connection.
I agree that the verse sound textures and vocal effects are very Lamb-like. The lyrics refer to a different concept of course, but no one is going to be confused about this being anything other than a Peter Gabriel song. ;)
I’m glad you liked it. This is a weird, funny, brilliant song. You said it yourself: beautifully strange, and very much like Peter! It’s so bold and unexpected to open his first album with this track! It’s like he’s saying: “This is me, I’m weird. Now you know it. You have been warned, so keep going at your own risk” 😁
"Moribund the Burgermeister" is without a doubt my favorite track from the whole album (and one of my favorites from the Peter Gabriel repertoire). Yes Justin you are right, the style, the sound, the arrangement and the interpretation of this piece are very close to some pieces of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and at the same time the work on the percussion and the very strange effects on the synths heralds his next three albums ! By comparison, the other tracks on this first album are more 'traditional' (I would have liked the whole album to stay in this kind of atmosphere).
This song was the B-side for Solsbury Hill. That fact alone makes it a double A-side in my book, I've listened to both an equal amount for "Moribund"'s amazing and grandiose synthesizers. The lyrics are also interesting because it reminds me of the "dancing plague", this was a real thing that happened centuries ago in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), people began twisting, contorting and dancing in the streets of Strasbourg and it was thought at the time to be caused by demonic possession.
"The Mayor who is Dying", in German. This album is a schmorgasborg of styles. On YT you can see his hour-long 1978 concert, televised from Germany during Peter's brief Punk era. This song has an amazing and weird performance. Look for "Rockpalast Peter Gabriel".
A Bürgermeister is a German mayor, more or less. He has an excellent unreleased song called "Why Don't We" which is also very much like a Genesis song. The most popular version of it on youtube was uploaded by me to my channel many years ago. Also, tangentially, I presume that Mayor McCheese was inspired by the word Bürgermeister. In Moribund, the people in the town seem to be suffering from a disease that used to be called "St. Vitus Dance".
I looked forward so much for this album, and certainly wasn't disappointed, superb opener, Modern Love, Down the Dolce Vita, Excuse Me and epic Here Comes the Flood to finish. And of course the icing on the cake, Solsbury Hill! All in all a wonderful solo debut.
I recall back in college... late 80s... hearing this song for the first time.. My roommate and I just laughed because of its truly unique bizarre beat....and lyrics..not to mention title. So weird!! But we loved it... Lol. Sounded good in stereo. And I would do a wacky dance to it. Great tune. I can't believe you found this one JP!! And reacted to it...haha!!
In 1977 peter decided not to include the lyrics and when asked he answered I want people to listen and then they will understand. It took me 30 years to understand them. I saw the tour.
Always enjoyed this album opener - quite a start for Peter's solo career. He also toured with Robert Fripp and Larry Fast, and I recorded a cassette of their live show on the radio. Don't think the tour ever reached my home town, though. He had limited solo songs for his concert set list, obviously. The extra songs he performed included the Genesis song "Back in N.Y.C.", and the Kinks song "All Day, and All of the Night".
The section with Peters very deep voice reminds very much of Genesis "The colony of slippermen" from the 1974 Album "The lamb lies down on broadway". I love this song so much, one of Peters best songs! Very strange, and very, very good!
The title makes me think of Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" in some way. The song too... Always loved this song. This is my favourite PG album together with SO.
One of the oddest examples of Peter's creativity at work. I love him because of this too. He is, not by chance, my favourite artist ever. As weird as Frank Zappa, when he wanted to, but also poignant ... and his voice, his drama ... how to describe the greatness of this man and artist? Peter Gabriel is a different matter from anyone else. Nobody compares to him.
Good observations - his first solo album has always had a very distinct sonic signature which, even though I'm sure PG had a large part in the development of, I've always attributed to (maybe especially on Moribund) the presence of producer Bob Ezrin and synth guy Larry Fast. This track drips of being a late-70s Ezrin production (Alice Cooper, Floyd, Kiss....). You should check out Fast's work under the name Synergy. Lots of nice keyboard work on those albums. Thoughtful reaction to my first memory of Gabriel solo, JP! Well done.👍🏼
Lets put this into perspective. If you were a Genesis fan back in the day when Pete left the band. This would have been the first thing you would have heard from him as a solo artist. Pretty good yes? Still a bit of 'the Lamb' in there.
It's about the so-called St.-Vitus-Dance (Chorea Huntington), an increasing distortion of the human brain, leading into convulsions. It was regarded in the Middle Ages as some kind of plague out of hell. Wonderful review, again. Carry on the excellent job.
