Peter Gabriel is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 2 June 1978 by Charisma Records. Gabriel started recording the album in November 1977, the same month that he had completed touring in support of his debut solo release. He employed former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, who was part of Gabriel's early touring band, to produce the album. Fripp used his Frippertronics effects on the co-written song "Exposure".
The album's cover artwork by Hipgnosis led to it becoming known as Scratch to differentiate it from Gabriel's other eponymously titled albums.
The album reached No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 45 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart. Unlike Gabriel's previous release, his second album did not produce any charting singles, with "D.I.Y." failing to chart during both its original release in May 1978 and re-release in September later that year.
Gabriel briefly considered working again with the producer of his first album, Bob Ezrin, but ultimately decided against it. Gabriel instead selected Robert Fripp. Compared to Ezrin, who was more insistent on dictating the arrangements, Fripp favoured a more spontaneous work process that allowed Gabriel to contribute his own musical ideas. Gabriel credited Fripp with creating a studio environment that was conducive to creativity.
Robert's approach to the process of recording was very good. He likes situations to happen rather than make them happen. On the first album I wasn't confident of my own ability in arrangement, whereas on the last one I was a lot more confident and had definite ideas.
During the recording process, Gabriel and Fripp desired an album with raw production. They preferred to prioritise minimal run-throughs and would discard an idea if they were unable to attain satisfactory results after roughly three attempts. Gabriel explained that he wanted the album to be "more simple, more direct", with some imperfections left in, particularly with the vocals. He also said that there were a few songs on the album with "rough edges and some mistakes", which he decided to keep to make the album sound "more alive". He described his second album as sounding more spontaneous than his debut release because of these factors.
Several members of Gabriel's touring band participated in the recording of his second solo album. Gabriel told Dale Kawashima of Cashbox that the rapport he developed with these musicians during his solo tours contributed to a more comfortable recording environment, saying that "they were no longer just session men to me, but friends." He commented that the album's musical arrangements "flowed very naturally" and that it was a "much easier LP to record" compared to his first solo release. When they were not working in the recording studio, Gabriel and his band would bond over games of Scrabble and Risk, which they played at a shared house without central heating. These games would sometimes go until 3–4 a.m., which Gabriel said "was not very good when we were going back into the studio at 9 or 10am. That alone may not account for some of the problems with that record, but it didn’t help the process!"
Production
Fripp used his Frippertronics technique on the track "Exposure", which he and Gabriel co-wrote. He later recorded a version of the song as the title track of his 1979 solo album Exposure. Fripp also pitch shifted Gabriel's vocals with an Eventide Harmonizer, which created a "slightly off key" vocal effect according to Stephen W Tayler, who served as an audio engineer for the album.
Stephen Short was originally tasked with mixing the album at Trident Studios after previously serving as a tape op at the facility. Tayler recalled that Short was a relatively recent hire at Trident Studios and observed that he encountered difficulties in managing disagreements between Fripp and Gabriel over the album's production. The remainder of the album was mixed by Tayler, who described the album as "very dry sounding". He partially attributed this to Fripp's preference to minimise the use of reverb. "He had a concept called 'secret reverb,' which meant if you could hear it, then it was too loud."
Fripp had produced to other albums around the same time in New York, including his solo album Exposure and Sacred Songs by Daryl Hall. In Fripp's mind, these recordings along with Gabriel's second solo album combined to make a trilogy.
Artwork and liner notes
The cover depicts an image of Gabriel with several vertical grooves gouged into it that end at his fingertips. He stands with hands raised, palms facing himself, and fingers bent to simulate the appearance of tearing the image. The effect was achieved by gluing strips of torn paper onto a photo of Gabriel in the appropriate pose, taken by photographer Peter Christopherson, then using Tipp-Ex correction fluid to touch up the spots where they met his fingers.
During the assembly of the album package, Fripp wanted to include the phrase Produced by Robert Fripp for Peter Gabriel in the liner notes to reflect his belief that he abdicated too much creative control to Gabriel. Gabriel said that Fripp suggested this credit "because some of the style of the sound was not altogether what he wanted. He didn't want people to think that was exactly how he would have interpreted the music".
Release
Gabriel commented on the decision to release his second solo album under the name Peter Gabriel, saying that he wanted the album to be associated more with its artwork rather than its name; he also felt that it was "farcical to produce these profound titles."
