TNS proudly presents
Peter Gabriel The Videos MDVDR 2005
Bildformat:
Vollbild (4:3)
Tonformat:
Dolby Digital 2.0
Laufzeit:
ca. 120 Minuten
Videos
1. Father, Son
2. Sledge Hammer
3. Blood Of Eden
4. Games Without Frontiers
5. I Don't Remember
6. Big Time
7. Lovetown
8. Red Rain
9. In Your Eyes
10. Don't Give Up
11. The Barry Williams Show
12. Washing Of The Water
13. Biko
14. Kiss That Frog
15. Mercy Street
16. Growing Up
17. Shaking The Tree
18. Shock The Monkey
19. Steam
20. The Drop
21. Zaar
22. Solsbury Hill
23. Digging In The Dirt
24. "The Nest That Sailed The Sky"
25. "Modern Love" Original 1977 Music Video
Despite his innate quirkiness and his progressive rock origins, Peter Gabriel became a true hit-maker during the Eighties. Much of the credit for his success must go to his creative and innovative music videos. With clips like Shock the Monkey and Sledgehammer , Gabriel put his eye for visuals and innovation to use, and it reaped him great rewards. Some of the videos have appeared on videotape and laserdisc in the past, but not until now could we locate them on DVD.
Called Play, this set packages 23 of Gabriel videos from 1977 to date. From Gabriel's 1977 debut Car we get Solsbury Hill . The set skips 1978's Scratch and jumps to 1980's Melt for Games Without Frontiers , I Don't Remember and Biko , though the last two don't feature studio renditions. Remember is the take from 1983's Plays Live, while Biko offers a live version featured in the 1987 flick Cry Freedom and recorded on that year's tour. 1982's Security solely includes Shock the Monkey , but we get tons from 1986's commercial breakthrough So. It offers Sledgehammer , Big Time , Red Rain , In Your Eyes , Don't Give Up and Mercy Street .
Zaar was on the 1989's Passion, the soundtrack to 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ. Shaking the Tree emanates from 1990's hits collection of the same name. 1992's Us presents Digging in the Dirt , Blood of Eden , Kiss That Frog , Steam and Washing of the Water , though the latter comes from a 2003 update on a Jools Holland album. Lovetown appeared on the soundtrack to 1993's Philadelphia, while 2000's millennium project Ovo sticks in Father, Son . Finally, 2002's Up tosses out The Barry Williams Show , Growing Up , and The Drop . (Note that the artist simply named each of his first four albums Peter Gabriel. The titles I mention are what folks commonly call them but they're not the real names, though Security got very wide use due to record company insistence, if I recall correctly.)
As I watched the videos, I assigned each one a number on a scale of one to 10. Of the 23 clips, seven earned an eight or above. To these eyes, Sledgehammer and Digging In the Dirt are the cream of the crop. The former stands as one of the most creative, popular and witty music videos ever. 18 years down the road, it still looks fresh and it remains a blast. Dirt does an exemplary job in that it melds with the lyrics and tone of the song but it doesn't just act out the words. Clever, quirky and a tad malevolent, it sticks with you.
Four more videos earned nines. Steam and Big Time both feel somewhat like the children of Sledgehammer . Both are also funky tunes, and the videos use similar visuals. Nonetheless, they're a lot of fun and they help bolster the tracks.
Shock the Monkey was Gabriel's first great video, and ala Dirt , it provides a dark jolt that connects well with the lyrics. Finally, unlike these other active videos, Don't Give Up works due to its terrific simplicity. Gabriel and guest vocalist Kate Bush hug and sing as they spin to reveal the current crooner. It doesn't sound like much, but it gives us a memorable illustration of the tune.
Another track from So, Red Rain merited an eight. Happily, it avoids the obvious gimmicks: at no point does it rain in the clip, and only a smidgen of earthy red appears. Instead, the video sticks with moody dark tones and works with a somber sense that connects to the song.
When I looked at the DVD's clunkers, I found that I'd rated four of the videos with the three or lower. The worst clip in the collection comes from an excellent song: Biko . The video received a two due to its extremely heavy use of movie clips. We see a little of Pete on stage, but mainly it consists of film snippets, and those make dull.
The other three underachievers each made a three. Both Shaking the Tree and Washing of the Water lose points due to their obviousness. What do we see in Washing ? A long montage of water visuals. Yawn! Shaking basically just acts out the words as well, which might not be so bad, but Pete's clunky dance steps make this one tough to take.
Easily the package's biggest disappointment, The Barry Williams Show also suffers from the illustrated lyrics syndrome. Already an obvious take on The Jerry Springer Show, what little subtlety existed in the words gets eliminated with the video's obvious visuals. They needed Sean Penn to direct this dud? I hoped for much better, but the video lacked any cleverness or incisiveness.
Obviously, the remaining 12 videos fall somewhere between these two extremes. Some of them fare well
in one area but lose points in others. A few are consistently executed but simply bland as a whole.
Despite the inevitable mix of ups and downs, I largely like Play. You'll never find a truly
consistent career-spanning music video collection, but Gabriel's are probably as strong as anybody's
would be over more than two decades. And when they're good, they're excellent.