Shaking The Tree - Gabriel, Peter > Reviews > A Very Fruitful Tree To Shake

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	An excellent introduction to Peter Gabriel
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Released in 1990 “Shaking the Tree (16 Golden Greats)” is Peter Gabriel’s official greatest hits / best of package. It covers his career from his debut solo album up to the soundtrack of “The Last Temptation of Christ” “Passion”. Since that album Gabriel has made one proper studio album “Us”, the millennium project commission “Ovo” and issued two live albums “Secret World” and the live version of “Ovo”. Reputedly there is another studio album in the works, “Up”.

The album is not arranged chronologically , but because of the consistency of his work , it is a very coherent package. The only glaring omission is that the second album is not represented at all, which is fairly shocking given the amount of cover the other albums get, but that is a minor complaint. The other problem with the album is that every track is available on other CDs bar one, the title track, although to be fair it was released as a single so people were not to aggrieved about that.

If you have no Peter Gabriel music and would like to sample his work, then this is a perfect album. If you already have all the tracks shelling out for a single track is a bit steep to take, the problem being that “Shaking The Tree” is an excellent collaboration with Youssou N’Dour and is not a dispensable track, but there’s always Morpheus.

Rather than describe the songs, which I have already covered in previous reviews apart from the two offerings from “Passion” which I will review soon, I will just list the songs and the album from which they came:

Track _____________________________ Album
Solsbury Hill _________________________ 1
I Don’t Remember ____________________ 3
Seledgehammer__________________________ So
Family Snapshot _____________________ 3
Mercy Street __________________________ So
Shaking The Tree ______________________ single
Don’t Give Up _________________________ So
San Jacinto _________________________ 4
Here Comes The Flood __________________ 1
Red Rain ______________________________ So
Games Without Frontiers _______________ 3
Shock The Monkey ____________________ 4
I Have The Touch ____________________ 4
Big Time ____________________________ So
Zaar ________________________________ Passion
Biko ________________________________ 3

So that’s your lot, sixteen of the best from one of the best artists of modern times. It’s amazing the consistency of the material from the start of his career to the present day. This is shown up by the programming of this compilation, the fact that material from his first album can stand easily with his later material. Although Gabriel has undoubtedly progressed, his sound remains remarkably unique, you hear the music and be it the brassy intro to “Sledgehammer” or the ominous opening to “Biko” it is unmistakably Peter Gabriel.

If you have nothing else by this man, then get this. The only problem being that you’ll then want to but the rest of his albums. He’s that good.