Peter Gabriel - "Rain on Car" debut

Peter Gabriel left Genesis after the Lamb Lies Down On Brodway tour in 1975 (why that tour was never filmed is beyond me) and disappeared for a couple of years until releasing his solo debut in 1977. It is a confident and bold album and no it does not have any African influences on it those wouldn't come until the third or "melting face" album in 1980. There is a wide variety of material here such as the apocalyptic tribal rhythm of Moribund The Burgermeister, the barbershop quartet on Excuse Me, all out rockers such as Modern Love or the orchestral rocker Down The Dolce Vita and even a "blues" number called Waiting For The Big One. The FM radio hit Solsbury Hill a metaphorical tale about Gabriel leaving Genesis which I think is still played in concert.

Remastered in 2002 under Peter's supervision the sound is vastly improved over older cd versions but I was disappointed there were no bonus tracks issued but there is a nice booklet with all the lyrics and some photos from recording and from tours supporting the record. Produced by Bob Ezrin who did the production work on all the early hit Alice Cooper records, Lou Reed's Berlin album and co-produced Pink Floyd's The Wall. Helping out on this record are guitarists Robert Fripp, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (the last two played on Lou Reed's Rock And Roll Animal) and a couple of guys who would become longtime associates Tony Levin on bass and Larry Fast on synthesizer. Here is Humdrum which is a melancholy loner song about hanging out in JFK airport watching people and the uptempo rocker Slow Burn for you to check out.

Buy it here.