petergabriel.com

I've been listening to this man sing for more than 35 years. With this orchestra, he's found a proper setting for what is and has always been one of the great voices in popular music. The orchestra is a body, "the good flesh continuing" (Robert Haas, "Meditation at Lagunitas"). Gabriel's voice is, as it has always been, the heart. As for song choices, Flume alone (or only) is worth the price of admission. Gluey feathers!!! Es ist ein ros entsprungen.

Es ist ein ros entsprungen indeed. That piece of music always makes me want to cry, as does the maestro's voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkl0ivDthzY What lovely thoughts Morongo. Thank you.

Thanks Duddy. Yes, the brass arrangement of Flume reminded me of a particularly gorgeous brass version of Es Ist (.). Unfortunately, I've lost the LP and don't remember the details. If I find out I'll post it here. Check out that poem too. One of my favorites, it seems very much in keeping with many of the lyrical themes PG has touched upon over the years. For me, it's almost a kind of creed (although I don't really believe in creeds). Here's the link: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177014 Cheers.

Thank you for that Morongo, I had not heard of this poet before. I shall certainly look out his other work. The poem reads like an elegy itself, for . . . being, I think. The way that memory and associations affect our perception. I did think of 'I Grieve' and PG's listing of things that go to make up our life, that 'tie' us in. The everyday. Thanks again, Duddy

Just checked out that youtube link. Very nice, even with the obligatory frosted piney background. Thanks. I'm a rank newbie on this forum. Seems like a good place.

Me again, adding to my own thread. Pathetic. As if I were going to blow her mind with some real cool new music, as if I were the keeper of the keys, I just shouted out to my 15 year-old daughter to come into the kitchen to listen to The Book Of Love. I said, "Hey! Get in here. Listen to this!" So she reluctantly emerged from her lair, walked into the kitchen, and looked at me as if I were an idiot. "Oh, yeah. The Magnetic Fields. Great song. You'd never heard it before?" And then we had good laugh over the generational divide. Thanks Peter!

Hi Morongo when I first read your post on 'flume' with this ending 'Es ist ein Ros entsprungen�, I thought it was a kind of joke. "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" is a deeply religious song for us Germans, sung in churches around Christmas. For me it is SO well-known, that I never thought about it's lyrics. It is (was?) just a Christmas choral, beloved, but not taken that serious. But now it came to my conscious again what beautiful words and melody it has. Now what I want to know: do you feel "Flume" is a religious (or spiritual, don't know the right word) song? I just listened to it and there is a kind of new dimension in it for me now. I fell in love with this song from the first time I heard it, the lyrics, the arrangement and Peter's voice, just awesome. But I just thought it as a song with a psychological depth. Now I feel it is as many songs of Peter Gabriel, "soul food". In German there is the word "Seelsorge", originally it means "care for the soul". Now what do you think, is there a religious dimension in "Flume"? Hey, this reaction of your daughter, I know the same from my teenage-sons! So there hope for the generational divide :-]

Hello Du-du, Thanks for your message. First of all, and apropos exactly nothing, I can't help noticing that anyone who has so far responded to this thread has a moniker containing the syllable "du". First there was Duddy and now there is Du-du. If this trend continues (if, say, a "Duckman" or a "Dusty" chimes in), the thread will have to make a little detour in order to consider the significance of such an anomaly - if it be an anomaly. For now, I simply make note of this curiosity and move on. My first association of Flume with Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen (from now on, EIERE) had nothing to do with spirituality or religion. The arrangement of Flume simply reminded me of a particular brass arrangement of EIERE I used to listen to as a child - just a split second association, totally unconsidered. (I'm a sucker for all those suspensions swelling and resolving). But then it occured to me that the image of the Rose made perfect sense given the red motif of SMB's artwork, and of course given all the redness running through Flume - reddish ruse, maroon, and of course womb. But that old brass arrangement did feature any singing. I've never heard the lyrics, until I just googled them a little while ago. And voila! Of course: there is Mary, the Rose, bearing a child. As I see it, Flume deals with birth, separation, and loss. I suspect that for the author there is no specific religious connotation, that for him it refers to a specific personal situation. But what the author had in mind is not really relevant. Besides, he's left so much space around the images. It could very well be seen in a more spiritual light. The experiences of birth, separation, loss are what give rise to the religious impulse, to adoration. Both EIERE and Flume are finally about adoration: Sky is womb and she's the moon. Morongo

Hello Morongo, "Anyone who has responded to this thread has a moniker containing the syllable "du"" That is true, and what a coincidence :-] (???) Thank you for learning the word "moniker", that's new in my English vocabulary I do agree with your comment about the lyrics of "flume", the religious impulse, and adoration being stimulated by the words (and music), with or without any ambition of the author. These religious impulses just occur. Yes, sky is womb and she's the moon

On a totally different jag, I'm wondering if anyone out there knows anything about the technical aspects of how Flume was recorded. I don't know, should I give this question another thread?

You'd probably get more of a response that way Morongo. I know when SMB came out there was a lot of discussion about the emotional content of Flume, but as far as I remember not a technical sausage in sight!

Maybe I'll open another thread. But where would I find all of that previous discussion about Flume? Is there a search function on this forum? Perils of arriving late to the party.

Go to the front page of the Forum and at the bottom is a search function. I remember felling completely at sea when I first came here - so it goes with the lunar landscape!:-]

I was not able to make it to any of the shows but I love Flume, Mirrorball and Power Of The Heart. PG you make me melt! :-] :-] :-]

Thanks for the pointer Duddy. I'm now leaping confidently across the Sea of Tranquility in my space suit.

:-]

OK, since I started this thread, I suppose it's on me to tie it up. So I'll just say again what I started with (what made me join up in the first place): SMB is a marvelous record, one I'll be listening to for a long time. We always knew the man could sing and write. Turns out he's a great interpreter as well.

Yes I agree Morongo. It may be seen as a covers album, which is surely is, but still a thing of power and beauty. Already a classic for me.

OK, so I've now gotten over the initial thrill of hearing PG's voice sing these great songs with an orchestra. Still love it, although certain songs are now standing out - others not so much. But here's what I'm thinking: there seems to be a thematic cohesion to this record, as if it were a concept album, only by way of covers. The man's trying to tell us something. Has this been discussed anywhere?