I/O, Peter Gabriel’s New Album Will Grow on You

I/O, the new album from Peter Gabriel was 20 years in the making. Since 2002’s Up, Gabriel has been experimenting with a variety of musical outlets – a covers album, an orchestral arrangement of his earlier songs, soundtracks, and world music – but no album of new material. He teased us throughout 2023 by releasing a new single of I/O at each full moon (I highlighted the single “Panopticom” in the spring New Music Alert: Music Alert: Eight Cool New Songs to Listen To.) For the geeks, the album comes in three different mixes: Bright Side, Dark Side, and In-Side. After the long wait, it’s wonderful to listen to this remarkable late-career achievement. It’s more pop, less world music with uplifting choruses and beautiful hushed moments.

Peter Gabriel was a founding member of Genesis and led the band through its creative run of albums in the early 1970s – Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Early Genesis is a flagship of progressive rock. (I had The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as #2 on the list of all-time concept albums Concept Albums: An Enduring Symbol of Rock and Roll.) Gabriel left in 1974 when the majority of band members decided to go in a more commercial direction. Trick of the Tail, with Phil Collins on vocals, is a standout transitional album, still with progressive rock flair, but before too long Genesis would be putting out tunes like “Turn It on Again,” “Abacab,” “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight,” and many more hits that would make it one of the top-selling bands in history.

Peter Gabriel’s 1975 debut solo album is a vibrant blend of rock, quirky prog, and lush harmonies. “Solsbury Hill,” his first hit single, is still marvelous to this day with the acoustic riffs of guitarist Steve Hunter (Lou Reed, Alice Cooper) and Gabriel’s sumptuous voice and introspective lyrics. He continued to innovate and explore in the next three albums, mixing a musical brew of hope and dread. The third album (“Melt“) contained his most fervent social statements with the anti-war “Games Without Frontiers” and anti-apartheid anthem, “Biko.” (Gabriel’s first four albums were self-titled and over the years acquired a name based on the album cover.) So, in 1986, is his most popular album and has something for everyone: the moving “Red Rain,” a love song for the ages “In Your Eyes” (played with great effect by John Cusack’s boombox in Say Anything), the beautiful “Don’t Give Up” with Kate Bush, and his best-selling single (and one of MTV’s all-time most played videos) “Sledgehammer.” He played the album in its entirety when I saw him at the Santa Barbara Bowl on the Back to Front tour in 2012.

I/O is consistent with nary a bad song. The songs all have a unique DNA, but the album slowly washes over you making a single sitting the ideal listening format. It starts off with a little funk in the opening songs, “Panopticom” and “The Court.” The lovely piano ballad, “Playing for Time” is followed by the big chorus of the title track. The spectral “Four Kinds of Horses” gets an assist from Brian Eno. (Longtime band members, guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin, and drummer Manu Katche, once again shine as the rhythm section.) “Road to Joy” highlights the swirling synths, while the rousing “Olive Tree” showcases the horns. “And Still” and “Love Can Heal” are poignant meditations. The album closer, “Live and Let Live” may be a tad cliche but puts a spotlight on the older, wiser Gabriel. Patient optimism toward humanity instead of the anxious cynicism of the younger man. And finally, let’s not forget the unmistakable feature of his sound. Still the defining force of his music. Oh, that voice…

D² Rating ◼◼◼◼☐

Trivia: Peter Gabriel scored his first top 40 hit in the U.S. with what 1982 song off his fourth album, often referred to as Security?

Trivia: Peter Gabriel collaborated with what eclectic Irish singer-songwriter on his sixth album, Us, in 1992?

Answers below

Trivia Answers: “Shock the Monkey” and Sinead O’Connor