The 500 - #187 - Peter Gabriel Part Two

This is part two of my Peter Gabriel blog for the record So - originally posted on November 10, 2024.

In my previous blog, found here, I recounted five of the six times I saw Peter Gabriel perform live and saved the story of the sixth event for this post.

Gabriel’s sixth studio record, Us,was released in 1992 It had been a half dozen years since So, the critically acclaimed 1996 record that sold seven million copies and landed at #187 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2012 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The lyrics of So explored universal themes of faith, religion, materialism, consumerism, belonging, love and conformity. Us, by contrast, was much more personal for Gabriel, whose lyrics addressed his difficult divorce from his first wife, Jill Moore, in 1987, and the depression and therapy that followed. He also reflected on his relationship with Rosanne Arquette, who was an A-list actor in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Gabriel and Arquette.

The opening song on the album, Come Talk To Me, focuses on the growing distance between Gabriel and his teenage daughters during his marital difficulties It also features backing vocals from Irish singer Sinead O’Connor (#408 on The 500) with whom Gabriel had an on-again, off-again relationship throughout the ‘90s.

Gabriel and O'Connor

Although Gabriel released new music during this challenging time, his output was a mainly instrumental record – 1989’s Passion, which became the soundtrack for Martin Scorcese film, The Last Temptation of Christ. The music score was considered a landmark in the growing popularity of World Music and it won the Grammy Award in 1990 for best New Age Album. I absolutely loved it and it got me through many tedious shifts when at a box factory in the summer of 1989. My job was to fill a bailing machine with scrap cardboard that I gathered in a cart I pulled around the factory floor. I was one of the few employees allowed to wear headphones because I wasn’t operating a machine most of the time. Whenever I listen to Passion, I’m reminded of that mind-numbing, low-paying job. That September, I returned to the restaurant game and studied extra hard in school – factory work was decidedly not for me.

Album cover for Passion 

In early 1993, it was announced that Gabriel would be embarking on a massive world tour promoting the Us record. The ambitious gig was dubbed The Secret World Tour visiting 28 countries over 17 months. My friend Jeff and I snatched up a pair of tickets the day they went on sale for his June 26 concert in Toronto at the 50,000-seat Skydome (now Rogers Centre), which had opened four years earlier. The concert sold out quickly, but we secured two seats in the last row of the lower bowl, directly facing the stage. Jeff and I were also at our first Gabriel concert six years earlier at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds on my 22nd birthday.

To say we were excited about the upcoming performance is an understatement as Jeff and I were devoted fans of Gabriel and his former band, Genesis. We had collected nearly everything both singer and band had released, including the solo efforts from the various Genesis members. Together, we’d attended two Genesis concerts in Toronto (sans Gabriel) in 1996 and in 1992 – the first at the CNE grounds and the latter at Skydome.

Genesis on the We Can't Dance Tour (1992)

At the Skydome, we were gobsmacked by the elaborate stage and set design. We later learned that Gabriel had worked with Canadian artistic director Robert Lepage to create two platforms, one square and one circular, connected by a moving walkway. The subliminal message of the two stages was the interplay of tension and union between male and female forces.

Secret World Stage being constructed - pre-show.

In the early 90s, the McDonald’s franchise was heavily invested in the Skydome and the burger empire opened its 600th restaurant, a giant concession stand, on the main promenade, of the stadium’s lower bowl. Our seats were directly in front of the glowing yellow arches that became a problem when the concert began.

The opening song, Come Talk To Me, began with Gabriel inside a red British phone booth on the square “male” stage. His duet partner, the incredibly talented Paula Cole, appeared at the centre of the round “female” stage some 20 metres away. Gabriel emerged from the booth, singing into a headset microphone but giving the illusion he was singing into the telephone. As he moved closer and closer to Cole, the telephone line stretched out behind him. Ever the theatrical performer, Gabriel struggled and strained as he attempted to close the distance between himself and Cole, who served as a metaphoric representation of his daughter. It was a powerful opening number that physically and emotionally captured the pain Gabriel felt as a father who, due to his extensive touring schedule, struggled to maintain a connection with his daughters – often talking only briefly over the telephone, an arrangement that became rarer as the girls grew older and more independent.

Gabriel approaching Cole during Come Talk To Me.

The song ends with Gabriel failing to bridge the final short distance in order to reach out and touch Cole as he is pulled back to the booth along the moving walkway, resisting the inevitable drama of hanging up the phone in the red booth. A video of the song from the 1994 DVD of the concert can be found here.

The glow from the neon yellow arches was an impediment to the emotional tension of the duet, despite an attempt to block the distracting light with a black curtain. The effect was to wash the stage lighting in a yellow haze. No sooner had the song ended than I sprang up from my seat, not saying a word to Jeff, and bolted for the box office I had noticed on our arrival. 

There was no line up and I quickly explained the situation to the clerk who was pleasant and sympathetic to my complaint.  She reached into a drawer and offered me a replacement ticket … “It's for the first row,” she said, smiling.  

Elation tempered as I remembered Jeff, still awash in that sickly yellow haze and likely perplexed about my sudden departure. “I’m with a friend,” I said, hopefully.

She returned the front row ticket to the drawer and said, “I’ve got two together, but I will need the other ticket.” 