I still play this and have the original vinyl. It is just so well put together and arranged. One of the Gabriel tracks that come to my mind whenever his name is mentioned.
Yes I'm glad l have the album on vinyl, l bought a lot of albums on cassette in those days for convenience to play in the car. Had to throw a lot away as they were knackered, replaced some of them on CD'S, it just makes you treasure your vinyl LP'S even more, thankfully I have a lot of my favourites on vinyl.
I loved your very first comment, "What a beautifully strange track." Pretty much what I thought when I heard it back in 1977. I was really hoping you'd get to this song. We had no idea what he was going to do after leaving Genesis, and when this tune came leaking and creeping out of the speakers, we were happy. This song deserves such high marks on the Peter Gabriel scale. It's so damn catchy, and yet, at the same time, so damn weird. It's hard to pull off that combination successfully. I think that this album has a lot of the sound and feel of Alice Cooper's 'Welcome To My Nightmare' album, both being produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin. And he even uses Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on some of the tracks. This album came out just a few weeks after we saw Genesis on their 'Wind And Wuthering' tour, so me and my buddies were feeling sooo blessed with the plethora of Peter and the gang related things going on at that time. We had come to terms with Phil as the new Genesis vocalist, and then Peter comes along and says, "I'm still here, too. Everything's going to be just fine." And it was.
Great reaction. I'm not a Genesis expert at all, but I'd agree with the poster that this, linked with "Solsbury Hill", is his acknowledgment of his departure from Genesis and the opening of a new period in his music. By the way, SO many great comments posted. I'm going to now spend some time digging into those to increase my knowledge. Thanks to all.
That's the one - love that one (reminds me of "The Lamb") Live he used to put his face on a lightbox with green light when he sang "I will found out", creepy.
Hi JP, thanks for another great vid, have you considered tackling Gabriel’s second album (Scratch) in its entirety, track by track?. I know that Gabriel isn’t that fond of it because it was recorded prior to him finding ‘World Music’, but personally it’s my favourite Gabriel album (especially the song White Shadow). Cheers! 😁
I know you've already done "Solsbury Hill", so I hope this means you're going to get cozy with the rest of the album. You've got some barbershop quartet ahead, with Fripp on banjo (!), some apocalyptic blues, and my favorite Gabriel song, "Humdrum". A really solid album.
A great surprise to the end of my working day to find this old classic waiting for me. I loved the a capella Japan intro as well. This was actually one of the first Gabriel songs I ever heard, and it has always been one of my favourites from that very eclectic first album. With regard to the meaning, I think @Jason B Hollis Music and @Nathaniel Clapton below are able to give you all the information you would need. But I like your insights too! 😎 Thanks again Dude!
The production of Bob Ezrin give at some song songs of this album a very bombastic sounds. The chorus of this song is a good example of his contribution.
This could easily have been off Lamb Lies Down. Just recently re-listened to this and I think this is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. Not a single piece of filler and the second side is sensational.
"Music has charms to soothe the savage breast." From a famous play by William Congreve from 1697. I just remembered that from the top of my head. Just kidding. I obviously "googled" it. But this is one of my favorite (I was about to say Genesis songs), Peter Gabriel songs of all time. A fantastic track, as you say very reminiscent of Genesis. I love the voice of the burgermeister that Gabriel conjures!
By far the most like Genesis he'd ever sound like as a solo artist. He'd go off in his own direction later, of course, but this is a fun one. The lyrics are about the late medieval/early modern European phenomenon known as the dancing plague or St. Vitus's Dance, in which large groups of people, sometimes entire towns' worth of them, would dance until they collapsed or hurt themselves.
