Peter Gabriel: NEW Album - But Is it Any Good? 

Buy the new Peter Gabriel album here: Amazon UK: amzn.to/3T5hywM Amazon USA: amzn.to/3uGJMns If you like my channel and appreciate the work that goes into my videos, please support my channel. You can - Become a Patron! - Be part of a Classic Rock Community! There is a fine body of work on there now. www.patreon.com/classicrock Make a one-time donation! Help me to make more videos or buy stuff to annoy my wife with and unbox on my channel: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=46G7795CU9VBA&source=url Gift me something to unbox from my Amazon Wish List: www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1T8FFB9GS4H25?ref_=wl_share Buy me a coffee. All that talk is thirsty work: ko-fi.com/classicalbum Join Amazon Music: www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/?tag=classicalbumr-21&ref_=dmm_acq_asc_inf_uk_classicalbumr-21 Like the Facebook page: I add stuff on a daily basis: facebook.com/1968rock#

Gabriel's tour concert was indeed a tour-de-force. The audience seemed a bit lost at times as he first concentrated on the new material, but the old hits were woven in, came alive. Peter seems to grow stronger as the concert progressed, feeding off the crowd's energy. His graphic images were stunning and fit the music well. This was my first Gabriel concert and am very glad I attended.

I'm listening to this with high resolution streaming, and not only are the writing and performances both mature, yet accessible, but the production is nothing short of astonishing.

Very thoughtful, very well-spoken. This reviewer has taken the time and effort to carefully describe the messages inscribed in the 12 songs of I/O. Said album just might be for me a new favorite and possibly on the short list of my ALL-TIME greatest albums.

For an artist who's less than half a year younger than me, this is an astonishing album. No other singer/songwriter well into their 70s (or over 50, for that matter) comes within light years of PG. I listened to it today (while watching football with the sound off) and I'm absolutely floored by the sonic majesty of the proceedings. Eno and Levin are untouchable musicians. The sound is flawless, and I think it even tops the excellent aural art of So and Us that were landmarks of engineering in their day. Thanks for highlighting the lyrics because at my age it's harder than ever to make out all the words. Record of the century in my estimation.

I was a huge Gabriel fanatic back in the day. Saw every tour (some more than once) from his first album in '77 up to _So,_ which I was a bit less than enamored with and really started drifting away. At least for me, this release is rather somber and melancholy (not in a Genesis like way), with a bit too much sameness to it. Lyrically he's on top of his game, but so is Ian Anderson. There was a time when he'd do several iterations of a song, but he was never at a loss as to how to assemble his albums, which is what made the first 4 such dynamic, different and powerful pieces. I'll keep trying, but it certainly hasn't grabbed me after a few rounds. Glad others are loving it though!

Peter Gabriel has been a mainstay in my record collection and in my life too since early 70's. Ever since Genesis, Peter has had a place with all my ups and downs in life. Liking his album because it is him, is something I don't do, every album has songs which I relate to. Now I'm terminally ill, ever song can have a different meaning for me. Superb album from a superb storyteller ❤❤❤❤

I had become disenchanted with I/O mainly because I caved and listened to most of the songs as they were released and most of that listening was on my computer speakers so I wasn't sonically moved by any of it. So being a lifelong PG fan from the early '70's I bought the 3 disc set and the fist listen on my home stereo system I was blown away by the sound especially the bottom end full and (almost) bottom heavy...nice it was like hearing for the first time 👍 My 2 favorite PG albums are UP and PG1, And very happy to hear on I/O he has continued with that wonderful layered sound full of texture and depth which requires your attention. I'm still puzzled by the differing mixes...what's that all about? But maybe someday I'll take the time to explore further, it will be time well spent. One last thing, I have never heard of touring without having a new release first that's bassackwards...a real head scratcher.

I have been enjoying the full moon releases that have made up this new record and had the good fortune to see Gabriel on this tour a couple of months ago. Great multimedia experience. A true artist and comes across as a real humanitarian.

