Peter Gabriel's new album, I/O reviewed by Alan Hewitt

Well, it really has been a LONG time, hasn't it? An unacceptably long one in my own opinion. Was the wait worth it? We shall see.

I admit I was not enamoured of the drip by drip fashion in which the album was first introduced to us, especially as I have an aversion to downloads. So the first time I heard the album material was when I went to see Peter in concert last year - you can read that review in our last edition. Anyway, the album is now finally available in physical format and so here are some of my thoughts on it.

Panopticom gets the album off to a suitably dramatic start. The title is a clever pun on Panopticon, which was the design for so called "enlightened" prison designs in the 19th century - a brilliantly observed take on the prison we all find ourselves in as there is nowhere to hide from the eyes of Social Media. I have to admit that lyrically and musically to some extent, there are echoes of Digging In The Dirt in this one but that is somehow strangely appropriate

The Court was one of the tracks which stood out in concert and it does so here again. It is imbued with infectiously catchy rhythms and once again Peter's theme is the world of social media and trial by it. "Justice is blind" he says in the lyrics, not so these days I'm afraid and Peter nails that contradiction perfectly here.

Playing For Time, indeed we are all playing for time as the climate crisis approaches it's finale. Will we survive? Who knows, but one thing is not in doubt, we are playing for time ...and it is running out!

I/O the album's title track is an especially thought provoking examination of how deluded we are as a species to believe that we are special when, as the lyrics so eloquently say: "We are part of everything".

Four Kinds Of Horses is a much more dramatic and dark track. Our obsessions (money, sex, whatever it may be) cannot save us and we go from dark to the light as we come to Road To Joy which sadly for me is one of the weaker tracks on the album,virtually a recreation of Kiss That Frog sonically and nowhere near as impressive I'm afraid.

So Much is a vast improvement although it is a bleak examination of the process of growing old and the regrets we all must have for the things left unsaid or undone.

From regret to celebration with Olive Tree a superb evocation of the beauty of life and all it contains, a truly remarkable song the likes of which only Peter can create.

Love Can Heal has had a long gestation period including being premiered in Peter's live shows back in 2014. Sadly, given the situation we find the world in right now, this song and it's sentiments jar somewhat. The optimism seems somewhat trite and misplaced but that may just be the jaded old cynic in me.

This Is Home is In Your Eyes revisited as far as I am concerned, but if you must revisit a song, then make it a classic! The same themes of love and joy that made its predecessor such a delight are here in spades, and I love it!

And Still is much darker than the track which precedes it, haunted by the ghosts of a life gone by before we come to the album's closer: Live And Let Live, sentiments which we all should embrace in today's hate filled world. An exhibition to free ourselves from the bonds which we place upon ourselves and to free ourselves from the wasted emotion of anger - a suitably thought provoking finale.

And there you have it. The critics have already hailed this as a work of genius. I have to disagree. There are several fine moments in this album and the entire package is as lush and clean as you would expect from someone as talented as Peter but therein lies the problem. The edginess and sharpness which used to mark out Peters work as a cut above the rest is missing from this album. Maybe it is the inordinate gestation period involved and the fact that it has been honed to "perfection" that makes this so but the end result is strangely unsatisfying to this listener.