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Peter's initial idea for touring Us was to run with an "all out video assault" extravaganza, complete with flying TV screens. Fortunately U2 had already covered that ground with ZooTV (Peter saw U2's show five times during that tour), so he was forced to come up with a new idea, one that would not be at odds with the emotional landscape of Us.
Said Gabriel: "If you absorb the images as they come at you, hopefully some of them will have an afterlife, and resonate a little. The sense I've got back from people is that the music and the imagery have come from the same place, that they haven't been artificially stuck together."
A mastersroke for the Secret World Tour was employing the services of set designer, Robert Lepage whose visual effects and concepts have a similar emotional footing to much of PG's musical output. Unfortunately, unless you have the Secret World video or laser disc, none of this makes any difference whatsoever.
For many PG fans, Secret World was the first opportunity to see him perform live: "I'm going to try and get to a lot of countries...that aren't normally on the rock and roll circuit." Apparently this includes Australia since 1994 is the only time (apart from a brief set for the first Womadelaide fesival in Adelaide [funnily enough]) Peter has graced us with a performance. If it's any consellation for those who haven't been to a show (and it probably isn't) Brisbane was not graced with the full visual complement.
So what about the music, since this is the focus of Secret World Live? Peter chooses his musicians well, and the backbone of Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katche provide a backdrop of intricate texture. The technolgy improvements since Plays Live are definitely audible, loops and samplers fleshing out songs like Digging in the Dirt and Secret World in a way that would have been impossible in the early eighties. Even Solsbury Hill is given its best live treatment (though it always pales against the studio recording).
Throughout this tour, Peter played mostly large cavernous venues which demand to be filled, not just visually, but musically as well. His band flourishes in this environment, and all seem to enjoy stretching their legs on mostly expanded tracks (some double the length of their studio counterparts). Fans who have survived on bootlegged copies of the eleven minute In Your Eyes epic from the POV video, are treated to a full hifi recording here, with Papa Wemba and Paula Cole manning the "guest vocalist" spots. A shame then that the version on POV, featuring Youssou N'Dour, is much better.
There is a "clean-ness" to the sound of this record, partly due to its post-production studio work (cheekily referred to as "cheating" on Plays Live but given the plain title of "additonal recording and production" here), that makes this record seem almost too polished. Compare Secret World Live to the relatively "dirty" New Adventures in Hi-Fi by REM (also primarily live recordings, although you could be forgiven for not thinking so). What Secret World gains in sound quality it loses in gritty realism. While this is neither a good nor a bad thing, it may be an instance where Peter's penchant for perfection may have hindered the "authenticity" of this record. It is a live record after all and fans enjoy listening to the "warts and all" recordings. Another minor gripe with Secret World is in the volume of audience noise between songs. Honsetly, we do know it's live (it says so right on the box), so it doesn't have to be proven to us by making the crowd sound like a passing 747! If you haven't already, try driving around town with this in your car a high volume. Suddenly the car will seem very cramped!
Despite what are probably the whingeings of a purist, the standout feature of Secret World Live is that, despite masses of electronica required to create this sound in a live setting, the organic nature of band and music is still the overriding effect. The passion of the songs is infectious and the sheer joy of the band is still evident over ten years after Plays Live. And at the end of the day it must be the songs by which this collection should be judged.
Written by Mercutio
while he had too much time
on his hands. Thankfully this has now been rectified.