This record is the most heartfelt, emotional musical journey of all time. Yes I said it, this One has touched me deeper than any piece of music in my 50 yrs of rocking on this Earth... and I have rocked my friends! I thank you Peter Gabriel, for this gift of sonic perfection you have bestowed upon me...

I’ve really enjoyed Gabriel’s idea of the lunar release. In the fickle era we live where most music consumers no longer listen to whole albums this is a clever and immersive way to listen to Peter’s work and wait with great anticipation for the next drop. I’m looking forward to getting this on vinyl and listening egregiously end-to-end.

Just like a lot of his solo works, I didn't jive with a couple of tracks, but overall another brilliant album. Especially listening to the songs numerous times. It was a transcendental show here in Vancouver.

Saw him first in 1980 on the Melt tour. The theatre was hot as the ac was sketchy. This didn’t stop him! I was blown away by this guys energy. Man, I thought what a Genesis show would’ve been like with him. I have seen him many times since and never fails to impress. His performances and music motivate me. I’m sad I couldn’t make the I/O show. Hope he tours again.😮 Cheers to all pg fans!

Thanks! There are some artists I prefer to remember in their prime. PG is just as creative and fresh today as he was 40 years ago. He can still sing too, unlike some of his contemporaries. Thanks for your review. My guess is this is probably his last album of new material. So enjoy. 😊

I've mainly stuck to the Bright side stereo and ATMOS versions and it really is a stunning album, amazing production (of course) and how his vocals are still this good is beyond me. For me, Four Kinds of Horses is the stand out track. Great review thanks!

Managed to get given tickets to Peter's show in Manchester and it was absolutely fantastic. One person commented on how it was nice that younger people like me (im 18) were interested in Peter's stuff. Also its one of my favourite albums at the moment.

Just listened to it in Dolby Atmos (in-side mix) Wow….sounds brilliant Mixed so well. Was a fan of the dark mix version until I heard this. 👍

Beat album since US (1992) and I think I may like it MORE. Really a treat to have a new PG album and even better since its actually good.

I am a life long fan of PG and I am mightily impressed with this album ( both shades). I picked up double CD and Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos mix which is sublime. In these troubling times thank god first people like PG. it has been worth the wait - both he and Kate Bush enjoy having big gaps between their works of art. Long may he continue to produce work such as this..❤❤❤❤❤

An excellent record. I'm not normally one for legacy artists making a big sweeping re-entry into the musical space, oftentimes it feels like their messages have been said, their statements finalised and their impact on the musical landscape felt in full, many years ago. PG has made an album of astonishing relevancy, intimate beauty, and for me is unquestionably one of his finest creations.

I've been a fan of Peter Gabriel for over 25 years. Oddly enough, in my puritanical upbringing, he is one of the few musicians who was not off-limits when I was growing up. My dad bought UP as soon as it came out in 2002, and I've been waiting YEARS for this album to come out. The bummer is that I learned of this new album (I/O) in the wee hours of the morning. I gotta fight the urge to stay up all night listening to it. It's been an exciting few years for new albums: Iron Maiden in 2021, Megadeth in 2022, Metallica in early 2023, and now Peter Gabriel.

Had the double cd for Christmas, it’s wonderful, saw PG a couple of times when he first left Genesis, the 2023 tour was far too expensive for me. Where are the new artists coming along with anything like PGs talent?

Saw him in Cleveland, Ohio a few months ago....incredible show. His voice was still fantastic. If you folks can see him in concert - do so!

Thanks for the review. Loved the album sooooo much, both the bright and the dark. Gabriel has been singing my life since I was around 8 years old. I used to live with 3 miles of the Real World Studios, but sadly, I never had the chance to meet the great man.

I need to get more into it but love Playing For Time, The Court, and i/o.

Each Peter Gabriel Album has its own quality an this new one will also be often played (in opposite to the most mainstream chart hits of the last years) in the next decades.

I was not halfway through my first listen when I preordered the 4LP/2CD/BR box set version out in March. SO GOOD. YAY!!!!

Thank you for this thoughtful review which allows for me to have still my own take while giving me tools with which to proceed my own exploration of this work.