Or maybe the Pied Piper of Hamelin who was hired by the townsfolk to eliminate a plague of rats. The mayor of the town didn't pay him so he came back and took all their children away with him, never to be seen again. I remember reading a science fiction story about a couple of 20th century scientists who went back in a time machine to investigate the legend and discovered that the people of Hamelin had eaten rye bread contaminated by ergot fungus which produces a drug similar to LSD and had undergone a bout of mass hysteria which resulted in a mass murder of their children and they had invented the Pied Piper story to cover up their crimes. I can't remember the name of the story or the author but it appeared in a science fiction magazine in the early 70s
Yeah this was probably the most wonderful. In my life my friend bought this record and brought it over and you know I've listen to Genesis 4 years and years have most of the records when I heard this it just changed my perspective so much had another friend who was a real Genesis freak he loved everything and went to a lot of their concerts and it was ironic because he thought this album wasn't Genesis like enough yeah he really didn't like the album and then as years went on he really liked it it took a while to grow on them because it went beyond Genesis I think he realized that later on he was doing his own thing which was really powerful I almost went to a concert at the Roxy and I missed it cuz I was partying too much we went on a drinking binge for a few days and I was just so hungover and I miss that show it's probably one of the greatest regrets of my life not seeing Peter Gabriel with Fripp and Tony Levin and Larry fast I don't remember the drummer's name but yeah my friend Daniel Dempsey told me it was one of the great performances ever youthful Folly youth is wasted on the young all right my man good reaction check you on a next drop hitch
This was great theatre in a single song with medieval traits - great stuff. The chorus crunch is great. With regard to the meaning I think its about someone in authority who is paranoid about his position.
When I heard the album back when it came out I thought this song was sort of tossing a bone to the Genesis fans so they wouldn't be too angry at the major changes on the rest of the album. I remember liking only this song at first. It took a decade or two for the rest of it to grow on me.
I love this song!!! Such an underrated masterpiece. Peter was still in Genesis mode on this album. Before he discovered gated drums and changed music for the next decade lol. Funny because Steve Hacketts first solo album was called a non Genesis Genesis album hahaha. I read somewhere that Peter was reading a book about an outbreak of red fever or something like that. And how people were so ignorant they thought it was spread by sight and was the devils doing.
I hope this is the first step of covering the entire Gabriel discography? Or at least the first four nameless ones? And maybe Plays Live? And after these: So? Also not to be omitted: Passion, the soundtrack of The Last Temptation of Christ. And uh...Us, Secret World Live and Up is also essential Gabriel. Alright. Just take the whole bunch. It will be so rewarding.
One little wrinkle I love about this track is in the change between the first and second choruses. The first chorus alternates with vocal/fanfare/vocal/fanfare, but then the second chorus goes vocal/fanfare/vocal/vocal/fanfare. That second consecutive vocal bit comes as a surprise. And what are the lyrics there? "Somebody sent the subversive element, gonna chase it out of town." The expectations about the structure of the chorus get subverted with the very lines that talk about the plague (or whatever it is) being an act of subversion. Really clever. Then the third and final chorus keeps the structure of the chorus, because despite Moribund's efforts, he can't find or eradicate the "subversive element." It's a great example of making the lyrical material come alive in the song structure.
If only he had more songs/albums like this, but most of his future work sounded too mainstream and blasé for my delicate proggy tastes. At least Moribund was a pleasant farewell letter to fans of his material from the Genesis days.
The difference between Gabriel and post Hackett Genesis is that Gabriel got popular and Genesis tried to sound pop. Gabriel was still experimenting with World music even after he became popular.
No, John from Farscape😉 although I do like Saga Steve Hackett solo is amazing but he never got very popular. Wasn't that the whole point of Prog in the first place? Art before popularity.
Watching him do this live blew my mind, rolling around on a small riser under-lit and strobing during the chorus.. I didn't know any of his solo work until that night (tour for "Scratch") It was just...uh...wow. ALSO: pg has said that he felt that this album was over produced which is why "scratch" is a full swing to under produced. I think that this is more regarding his departure from Genesis and going solo (much like "Salisbury Hill") At this point he was disillusioned with the fame-game.
The word "burgermeister" refers to the chairman of the executive council (cabinet) in many towns and cities in Germany. It means "Master of the citizens", It's similar to a Mayor, but not exactly the same.
Back in the middle ages people in Europe used a lot of rye in making bread, etc. Sometimes the rye would grow a fungus called ergot, which is related to LSD. People would unknowingly ingest this and trip out. This song seems to be about that.
This always reminded me of the art of Hieronymus Bosch. I searched for other people linking this art to Peter Gabriel and came across Steve Hoffman's comments on a another forum or blog. Not read them myself yet but this is a connection you could check out by searching for Steve's name and Gabriel and Hieronymus.
Looked at Steve's comment properly now and it's not much more than the lyrics plus an image of a Bosch painting. It's followed by other comments about the meaning including a suggestion that it's about St. Vitus Dance.
