up

Peter Gabriel took his time traveling the world, exploring the emotional jungle of the soul, and purging personal and collective demons with this dark and dense opus. Gabriel joked about the extended production process: "Old men take a little longer to get 'Up'. Starting is always easy... finishing is harder. Speed is not my strength: diversions are."

In the decade between 'Us' and 'Up', Gabriel developed a relaxed compositional process.  Engineer Richard Chappell worked with Gabriel for seven years on the writing and production of 'Up'. They started at Meribel in the French Alps. Chappell remembers: "We did a lot of writing, and a lot of snowboarding. It's a dream way of working, up in the mountains every day. It was very inspiring and made Peter very happy. We generally worked at night time, which was tiring, because we'd be exhausted from jumping around and running around the mountain by day." Guitarist David Rhodes was also present during the two months they spent there. The creative process moved from there to Bath, England and Gabriel's Real World Studios where Chappell says Gabriel set up a permanent workspace in the Writing Room, also known as the 'garden shed': "Peter made the decision for this album to get out of the production room in the main studio building and make the Writing Room his base. Whenever he walks in, his mic and his keyboards are always live so he can just sit down and play and work." There was a three month period in Senegal that was particularly fruitful for the writing process. They spent more time in Bath and Meribel before going to the Amazon on a private boat with a full recording studio. After all of this, Gabriel had over one hundred and thirty different song ideas, which fed into several different simultaneous projects: 'Ovo', 'Rabbit Proof Fence', and 'Up'.


Gabriel explained at the time: "I'm working on several things, all at once. Plus we have a new child. Next to my old family I also have a new one. I have a precise sense for what is important and what's not. My new album is very important - at least for me...The opinion of others is irrelevant, when you see something fit after due consideration. I've taken ten years because I considered everything very well...I guess I've indeed been singing about facing one's demons for thirty-five years. And then killing them. In my life I've had to overcome immense fears. They obviously had nothing to do with my surroundings, as I didn't grow up in poverty or during war-time. Swimming in the sea was very difficult for me as I was petrified of the depth. So I swam. I had an immense fear of heights. So I went up the mountains. In the end of "Darkness" the demon lies curled up on the floor and looks like a baby. They usually look like this after you fought them. You have to face your demons daily. I have a child who already faces the demon by approaching the hotplate...In the past they would say: He's completely nuts. Then they would say: He wants to abolish Apartheid, he thinks he's god. People don't know me. I'm not a good person, at least not better than you or anyone else here in the hotel. But well, I guess the ones who said I'm nuts were more right on track. At the concerts you get insight into a strange personality. Then however some things don't occur all that strange to the listeners. Possibly that doesn't speak against me...I bring my demons, the people in the audience bring their demons. Together we have an event with our demons. If it touches people it is relevant. For me it was never about teaching people. It was always about exposing through music and images what we carry around with ourselves. And occasionally it can get a little dark. In the end I have to wrap up everything I throw at people into really good entertainment. Nothing else matters. People don't care for my fears if I don't entertain them well. And so they find out along the way that fears are not something bad. Fears are something very bad."

'Up' challenges the listener to enter into its catharsis. The deeper you go, the darker it gets. There are light moments; but it takes work to discover them. There's no running away. If you undertake the journey through this therapeutic healing process, you can purge the dysfunctional excess: let it out and move on, and find a way to turn up the signal and wipe out the noise. Once you reach rock bottom, the only way to go is up. 'Up' reached number thirty-five in New Zealand; eighteen in the Netherlands; eleven in Norway and the UK; nine in the US; six in Sweden; four in France, Germany and Poland: two in Canada; and number one in Italy.









"Darkness"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6jS-Y6yF8w





"Growing Up"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBFwD7K-e_Y



live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh80jJNgRrY



 



"Sky Blue"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFvwVOX95GY








"No Way Out"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssWbqeC6DJA


 




"I Grieve"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ3wpjdYMqk









"The Barry Williams Show"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAesGRwa_6k



live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYV9guosMk






"My Head Sounds Like That"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30KvYZaT-IA




"More Than This"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufeixjATn5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YnTKhyWRfk



 




"Signal to Noise"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJoSNZxLdbU







"The Drop"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BO3pZKUSHY