Best album of the year.

Interestingly, this may be Gabriel's best album to date. It's between this and "So" obviously - "So" is maybe a bit too commercial and very 80s sounding, but it has some of the most beautiful songs written by Peter (Don't Give Up & In Your Eyes, which is arguably his greatest song). It's simply beautiful (and maybe paradoxical) that his (probably) last album turns out to be his best.

It's very good. Not as good as "Up" but certainly among the best Peter Gabriel albums. Did NOT expect that!

I haven't heard them all, but I've liked a lot of the releases so far. I saw The Lamb on LSD!

What a thoughtful review. My wife is already enjoying the album. Nice job!

Inspiring review. My first impression was full of doubts, personally I think Peter was born to record PG3 and PG4, those are his masterpieces. I found the lyrics in i/o stronger than the music. Got to listen it again. Regards from Mexico City.

Well going to put it on order always a fan!

As a big fan of surround sound I would be interested in a review of the Dolby Atmos Mix.

I'm now looking forward to hearing this complete album. I've been frustrated by all the entrepreneurial marketing hype of the monthly moon cycle releases to date- bright side/dark side, surrounding this, and I don't like this particular promotional/cottage industry 'tease' approach to his music releases. Something that PG has had a tendency, in his latter years to fall into,. A way of using music streams and social media as a drip feed first. Please just let us hear the songs otherwise it's too contrived. Having opted out of all that, and saved some of what time Ive got left, I can now enjoy the work completely in one listen. And Hey! Who knows? Maybe a complete YT video of each monthly release.Anyone else notice The Blue Nile inflicted influences on PG?

Fantastic review thank you!

It's very good along with the new Steven Wilson album which hasn't been reviewed yet

It is superb.

Strange for me …because this last album of Peter Gabriel ‘I/O’ like early Genesis better of real genesis and better of Peter Gabriel …best one 🎉 (y)

Hi Barry & Gabriel's new album is okay in a Peter sort of way & it's definitely slightly more upbeat than his last true studio album Up which would have put an insomniac to sleep but I still wish he would speed it up more sometimes! Like Kate Bush's last couple of album the hyperbole over this release will soon pass & the majority of fans will play it to death for a couple of weeks & then bury it in their collection & only go back to it fleetingly! Solid but unspectacular & 3/5 from me.

Sounds superb in dolby atmos!

I've Gabriel mentioning, or complaining, that modern listeners only play albums a few times and rarely from beginning to end, according to statistics/research carried out by the music industry. It all that is accurate, coupled with a fall the number of rock albums actually purchased; one can understand why artists feel somewhat discouraged about releasing new music.

What i want to know is, how did you get on the cover?

One thing I’ve learned about Peter Gabriel. Don’t Pass any hard judgment the first time around, There’s an awful lot going on …so I’ll get back to you a month or 3…

I've been reading A Christmas Carol😊

All cds should be in plastic jewel cases not cheap cardboard covers

I must say that the last album by PG I loved was "US". Since then, his music slowly descended into somber, maudlin art sob where he tends to whisper through tracks. I checked out of PG a while ago, but I'm glad he gave his fans what may be the last album of original material . Just want my cup of tea.

I won't purchase i/o until I know the difference between Dark and Bright.

I need to listen to it some more, have so far failed to connect with it really. More of the same which after 20 years wears a bit thin.

Thank you!

I have only been dipping in and out of the lunar releases, I much prefer the album as a whole.

Peter rocks

Tony Levin on Bass ?

Its pretty good album. The multiple mixes are distracting. Guess he had his reasons.

Classic Simile Reviews ;) Like a rock review channel. only better

I have been a fan of Peter and Genesis for most of my life but his "Growing Up" album never grew on me. I hope he has allowed melodies and harmonies to shine through much more on this one. If anyone would like to highly recommend that I buy this album, I will.

Still darned confused by all the mixes, is it just two stereo mixes plus an Atmos mix? You didn't really cover the different mixes, is one meant to be the definitive mix and why do we have to shell out for the same songs twice on the basic CD?

