#1073 Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel I

A quietly strange pop album, full of hooks, vocal turns, and a dozen seeming mainstream concessions that still manage to sound alien and intriguing. Crooning and stamping like Bob Seger, Billy Joel, and Nick Lowe in turn, the basic model is certainly of the lone, clever singer songwriter: this is no Genesis album. But it still feels like a natural transition from Lamb, with synthy twists, vocal distortion, and a comfortably queering atmosphere.

It drags in places, and Gabriel has little charisma himself, acting more of a conduit for the albumlength vision. But that vision, it do come through. Each song does its own thing, and collectively they make for a nuanced, easy, mildly thrilling listen, with an emotional arc that readily spurs that onemorelisten 4/5