In the United Kingdom, Charisma Records launched a promotional campaign for the album that included five 15-second slots on radio stations every day from 31 May to 10 June on certain radio stations including Piccadilly Radio, Radio Clyde, and Radio Forth. Full-page advertisements were placed in Melody Maker, New Musical Express, and Sounds for three weeks. Charisma also set up window displays in around 300 retail stores across the United Kingdom as part of their promotional efforts.
In the United States, Gabriel promoted the album through radio interviews with Lew Irwin of Earth News Radio and also conducted interviews with Star Trak and Record Report. Parts of Gabriel's interview with the Westwood One radio show Star Trak were published in the 22 July 1978 edition of Cashbox. His second self-titled album was released in the United States by Atlantic Records, which had not handled the distribution of his first album.
In a 1980 interview with Smash Hits, Gabriel stated that he failed to attain the results he desired on his second solo release in part because of his creative differences with Fripp. Gabriel believed that Fripp lacked an understanding on how to effectively record synthesisers and said that the two "spent too much time on theoretical arguments." He also expressed his opinion that "On the Air" and "White Shadow" were the only songs on the album that received sufficient attention in the recording studio. Larry Fast, who played synthesisers on the album, thought that Fripp's production choices did not adversely impact his contributions and felt that it was a "liberating" experience working with some of the drier arrangements.
In 2003, Gabriel said that his second album was recorded faster than all of his other records and that he "never really liked the sound of it" and that it the only album of his that he "really felt was lacking". When preparing the 2002 remaster of his catalog, Gabriel insisted on making more adjustments to his second album than any other record in his discography.
Writing for New Musical Express, Nick Kent said that the album's "brazenly left-field veneer left me cold at first, and it's only now that its strengths are starting to come across... once past the disarming non-focus veneer, there's a quietly remarkable talent at work – quiet in the manner of the slow fuse burn of 'Mother of Violence' with Roy Bittan's piano work outstripping anything he's turned out for either Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie. Closer to the root of the album, there's a purity, a strength to the songs individual enough to mark Gabriel out as a man whose creative zenith is close at hand."
In a different review published by New Musical Express, Steve Clarke expressed his opinion that Fripp was a better fit as a producer than Bob Ezrin, who had produced Gabriel's debut album. He felt that Fripp's production resulted in sound that was "bigger, more alive–and often raunchy." Clarke highlighted the instrumentation on several tracks, including the "exemplary boogie-flavored piano work" on "Animal Magic", the tenor saxophone playing from Tim Cappello on "Perspective", and Fripp's guitar solo on "White Shadow".
Music Week said that the album had "settled into slightly self-indulgent rock, but far removed from the art-rock outfits". They also thought that the album lacked songs that were a clear follow-up to "Solsbury Hill", Gabriel's first single from his debut album. Beat Instrumental thought that the album was "wide-ranging both in style and content" with songs "imbued with the maturity and self-assurance of a major talent." Lawrence Kanusher called the album "mediocre", expressing his belief that most the lyrics were lacking in substance, dismissing the instrumentation as lacking in inspiration, and expressing his opinion that Gabriel's voice failed to handle the ballads effectively.
Record World felt that Gabriel's second album was "more esoteric" than his debut and that "On the Air", "D.I.Y.", and "Perspective" best demonstrated Gabriel's ability to "mix and mesh styles with ease". Billboard labelled the album as "another eclectic art rock effort" from Gabriel and felt that the music was "closer to the edge than what is coming out of Genesis". Cashbox thought that the material on the album was more "unified" than the songs included on Gabriel's first solo release.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Peter Gabriel, except where noted.
On original LP pressings of the album, the audio of "White Shadow" (the last song on side one) continued into a locked groove.
Some editions of the cassette release had a different running order. "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" was track 11, "Home Sweet Home" was track 5, and "White Shadow" was track 4.
The original B-side of the single "D.I.Y." is a longer version of "Perspective" edited for the album and all subsequent releases.
↑Brunner, Rob (12 July 2002). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 / Peter Gabriel 2 / Peter Gabriel 3 / Security / Plays Live / Birdy / So / Passion / Us". Entertainment Weekly. pp.84–85.
↑"Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel". Q. No.191. June 2002. p.137.
↑Thomson, Graeme (November 2015). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 ('Car') / Peter Gabriel 2 ('Scratch') / Peter Gabriel 3 ('Melt') / Peter Gabriel 4 ('Security')". Uncut. No.222. pp.88–89.
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