A.A.V.V.

REFUGE a benefit for the people of Kosova

THE ORCHARD 2473

 

Refuge is a CD I welcome with particular interest for many reasons. First

and foremost, it is a project with humanitarian ends, born from the impulse

of a young English teacher and writer, Michael Stuart Rubin, who decided to

try to involve a group of musicians under the name of ARC (Artists

Responding to Crisis) in favour of the Kosova refugees to finance the

reconstruction of their homes.

 

Thanks to the full commitment of the musician Joy Askew (who many will

remember for her vocal collaborations with Peter as well as Joe Jackson),

the result has led to the completion of a genuine project by a small record

label, The Orchard, which decided to donate 90% of their takings directly to

the Kosova Relief Fund. Joy Askew postponed her personal engagements so as

to dedicate two months of her work to the production of this project,

spreading the word to collaborators, friends, and friends of friends so as

to get them involved.

 

It's therefore interesting to find, among the tracks of this CD, artists

whose notoriety is usually limited to the New York music scene, along with

more well-known names like Vernon Reid, guitarist of Living Colour, Richard

Barone, member of a well-known 1980s pop-wave band called The Bongos, Larry

Fast (who amongst us Gabriel fans does not know him?) and Melanie Gabriel

(Peter's daughter). "The choice of some artists with respect to others",

explains Joy Askew, "was dictated by the fact that it was necessary to

contact musicians working with small labels so that the authorisations of

their participation could be obtained in the shortest time possible".

This album was released exclusively in the States last September and two

important promotional events immediately took place at the mythical club

Bottom Line in New York, with the participation of, amongst others, Melanie

Gabriel, Richard Barone, The Wild Colonials, who performed live on two

nights. Joe Jackson also took part (although he's not in the album)

performing an intense, voice and piano version of "Be My Number Two" and

"Home Town". And there was the curious presence of Ahmed Best, alias Jar Jar

Binks in the new episode of Star Wars.

 

Another motive of interest for this project is that Melanie Gabriel wrote

the track included in the CD, entitled Broken Line, with the support of Joy

Askew and Peter Gabriel. Already after hearing a few notes, Gabriel's style

is evident. Broken Line is a dark and mysterious track, rich in sounds

typical to Peter. Unexpected interruptions give way to repeated single

sounds creating unusual sound effects; very modern and almost obsessive

rhythms are superimposed onto hypnotic lines of bass; ethereal and dilated

stretches of sounds succeed one another; spoken voices and brief and

repetitive tunes.

 

Broken Line is a good track, which above all highlights Melanie's decisively

personal timbre of voice and her interesting vocal capacities.

I should also like to mention Joy Askew's Here in America, in which circular

chords are played on the electric guitar whilst the voice recites a

voluntarily bare and direct text in a methodical manner.

 

Also, "Pavane" by Larry Fast stands out by his interesting use of electronic

sounds reproducing exclusively classical instruments (oboe, harp) and

electronic arches weaving a delicate and serene melody, making it the

perfect piece for a sound track.

 

Amongst the other tracks, let's mention The Revelations, performed by

Jennifer Kimball, a classic pop song with a strong melody and such an

irresistibly entailing refrain that you can't get it out of your head.

Track 4, entitled Skin, performed by The Wild Colonials, is also intense: a

splendid song with a haunting crescendo, almost epic.

 

Refuge is an album, which has the value to have been created with care and

love. The 15 tracks are all of a high standard of composition and the

technical realisation is qualitatively exemplary. Just for one of the

reasons I've listed above, it's obvious you'll have to get your hands on

this CD, which may not be available in record shops but is easily obtained

via Internet on www.theorchard.com.