Earning my everlasting gratitude, she locked up the booth and accompanied me back to where Jeff was seated. At this point, Gabriel was performing Steam, a song that had hit #1 on the Canadian charts the previous January. It is an up-tempo number, so the crowd was swaying, many standing and singing along. I leaned into our row and beckoned Jeff to come with me, but he ignored me. And concert-goers behind me were getting irritable at having their view of the on-stage action blocked – as if the yellow haze wasn’t enough. I grabbed Jeff’s arm and, with strident urgency, said: “Jeff, trust me, let’s go!”  Thankfully, he relented and, with a confused look on his face, followed me and the ticket agent down toward the stage. I told him to turn over his ticket.  She handed over replacement tickets and at the end of the long walk, pointed to two seats in the second row of the round, “female” stage – about two metres from Ms. Paula Cole.

The replacement ticket I received, notice the price is $0.00

The reality of what had just happened began to dawn on Jeff, who turned to me with a wide grin and proffering an outstretched arm for an appreciative handshake – which I accepted vigorously.

The rest of the show was spectacular and I encourage people to watch the live video. Filmed during his performance in Modelo, Italy, it has recently been remastered into 4K resolution. However, a good version is available on YouTube for free. Needless to say, it remains my favourite Peter Gabriel concert and is certainly in the Top Three shows I have ever seen.

The 500 - #430 - Vampire Weekend - Debut

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 430

Album Title: Debut
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Genre: Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Afro-Beat, World Beat
Recorded: 2007
Released: January, 2008
My age at release: 42
How familiar was I with it before this week: One song
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Oxford Comma 
(Selected by my good friend, James Spangenberg)

I'll admit, I pre-judged the band Vampire Weekend based on their name. Can you blame me? Doesn't their moniker evoke thoughts of gothic horror rock or early aughts emo? I was expecting something like Siouxsie & the Banshees or My Chemical Romance when I first heard the name. I was wrong on all fronts. 

Vampire Weekend Debut Album Cover

My good friend James Spangenberg shared the band's music with me about a year ago and it took me by surprise. Vampire Weekend's sound might best be described as bouyant and cheery pop melodies infused with African and West Indian rhythms.  However, they also dabble in a genre dubbed "chamber pop", a style of music which incorporates elements (such as contrapuntal melody) and instrumentation (violins, harpsichords, oboes and french horns) typically found in classical music. Two well-known examples are In My Life from The Beatles and The Beach Boys' classic, God Only Knows.

Vampire Weekend was formed in 2006 when four white, New York students met at Columbia University. They have sometimes characterized their music as "Upper West Side Soweto". This is a cheeky nod to their New York roots (Upper West Side) and the South Western Township (SoWeTo) of Johannesberg, South African -- which was the birthplace of the Mbaqanga sound of the 1960s. A sound that influences several of the this album's tracks.

The Indestructable Beat of Soweto (1985) an album that would influence both
Paul Simon & Peter Gabriel, both of whom have records on The 500 List.

As one might expect, the appearance of well-off, Ivy League graduates "borrowing" their sound from an historically marginalized and racially segregated people did not sit well with some.  A few leveled criticisms of "cultural appropriation" with one critic calling them "the whitest band in the world". A song named Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa doesn't look great from a public relations perspective -- even if the song "namechecks" respected world music visionary Peter Gabriel.

This is an interesting debate. What is the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation?

A few years ago, while teaching Grade a 5/6 class, we looked at the legends and art of the Pacific Northwest indigenous people called the Haida. Their art style is distinct and immediately recognizable.

Examples of Haida Art

I had made the choice to share the stories because it was in the Ontario Curriculum. However, I opted against doing an art activity because I didn't feel it was appropriate, notwithstanding that I didn't know enough about it. The optics of a fifty-ish, white educator of British heritage teaching an indigenous art form also seemed like a potential P.C. minefield. 

However, one of my students (a Syrian girl who had recently arrived in Canada and was learning English) was an exceptional artist. A few days after the lesson she showed me some of her drawings and I was awestruck. She had mimicked the style wonderfully. Certainly her innocent decision to celebrate an art form she had seen in class is not cultural appropriation. So, what is?

This online article from an organization known as The Greenheart Club defines the difference as follows:

Appreciation is when someone seeks to understand and learn about another culture in an effort to broaden their perspective and connect with others cross-culturally.  Appropriation on the other hand, is simply taking one aspect of a culture that is not your own and using it for your own personal interest.

Unfortunately, that definition is vague and ignores a myriad of nuanced situations. In the case of my student and Vampire Weekend, I sincerely feel that their artistic efforts are a celebration of another culture. 

Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend

Ezra Koenig, the singer/guitarist/songwriter for Vampire Weekend, bristles at any perceived image of the band as "as privileged, upper-class Ivy League graduates stealing from foreign musicians". In an interview he said:

"Nobody in our band is a WASP..." (given their Ukrainian, Persian, Italian, and Hungarian heritages). Furthermore, "we got into Columbia on scholarships and used student loans." Koeng was still paying off student loans during this 2009 interview.

As I listen to the album again, while writing this post, I am struck by the simple, jaunty levity of the music which resonates with me despite some of the unusual lyric choices. Mansard Roof, for example, closes with a rumination on the Falkland Island War of 1982, while Oxford Comma ponders the relevance of a seldom-used punctuation mark.

I can't help but feel that this is a band of young, intelligent and talented musicians who are celebrating their influences. Much like my young Syrian artist, there is no sinister agenda at work here. It's just fun music. 

However, I am open to alternate perspectives. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.