The concept behind Peter Gabriel’s first album of original material in 21 years, i/o, feels strikingly contemporary. Over the last year, the veteran singer-songwriter has dropped a new song each month, touring arenas leading up to the album’s release. With each song being made available in a “Bright-Side” mix, “Dark-Side” mix, and a third Dolby Atmos “In-Side” mix, i/o effectively allows listeners to pick their favorites among the different versions and create their own playlist.
While the bones of the songs are taken from the exact same performances, the mixes feature major differences in their musical emphasis. For one, the “Bright Side” mix of “Panopticom” puts acoustic guitar at the forefront, while the instrument is barely heard in the “Dark Side Mix.” The former delivers a more potent version of the song, leaning into Gabriel’s penchant for grand statements, with sweeping, warm strings and piano.
The songs can be easily slotted into Gabriel’s familiar modes, including piano ballads and funk-influenced pop. At worst, he repeats himself: The horns on “Olive Tree” recycle similar sounds from “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time,” and one of the album’s best songs, “Road to Joy,” similarly feels like a hit from his heyday, with a swirling synth hook. Gabriel’s ballads lean toward bombast as well, even when they begin sparingly, as “So Much” and “Love Can Heal” do.
Gabriel made his mark as a solo artist with songs about the apocalypse (“Here Comes the Flood”), war (“Games Without Frontiers”), and assassinations (“Family Snapshot” and “Biko”), and this tendency toward the political persists on i/o. “Panopticom” confronts our surveillance culture, its title referring to the ability to observe a world where facts are difficult to determine.
While the “Bright Side” mixes bring out the album’s more dynamic range, the lyrics lack the edge of Gabriel’s early music. The earnest perspectives of songs like “Love Can Heal” and “Live and Let Live” are apparent right from their titles, with the latter in particular succumbing to cliché. And the more subdued “Dark Side” mixes only highlight those flaws. i/o is heartfelt and meticulously crafted, but its impact is muted by its splintered presentation.
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Are you anti-Gabriel? That was not a review but an attempt to poke holes in something you cannot perceive. As a person who has not been to a live concert, ever, but who has only discovered him this year, I have seen lots of fan recordings as well as the official studio recordings, both with and without video, (some just audio recordings) and I can tell when someone has blocked perception for genius. I will NOT spread your “review” as it is beyond negative and more along the lines of an attack.
Reading this review I was formulating exactly the same thoughts and conclusions as Ms Ellison.
In “Panopticon,” Gabriel presciently foresaw a future where fervent pro-Gabriel bots would swarm relatively positive album reviews spouting non-sequiturs about “an attempt to poke holes” and the fact that they’ve never been to concerts.
I would give this album an extra half-star (3.5). I would give it 4 stars if there were a single, definitive album. Instead we get two versions (with more alternatives available on Bandcamp). Many will disagree with me, but I see this is a musical cop-out by Peter Gabriel. He’s worked on this album for more than two decades – he should be able to decide on a mix for the release instead of “abdicating” this responsibility to the listener. While Steve Erickson is correct that many of the musical ideas on this album sound familiar, their breadth and variation are sufficient that I didn’t come away thinking that this was merely a rehash of old ideas. I also agree with Erickson that the lyrics aren’t as edgy as those on the early albums, but Gabriel is exploring several new (for him) topics and themes and there was enough here to keep me interested. Finally, I am amazed at how good and how strong Gabriel’s voice is – the man is 73 years old. Incredible!