Honestly I wouldn't even bother to listen to Peter Gabriels new album having never heard a single song of his that did anything for me BUT that is not important at all, what I think is important is for anyone who calls themselves a professional singer songwriter should, as a bare minimum, make the effort to write original material expressing their viewpoints as best they can and that it is recorded professionally. That Peter Gabriel can and does I applaud which is maybe all that really matters. As to whether an album is any good is a very individual experience, I still remember reading in NME, Sounds, Melody Maker the terrible things said by "so called in the know album critics" about Paul McCartneys RAM album and although only 12yrs old at the time I thought how dumb those adults must be to not hear what I can hear.

Forget the poetic BS, It’s too derivative of his own previous work. In fact, it sounds like a collection of tracks that didn’t make the (brilliant) Up album.

I would prefer a more nuanced review of the actual music as opposed to analysis of the lyrics.

Anywhere that we can hear some 2 minutes clips to see what we think it is any good ?.

Holy cow!! Hearing you barrage your review with all those metaphors I felt like I was in a creative writing class instead of an album review!!! Simple English would have been enough to say why you liked the album!!!

Well just looked in to see the blokes view on the album but feck me "songs dipping there toes into pools of...." I'm no better off.....what was that waffle about and the hands n arms what was going on there wished I hadn't now.

A masterpiece album! His best for sure

Indeed, but is it any good? :)

I tried both mixes, didn't make it to the end of the first track either time.

whilst I like a lot of his older stuff, I found myself skipping through it all as it is dull and goes nowhere

So WTF'S it called?😮

It is about time for a new PG studio album. Hated the hole “Full Moon” thing, after the initial single Panopticom I figured I would wait for the album. He also had a big part in the Genesis movie and Collection “A Sum of the Parts”.

Sorry to add a cantankerous note, but really? He couldn't make the decision of which mixes to release officially? It's his job as an artist to make that decision, many musicians can only DREAM of getting the opportunity to make that kind of decision about their music. But he has been around so long that he has to get "precious" about it and ask the audience to decide. It's simple: release the official version with the mixes you want, then release the other mixes as vols 2 and 3 later.

Good review but you sure like to talk with your hands.

Well after all that shite, is it any good?

The album is very low energy - not feeling it. But Trevor Rabin's latest is very good.

My greatest objection to this album is that nearly all the tracks, or sections of tracks, seem to chug along processionally at a constant tempo, no doubt dictated by a digital click track in 4/4. There's little speeding up or slowing down, i.e. a paucity of human spontaneity in the tempi, and almost no unusual, quirky, interesting or exciting rhythms. Another aspect that I find incomprehensible is the dearth of interesting and/or moving melodies, and the absence of anything even remotely resembling an inspiring or uplifting solo by any instrument! It all feels like an attractively packaged, but superficially designed, PRODUCT that reconstitutes old PG stuff. Each song includes elements that are immediately recognisable, if not directly lifted, from previous PG releases. And I can't help wondering whether bald old man #3 (a.k.a. David Rhodes) was picking his nose and/or reading an engaging novel during all the recording sessions, for it seems that PG banned guitars from this album! Worst of all -- for a huge PG fan who has avidly followed everything he's done since being astonished by Trespass (1970), especially the wild rawness of 'The Knife', at the tender age of 12 years -- not a single song really surprises or moves me. Clearly, the knife was blunted long ago. Sorry, Peter, but a more appropriate 3-character title for this offering would be: SSR = SAFELY SANITIZED & RECYCLED

What a load of ball locks.

you don't play one second of the album....so it's just opinions for no one. Ridiculous narcissistic bulloney

The correct answer is, "Yes. It's wonderful."

There are very few artists of his vintage able to produce quality writing like this, and deliver the songs with a voice that's barely diminished over all those years. Astonishing really.