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

Translated by Nathalie Sutter

 

 

The South Bank Show - The Millennium Show

ITV - 6 February 2000, 60 minutes

 

Apart from the cultural and economic attention the Millennium Show has been

getting, it has, at least in Great Britain, catalysed the media's attention

for many weeks now. It was therefore obvious that a transmission focusing

this event be aired, which British television viewers had the chance to

watch on ITV on the well-known programme The South Bank Show on 6 February

2000. The name of this programme should definitely ring a bell for Gabriel

fans: in 1982 The South Bank Show dedicated a show to Peter and the release

of his fourth album. The outcome was excellent with interesting interviews

and an analysis on the creation of this important project, which, for Peter,

was the culmination of a real musical turning point.

 

In the show dedicated to the Millennium Dome, the result is just as

accomplished: during its 60 minutes, you have the possibility to better

understand its creation and realisation. The story starts off from the very

first stages, in 1998, the year in which the search for actors/athletes

began at Circus Space in London, taking us through the strenuous training up

to the final selection of the lucky participants. The programme continues

with meeting the choreographer, Micha Bergese, the artistic director, Mark

Fisher, and the artists of the show and analyses the intense symbiosis of

friendship and collaboration which over the months formed itself between all

those involved being in daily contact with each other for over a year.

The interviews and shots of Peter you see during the programme are also

interesting, highlighting a artist who is 100% involved in the realisation

of the music and who is aware of the numerous problems generated by the

multi-media aspect of this project.

 

Two years of intense studies and meticulous preparations from the

realisation point of view show us an extraordinarily technologically

advanced show. We are also shown moments of panic and general frustration

because of unexpected breakdowns of hydraulic and electronic equipment which

have often slowed down rehearsals, risking at times to push the Millennium

Show towards failure with respect to performance and production.

The Millennium Show was ready at last on 21 December 1999 and a preview of

the show was performed for the press, in which it was finally possible to

discover the beautiful costumes created by the famous British designer Keith

Khan and enjoy the original choreography.

 

For us Gabriel fans, the pleasure is particularly intense as we finally get

to listen to a good part of the music composed by Peter. We must admit that

(with the great personal satisfaction of the undersigned), apart from "100

Days To Go" heard on the Real World CD, the quality of the other tracks is

truly excellent, with a pair of really extraordinary pieces. Melodies filled

with pathos alternate with more aggressive tracks, delicate harmonies follow

direct and elaborate rhythmical sequences, all combined to vocals, which at

times give you the shivers. Even if these various fragments do not always

make it easy to understand the full structure of the tracks, the final

result of the music seems to be really satisfactory. As you may have

concluded, The South Bank Show - The Millennium Show has been made with

great professionalism, keeping clear from all the gossip surrounding the

project, and has the quality to involve the viewer completely, taking him

inside its story and along its suffered organisational ups and downs in a

crescendo of ever more increasingly passionate events. Must be seen!

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

translated by Nathalie Sutter

 

 

 

THE MILLENIUM SHOW

 

Apart from all the controversy linked to the costs of over £ 750 million

spent to build the famous Millennium Dome in Greenwich/South London (an

enormous, ultra-technological "marquee", full of multi-media attractions

which invite each visitor to discover the human body and mind) there is no

doubt that the event of the Millennium Show has catalysed the media's

attention in England for many weeks now.

 

The show, technologically conceived by the architect Mark Fisher, is

performed in a central arena which is 50 metres high - the size of Trafalgar

Square - and can welcome up to 12'000 spectators at a time in each of its of

3 daily performances. These are interpreted by two rotating sets of cast

comprising a total of 120 performers and 19 solo performers. What is

particularly interesting for the audience is to be able to see the show from

the rows of seats which encircle the performance area or seated on the floor

on the external part of the area so as to participate in an even more direct

and suggestive way.

 

The very first impression you get watching the show is its similarity with

the Canadian group Cirque du Soleil (which has enchanted European and

American theatres with its enthralling shows, such as Quidam, Mystère,

Saltimbanco) with regard to scenery, choreography and costumes: in

both shows, each of the 50-70 characters of the cast wears different and

highly original costumes; the movements and acrobatics are performed on the

ground as well as in elaborate aerial dances; and finally, the musical

aspect recreates, depending on the shows, musical worlds of diverse origins

always seeking a fusion of styles.