Afternoon, Justin. Dave from London. There Are More Questions Than Answers when it comes to this song. I have always taken it to be literally about the Black Death in a European town in the middle ages, when no-one knew how it was spread and there were plenty of theories and superstitions, leading to revolt against the mayor (as you say). Great reaction to the song as usual. I agree that this track (and much of the album) is quite Genesis-like, which at the time was reassuring to all of us mourning Peter's departure from the band. After that I got more into the direction he then headed, especially into world music, and the third and fourth albums have since become my favourites.
Great music as always from Gabriel, have to teach myself to listen more Genesis with Peter Gabriel, I mean the early days from Genesis of course, because I always listen to the Collins songs, 'The Lamb' is on my list for my vinyl collection. And I'm not a patreon guy, but I hope for some more Jean Michel Jarre melodies, so many great albums: 'Zoolook' 'Rendez-Vous' 'Metamorphoses' of maybe 'Waiting for Cousteau' love that one also, it's a silly fun underrated album from Jarre. Well, let's hope :)
Agree about Jarre. If you want some more experimental Jarre, Zoolook would be a great choice, especially the 11 minute epic, weird, and eerie opening track "Ethnicolor", which is maybe the best thing he ever did. Back to Peter Gabriel, I hope you'll also react to his track "Down the Dolce Vita", also from his first album. I really love that one and it seems like a very underrated track.
Great opening track to a great album by a great artist - what more can you say? So are you going through PG's catalogue now? I hope so! And can I also recommend a couple more artists to sample? Definitely listen to Marillion's Misplaced Childhood album (it's a proper concept album, so you'll have to lump at least some of the tracks together), and also Gary Numan/Tubeway Army (Tubeway Army, Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon albums), and one I haven't mentioned before: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). I have a special connection to this band, as I grew up in their hometown, and went to the same schools as them (albeit a little later) - and as is often the case, the earlier albums are better, particularly Architecture & Morality, and Dazzle Ships - although the latter is definitely experimental, and a bit of an acquired taste. Keep it coming, JP!
'Music sooths the savage beast' I've always thought that this song was about himself. The narrator is the quiet side of his personality; Moribund is the monster he sometimes becomes. His determination to find the cause and the appeals to his mother for help and understanding. This was written during a very traumatic period in his life.
This is a very atmospheric teack. The burgermeister's voice sounds extremely sinister toward the end of the song, doesn't it? I mean who talks to his mother like that? So it's hard to determine who the victim is of this mysterious plague and what its metaphor may entail. But in this small burg everyone is losing it and I love the phantasmagorical idea of a plague spread by a glance. The story sounds like a combination of an b&w Universal horror film with a Hammer horror film ~ see PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966) ~ it's really well done. But! I don't think Peter's song is quite so literal because that mother/son relationship seems very deranged and Moribund's (a perfect phantasmagorical name) rise to power is fractured and questionable. Oh, and I think Lamb sounds like Peter then rather than Peter sounding like Genesis here. So in this short little warped tune Peter packs a punch. He doesn't exactly SOOTHE THE SAVAGE BEAST. Moribund by the way means "at the point of death' in some I think a Gaelic rooted language.
Allegedly, the NY sidemen were a real wild bunch , really into it and the result is a stunning debut album, with a whole new original sound and a different direction.
Love the fact that it could be a supernatural plague or that's just the way it appears to the titular character when the people are just rising up in revolt.
Gabriel was a central influence in Genesis, so it's more likely that a good part of Genesis sounds like Gabriel. Probably, Gabriel felt that the development of his own sound was diverging from Genesis' sound identity. Probably Gabriel started developing his own transitions and modulations, as Banks complained that the band used to come to him with segments that they pretty much left to him to create transitions. Banks said that the move that Genesis made to shorter songs was him simply not stitching songs in the later 70s was just less of him feeling he needed to stitch segments together to make a longer song. So given the idea that Peter felt he was moving toward writing entire songs, and shorter, we still hear musical ideas that would have appeared in Genesis, but now on his own. Seeing how creative PG has been in his entire career, I would not say this is him "stuck in a Genesis sound" but simply the first divergence from Banks' influence, so he still sounds like himself. In LLDOB, Gabriel wrote the lyrics and most of the vocal melodies, and the band wrote the instrumental accompaniment. But that must have been enough of the song, that Gabriel felt he could not go back to simply contributing part of a longer song. To me this is definitely Gabriel's voice that also appears in Genesis. I think Gabriel was always providing the weird and strange stuff, and this song is just _pure_ Gabriel. I remember hearing both the likeness and the difference. Especially in Modern Love.
A Burgermeister is the local mayor. Remember when Frankenstein's monster ran rampant through the (German) village? That's probably your association with Dracula
