PETER GABRIEL
Play: The Videos
Rhino Home Entertainment 2004
official site

Sample it here

What’s the 4-1-1?
Former Genesis drummer and progressive rock icon releases a solo career retrospective with all of his music videos. The DVD is presented in full screen and in 5.1 sound (and stereo sound).

Genre
Progressive rock / pop-rock

The Good
This DVD is packed with all of Peter Gabriel’s videos from his very beginnings as a solo artist in the late seventies, right up to the present day. There are over twenty videos and each video serves as a marker in musical history and video technology. Most of the videos come with the option of viewing a brief introduction, which I highly recommend. “Father, Son” is a simple ballad of admiration that is simply Peter at the piano, mixed with home video footage of him and his father today. “Sledgehammer” harkens back to sixties soul music tonally, while visually reminds you how far we’ve come with stop motion technology.

“Blood of Eden” depicts the Biblical image of man and woman being as one. The intro to “I Don’t Remember” is quite interesting because it shows Gabriel in the studio with the ‘high-tech’ recording equipment of the time. The video itself is rather weird and the sound recalls early Duran Duran. “Big Time” uses more stop motion effects while Gabriel parades around as a cheesy salesman. Although the song is enjoyable, the is a deep meaning behind it. “Lovetown” uses a lot of computer effects, which must give great relief to Gabriel from the rigors of stop motion. “Red Rain” is what our failure to express emotions turn into according to Gabriel. The video isn’t as over-the-top as most of his videos. It’s shot on a sound stage with a lot of shadow lighting.

To me, the only image the ballad “In Your Eyes” conjures up to me is John Cusak holding a boom box over his head outside of Ionne sky’s window in Say Anything. The video does not apply to the movie in any way. “The Barry Williams” show is not a direct shot at the former Greg Brady (although he does make a cameo in the video), but it is a shot a Jerry Springer. The song and the video trashes his show and other shows like it for sensationalizing improper behavior for profit, when they should really get those people professional help. “Biko” is a split screen video where one half is a live performance and the other are clips from a movie that explored issues involving human rights issues.

“Kiss the Frog” is a computer generated video with some live action that was created to coincide with motion odyssey rides (the ones where the chair moves to the motion in the video). You the viewer witness the video from the point-of-view of a frog. “Shaking the Tree” is a simple video that takes place on the beach and explores African music and culture. During the introduction of “Shock the Monkey”, Gabriel is at a junk yard trying to record smashing noises for effects on the track. There are several takes of Peter trying to smash a TV that’s worth a laugh of two. The video must have been filmed around the same time as “I Don’t Remember” because it is very similar to it. Gabriel goes back to his roots so to speak with “Steam”. He uses the same director as “Sledgehammer”, and the video has a similar look and feel to it as well, except with updated effects and graphics

The extras a slim, but will appeal to die-hard fans for sure. There’s a 2004 live performance video for “Games Without Frontiers”. There’s a 1977 video for “Modern Love” that has Gabriel dressed as a demented football player walking up and down an escalator without steps. The video for “The Nest That Sailed the Sky” has a Cirque De Soule feel to it. It’s shot from high above the concert stage while footage of acrobats are layered over it. A trailer for a documentary that Gabriel’s daughter shot on his 2002-2003 tour is included. It’s titled A Family Portrait, Growing Up Live. The trailer is a behind-the-scenes look at Gabriel’s relationship with his daughters who went out on the tour with him. There is also a trailer for the live performance DVD of the Growing Up Live Tour, and a trailer for the Secret World Live Tour. Both shows appear to be loaded with lots of great visuals, effects, and lighting.

The Bad
Videos should have run chronological.

The Verdict
Play: The Videos is the perfect time capsule for Peter Gabriel’s career. Not only do you get to witness how Peter developed musically, you get to witness how music video presentation and technology has evolved. All the videos, in their own unique way, reinforce how innovative and ahead of his time Peter Gabriel was (and still is).

Did You Know?
Sinead O’Connor contributes to the vocals and video for “Blood of Eden”. Kate bush does the same for “Don’t Give Up”.

Rating: out of 5

--George Dionne