 

Gabriel's music definitely has this power. The show's soundtrack is above

all a varied musical voyage, with interesting references to ethnical music,

folk, rock up to more contemporary musical worlds and at times, to

atmospheres rich of very modern sounds in a most successful attempt to go

beyond the restricted borders which simplistic musical definitions would

like to impose on us.

 

The 40mn show is subdivided in two parts: a first part of 15mn, the

"pre-show", in which the introductory music by Peter Gabriel stresses the

dancers' stage entrance and the entry of different mobile aerial structures

(which will be used in the progression of the show) and a second part of

25mn in which the show evolves into a spectacular crescendo of dance, music,

acrobatics and extremely refined stage ideas studied by the choreographer

Micha Bergese .

 

Three tubular structures comprising a large metal wheel rise during the show

to create an ideal link between the sky and earth and, as the music reaches

a peak of emotional tension, the imposing Tower of Babel (symbol of

non-communicativeness) surges up whilst dazzling pyrotechnic explosions go

off. Amazing metal structures unexpectedly appear from the ground and from

the sides of the arena to direct and guide the acrobats' movements. Their

visual complexity is so great that you have the impression they could fall

to the ground at any moment. The movements of the acrobats are splendid

when, with hundreds of long and brightly coloured bands, transform the stage

in a few seconds, projecting us inside an atmosphere which is at moments

magical and ethereal and at others more dramatic and full of pathos.

Dancers dressed in disproportionate and seemingly cumbersome costumes walk

around on small stilts in an unsure manner amongst the audience giving the

impression they're about to topple over. Other dancers dressed up in

brightly coloured costumes fly around dangerously in the air and suddenly

hurtle down from above onto the audience. Each single, apparently casual

movement is in fact calculated right down to the last detail and has

required strict research and a rigorous athletic preparation for over a year

and a half.

 

The show tells the story (in three acts) of two families through their

conflicts and transformations over the course of a few generations, each one

with its own desires, its own aspirations, its fears towards an uncertain

future which is however rich of hope.

 

The meeting between Sophia, the daughter of a family called Earth People and

Skyboy who comes from a family called Sky People is particularly emotional.

A romantic and sensual dance which takes place more than 20 metres off the

ground represents the meeting between the two families which are different

from each other but over the years will try to break down this barrier of

separation and of non-communicativeness in favour of symbiosis and a desire

of mutual harmony.

 

An "unmissable" show with just one blemish: if you hadn't had the chance to

attentively read the Millennium Show Guide sold inside the arena, the

narrative plot is not particularly intriguing and visually not very

comprehensible.

 

Nevertheless, the Millennium Show can be appreciated by a very young

audience thanks to the absolutely captivating choreographic tricks and stage

ideas.

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

translated by Nathalie Sutter

 

ALAN PARKER

BIRDY

COLUMBIA TRISTAR DC 09020 (Pal format)

COLUMBIA TRISTAR 04579 (NTSC format)

 

MARTIN SCORSESE

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (The Criterion Collection)

UNIVERSAL PICTURES 70 (NTSC format)

 

 

Let's mention the release of these two extraordinary films which both

contain Peter's music on DVD.

 

There's nothing particularly new to specify regarding these DVD versions if

not for a couple of details and of course their exceptional quality which

can't be compared to that of the almost out-of-date VHS.

 

With regard to Birdy, the DVD in NTSC format offers both widescreen (that

is, the cinema screen format, with the black bands on top and at the bottom

and a larger width of the image) and a full-screen version (that is, which

has been formatted to "fill" the size of a TV-screen). The NTSC version has

dolby digital sound whereas the European version is just stereo. From the

point of view of packaging, the DVD booklet (both American and European)

contains an interesting chronicle including anecdotes connected to the

making of the film, the choice of the characters and the various shooting

locations.

