| Peter Gabriel | |
| Type: | Studio album |
| Artist: | Peter Gabriel |
| Cover: | Peter Gabriel (self-titled album, 1978 - cover art).jpg |
| Released: | [1] |
| Recorded: | November 1977 – February 1978 |
| Studio: | Relight Studios, Hilvarenbeek, The Netherlands The Hit Factory, New York |
| Length: | 41:29 |
| Label: | Charisma |
| Producer: | Robert Fripp |
| Prev Title: | Peter Gabriel |
| Prev Year: | 1977 |
| Next Title: | Peter Gabriel |
| Next Year: | 1980 |
Peter Gabriel is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 2 June 1978 by Charisma Records. Gabriel started recording the album in November 1977, the same month that he had completed touring in support of his debut solo release. He employed former King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, who was part of Gabriel's early touring band, to produce the album. Fripp used his Frippertronics effects on the co-written song "Exposure".
The album's cover artwork by Hipgnosis led to it becoming known as Scratch to differentiate it from Gabriel's other eponymously titled albums. Some music streaming services refer to it as Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch.[2]
The album reached No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 45 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart.[3]
Gabriel briefly considered working again with the producer of his first album, Bob Ezrin, but ultimately decided against it.[4] Gabriel instead selected Robert Fripp. Compared to Ezrin, who was more insistent on dictating the arrangements, Fripp favoured a more spontaneous work process that allowed Gabriel to contribute his own musical ideas.[5] Gabriel credited Fripp with creating a studio environment that was conducive to creativity.
Robert's approach to the process of recording was very good. He likes situations to happen rather than make them happen. On the first album I wasn't confident of my own ability in arrangement, whereas on the last one I was a lot more confident and had definite ideas.[6]
Fripp utilised his Frippertronics technique on the track "Exposure", which he and Gabriel cowrote.[7] He later recorded a version of the song as the title track of his 1979 solo album Exposure.[8]
During the assembly of the album package, Fripp wanted the liner notes to include Produced by Robert Fripp for Peter Gabriel to indicate his belief that he abdicated too much creative control to Gabriel.[5] Gabriel said that Fripp suggested this credit "because some of the style of the sound was not altogether what he wanted. He didn't want people to think that was exactly how he would have interpreted the music".[9] In a 1980 interview with Smash Hits, Gabriel stated that he failed to attain the results he desired on his second solo release in part because of his creative differences with Fripp. Gabriel believed that Fripp lacked an understanding on synthesizers and said that the two "spent too much time on theoretical arguments." He also expressed his opinion that "On the Air" and "White Shadow" were the only songs on the album that received sufficient attention in the recording studio.[10]
The cover depicts an image of Gabriel with several vertical grooves gouged into it that end at his fingertips. He stands with hands raised, palms facing himself, and fingers bent to simulate the appearance of tearing the image. The effect was achieved by gluing strips of torn paper onto a photo of Gabriel in the appropriate pose, taken by photographer Peter Christopherson, then using Tipp-Ex correction fluid to touch up the spots where they met his fingers.[11]
In the NME in 1978, Nick Kent wrote: "Its brazenly left-field veneer left me cold at first, and it's only now that its strengths are starting to come across ... once past the disarming non-focus veneer, there's a quietly remarkable talent at work – quiet in the manner of the slow fuse burn of 'Mother of Violence' with Roy Bittan's piano work outstripping anything he's turned out for either Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie. Closer to the root of the album, there's a purity, a strength to the songs individual enough to mark Gabriel out as a man whose creative zenith is close at hand."[4]
The electric guitar on 7 is uncredited.
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[12] | 50 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[13] | 2 |
Peter Gabriel - II (Scratch) - CD review]
. www.genesis-news.com. 19 December 2019.