“But Is it Any Good?” It is not good, it is Superb. As always PG delivers a well thought out and highly moving album. Good review. Wish I had seen the tour. Rock on!👏🏽

It's refreshing to hear a review of the album that doesn't refer back (too much) to earlier work. Like the new Stones release a few months back, I was getting sick to death of critics harking on how it stood up to previous albums. The truth is, this late in the day, they're not going to, but both Gabriel and The Stones newest releases are both pretty good and lets just rejoice in the fact that both artists gave us something new in 2023....and a new Beatles single to boot. Kate Bush in 2024 anyone 🤞

I saw the IO tour earlier this year in Manchester. It was my 7th Peter Gabriel concert. This one blew me away like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a sensory overload, a feast of sound and vision. This new material is worth playing in full and is up there with his finest musical compositions. For me, Peter Gabriel is still creating optimal content and is not on the decline that many of his contemporaries are experiencing.

Both main mixes are interesting in their own right, and I can’t say either one as a whole surpasses the other. It’s rather a mix of the mixes that creates the best overall album. Some I prefer the Bright-Side and some I prefer the Dark-Side. I listened to each track when they came out over the months but man, listened to all at once as a whole entity, they resonate so much more. As you said, Panopticom is fantastic, Four Kinds of Horses is excellent, and for me the top of the pack is Playing For Time. A beautiful and haunting track. Haven’t yet explored the In-Side Atmos mix but I’m looking forward to it. Nice review. I’ll be watching for your review of the mixes.

A man in a Motorhead shirt giving an in-depth review of a Peter Gabriel album is really what it's all about!🤘

The album really clicked for me when I saw him live on the tour. The vinyl pressing sounds amazing

Thanks for this thoughtful review. An absolutely brilliant album, emotionally and lyrically powerful, with lush meticulously and intricately crafted soundscapes that convey so much depth and spirit. Best album of the year, and quite possibly the best of Gabriel’s solo albums (need more time with it, but is up there). Superb.

Educated guess: Peter Gabriel´s next album is likely to be released in 2049, same year as the iPhone 39 Pro Max.

Great review! I was a teenager when US was released and it’s still an all time favourite. I of course remember the phenomenon that was SO as well and went back to his 80’s solo albums. I began at 14 in the early 90’s as a Genesis/Gabriel fan. And I bought UP the day of release and saw the tour, UP never and still hasn’t sank in with me. However I/o I’ve listened to all afternoon today and it’s still sinking in, the musicianship on I/o is much brighter and vivid than UP and I’m immediately grasped by it than UP’s darker tones.

Although I was initially against the drip feed approach of releases I think it did actually make me listen to each track on its own merit and so when I eventually listened to the album in its entirety it was like greeting 12 old friends. Perhaps because of this I can't find any weak material on this album. One of his best.

The tour for this album was fantastic, he was outstanding

Was able to see Gabriel in Vancouver he was really good played for 2 hours and 30 minutes, can’t wait to get a physical copy of I.o.

I saw the tour in Berlin and the last show in Houston. The performance was dynamic. The band nicely organic, Peter still has his voice. The light show featured conceptual artists. Wonderful. The songs really came together live.

I found I much preffered the darker mixes of his new songs.

Having bought each track month by month, it's been a joy to slowly build an album of remarkable tracks... I've yet to listen to it as a whole, but it already feels like an old friend. I managed to sell a kidney and see his show in Manchester (it wasnt full).... I so wished I sold the other one to see it a second time

Olive tree is my fave off the record,loved the tour.

Can not find any continuity in this perspective. Seems like it's a critique in search of a topic.

It is good/very good. Can't quite call it great, not yet.

Only just got the last tracks, looking forward to playing back 24 bit versions of both mixes. Had a sneak preview of 10 tracks a few weeks back and felt it hung together well. Gabriel's voice is still beautiful - not quite as powerful but like Robert Plant, he has found that sweet spot. The supporting cast are off the scale - it must have been incredible to work with him on this.

I saw Peter Gabriel recently in Vancouver. Hard to believe that after being a huge fan for so many decades, I had never seen him live before. I had not heard any of these songs before. But I thought they were just brilliant. There was one in particular - very heavy on the arrangement for string trio, that just amazed me. Now that the album is out, I really look forward to listening to it.