 

With regard to Scorsese's film, the "transfer" onto DVD was made with the

consent and supervision of Scorsese himself in a version which is, for the

time being, only in an American format but which should be published next

month in PAL.

 

The American version has a dolby digital sound and is only in widescreen

format. The packaging contains a series of information about the film and

its production and above all contains a brief and previously unreleased

interview with Peter Gabriel regarding the music and his impressions as to

his collaboration with the director.

 

The images relating to the instrumental set used by Gabriel for the

recording of the soundtrack are interesting.

 

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

translated by Nathalie Sutter

 

GENESIS

THE CARPET CRAWLERS 1999

VIRGIN CRAWLCDJ 8

 

A further update on the Genesis collection Turn It On Again The Hits of

which we have already talked about extensively in the previous issue. We had

already pointed out the release of the 1999 version of Carpet Crawlers in

The Hits on some CD singles and mentioned that, apart from a different and

objectively more attractive cover, the versions are totally identical from a

musical point of view.

 

However recently we discovered that Virgin UK had realised a CD single with

a different version to the one included in The Hits collection. To be more

specific, the differences of this version, which lasts 4'00 compared to The

Hits' 5'40'', include the absence of sound effects in the first part, the

total absence of the verse "There is lambswool under my naked feet"

starting directly with "The Crawlers cover the floor" and finally the

absence of Tony Banks' keyboard in the final part.

 

Apart from its more or less interesting musical relevance, it's curious that

this CD single was printed in a really meagre quantity; apparently it was

made for the exclusive use of radio networks. This could explain why it's so

difficult to get hold of, giving it therefore a rather interesting

collector's value.

 

For more ruthless fans, we recommend to regularly check British music

collectors' magazines in which it seems that now and then a copy is

advertised.

 

One last remark concerning the excellent promotional video which was on MTV

for quite a number of weeks and which curiously contains a 4'04'' version,

different to the one in the collection and to the CD single.

 

Here again, the differences are really in the single details: the sound

effects at the beginning were kept in, the verse "There is lambswool under

my naked feet remains, the parts on keyboard played by Tony Banks at the

end are missing and strangely the part "There's only one direction in the

faces that I see" was taken out altogether.

 

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

translated by Nathalie Sutter

 

THE FLOWER KINGS

ALIVE ON PLANET EARTH

INSIDEOUT IOMCD 054

 

The Flower Kings are for us Dusk readers an old acquaintance seeing as they

were among the participants of THE RIVER OF CONSTANT CHANGE project with the

cover version of The Cinema Show.

 

The chance to talk again of the group is triggered by the very recent

release of a live double CD which regroups some of their shows recorded in

1998 in North America and in 1999 in Japan, where it seems they got an

enthusiastic acclaim by fans of New Prog and others.

 

The cover version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which is the last track

on the first CD and which also ends their American gig, particularly

awakened our curiosity.

 

Their execution has no comparison with the original. It's a free

interpretation performed with the sole objective to entertain the audience

which in fact seems to really enjoy this cover version and which, during

almost a minute, enthusiastically joins in repeating the band's cues.

The performance of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is especially interesting

for the totally improvised solos on guitar (which have a slight hard-rock

tendency) which at moments explode in full force giving a touch of

originality to this version.

 

Even if the introductory solo on piano by the keyboardist Robert Engstand is

short and sounds totally different to the original, it remains on the whole

quite faithful.

 

The same goes for the singer Roine Stolt, who has no similitude with Gabriel

but who has an interesting and perfectly in-tune timbre. During the entire

performance of this more energetic version, he sings the harmonies which are

not always easy in a most resolute manner.

 

A peculiarity: in the CD it is indicated that this version lasts 9 minutes

and 17 seconds whereas in reality it lasts only 6 minutes and 15 seconds;

all the remaining playing time was kept in even if it contains only the

audience's clapping and cheering after the band's stage exit.

 

 

Stefano Tucciarelli aka Mr. Mozo Rising

translated by Nathalie Sutter