petergabriel.com

The history of I/O is closely connected to that of making the album UP, which notoriously took Gabriel almost 10 years to complete. According to a Rolling Stone magazine article, Gabriel has 150 songs in various stages, which he has been working on. Why won't this come out before New Blood?

Because i think he is unsure of what he wants to do. I mean he chose another unexpected (and great) path with Scratch My back and New Blood like he was trying to avoid and stay away from the traditionnal new (rock) CD release / tour promotion. I/O will probably never see the light of day. It will be out when the new songs have found their maturation, and you know it's taking a long time with PG!

Moonstorm, I think you should read through this thread, it explains a lot about the man, and it is a funny thread. Those people over there have great sense of humour. http://www.solsburyhill.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=506 So why won't I/O come out? Probably he has scrapped those 150 ideas and doesn't like them anymore. Maybe he had new ideas, worked on them, then scrapped them too. I really don't know. I think Scratch My Back was a way for him to get away from all this. Maybe he needed some distraction, to get new ideas. I do wonder though, if he'll really go back to working on a new album. He has mentioned it every now and again in some Full Moon updates. But sometimes I wonder if it really is true. :-]

Must admit I don't wonder about this anymore, PG will do what he will do. . . He calls himself a master of distraction and music is just one of his interests, however major. Soil could be right - SMB/New Blood may take him another new road, maybe not.

Like the Lamia in the pool Soil :-]

Why won't this come out before New Blood? Because he is Artist. The mystery of an Artist is incomprehensible.

The mystery? In the old days it was just called writing songs. . . but the whole "I/O" thing is certainly incomprehensible though. . . just don't think about it - we're on the moon here (apparently) and waiting for I/O is like waiting for a bus to turn up. . .

A bus? Where I live buses go pretty often. Like every ten minutes, in most cases. Or do you mean it's like waiting for a bus to turn up on the REAL moon? So, never? Do you think I/O will NEVER come out, Beef? I wish he'd comment a little bit more about that in the updates. That is, with more details. . .Ay. Whatever. He could at least admit it, if he's not working on it anymore and wants to write other songs. Or if he's still writing songs AT ALL. But whatever. I'm just really curious of what he would consider interesting or worthy as a topic for his lyrics. What would he write about nowadays?

Soil, yes - I meant it was like waiting for a bus on the moon. . . but you never know - I'd be happy to be surprised! :-]

thanks for the comments, and many thanks to The Soil for that link. I had a feeling this topic would be full of mixed opinions. Cheers

It's a shame they never ran a story about PG releasing I/O, but here are some just as hard to believe stories - http://www.flickr.com/photos/62440303@N04/ :-]

LOL. . .Wold War 2's best kept secret - Adalf Hitler was a woman. . . Obt isn't that just a bit off-topic, Beef? :-]

Oh the typos!

Maybe. . . but I just imagined that there was one improbably headline missing - "Peter Gabriel actually releases I/O!"

Yes, I understood that, Beef! But still. I still believe, that he only sarcastically said his next one will be titled I/O. . .because it sounds like 'I owe'.

Although I/O could be another name for Scratch My Back aswell. Input = other people's songs, Output = his cover versions of the songs

But you never know. . .I think it's fun speculating about all of this. Did I ever mention that I once dreamed I had a new PG album in hands. The cover was light blue and the title was printed in red. Unfortunately I don't know the title. But when I put it in the CD player, he sang a song about coconuts. It sounded exotic. In a way it sounded similiar to Taste Of Lime. I think it would be cool if he really released a song about coconuts now. LOL I find it weird though, what the human mind does in dreams. I mean, I REALLY heard the man's voice. It sounded PG-ish extraordinaire! :-] I would like to research about the human mind and dreams. I think it's one of the most fascinating things. :-]

Wow, that's interesting, Soil! Now that I think of it, a song about cocoanuts is something I'd really like to hear. And I'd like it to be kind of humourous about cocoanuts, too. :-]

Coconuts? - that's got to be off topic if ever anything was ever off topic! :-] Actually, Soil, I used to have similar dreams, mainly in the pre-www days, when tracking down music was a lot more mysterious and fun - anyway, I'd dream that I found a new album by Gary Numan (I am a big GN fan also) that I didn't know existed. . . I would see the cover and it seemed so real and exciting - but the dream would leave me feeling cheated when I woke up. But then, in reality, sometimes searching some of the better record shops in London, I would actually find such a CD. . . and the reality of that felt the same as the dream. . . quite mesmerising!

What? Did the real CD look like the one in your dream? Well, that would be freaky. :-] Gary Numan is cool. I like him too, even though I only know a couple of his songs. No, the coconuts HAD to do with a new album. :-] Okay, I go off-topic most of the times. . .Sorry Moon!