Up (Ogv) (Rmst) (Dlcd) (Reis)

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel includes: Peter Gabriel (vocals, arranger, guitar, piano, harmonium, organ, Mellotron, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion, prgramming, samples); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (vocals); Richard Evans (acoustic guitar); David Rhodes (guitar, background vocals); Daniel Lanois, Peter Green, Tony Berg (guitar); John Brion (mandolin, chamberlin); Shankar (violin); The London Session Orchestra (strings); Christian Le Chevretel (trumpet); The Black Dyke Band (horns); David Sancious (Hammond B-3 organ); Danny Thompson, Tony Levin (bass); Manu Katche, Steve Gadd, Dominic Greensmith, Dave Power (drums); Richard Chappell (percussion, programming); Will White, Stephen Hague, Manhut Dominique (percussion); The Blind Boys Of Alabama (background vocals). Producers: Peter Gabriel, Steve Osborne, Stephen Hague. Principally recorded at Real World, Box, England; Air Lyndhurst, England; and Hype Studios, Singapore. "The Barry Williams Show" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Though much effort has obviously been put into the sonic details of UP's production, and to fine effect, the album seems to represent not so much a new direction for Peter Gabriel, but rather a consolidation of the styles he's mined in preceding years. For instance, the opening track "Darkness" combines the dark, tension-filled paranoia of Gabriel's third self-titled album with the positive, seemingly therapy-derived lyrical direction of US's "Digging in the Dirt." Similarly, the heartworn emotionality of "No Way Out" brings to mind US's "Red Rain," but adds some slinky spy-movie guitar lines. With a decade passing since his last album of new songs, Gabriel clearly has much to say, and accordingly most tracks hover around the seven-minute mark and are filled with sophisticated, enticing touches in an agreeable electronic/organic blend. With nothing to prove anymore, Gabriel sounds appropriately unconcerned about commerciality, as the only thing that comes within shouting distance of an "accessible" track is the TV-sensationalism parody "The Barry Williams Show," whose length and gritty lyrics make it an unlikely candidate for the top 40. In the end, UP is the sound of a mature artist pursuing the perfection of his craft, giving little thought to anything but the realization of his distinctive artistic vision.