7D Media 2016
Live 2
Rated PG, further forays of art-rock aficionados into the realm of faithfulness with a twist.
Delving into Peter Gabriel’s catalogue is a labyrinthine experience akin to looking for puzzle pieces in anticipation of amazement at the entire picture. That’s why, possibly, this band access it on-stage to give the listener in instalments: because a follow-up to "Live 1" fills gaps in their original framework. It wasn’t clear before, but now the filigree fierceness of former GENESIS singer’s fourth album – labeled “Security” – is finally revealed, explaining the ensemble’s name and their reckless pursuit of the aforementioned pieces.
Focusing again on Gabriel’s first records, the quintet venture deeper into his domain and, with the trumpet-like assaut of “On The Air” left for an audience-assisted finale, find a way out of it when a Millennium song “Father, Son” is brought to the fore for a very faithful rendition. While the players outline Peter’s unique quirk in their reading of his classics, the group’s grounding of Gabriel’s solo oeuvre in two songs from “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” – including the epic’s title track, slightly modernized to fit today’s urban fashion – doesn’t feel as surprising as a new version of “Moribund The Burgermeister” which signaled the singer’s arguably last grip on traditional prog, given additional histrionics here.
A fresh look at “Wallflower” intensifies, impressionist-way, with David Jameson’s piano punching the pain, the song’s sinewy sincerity, yet there’s warm undercurrent to it all, as “Family Snapshot” unfurls in a crossfire of Jerry Marotta’s drums and Trey Gunn’s touch guitar ripple, whereas Brian Cummins’ vocals fly over this towering march. At the same time, “Mercy Street” has acquired a soft acoustic shimmer, one to be broken by Michael Cozzi’s riffs and liquid licks in “White Shadow” to cast it out of fan-favored obscurity, which is, perhaps, the ultimate goal of it all: to feel new angles on an often overlooked – even by PG himself – gems and give them a new lease of life. If so, mission’s being accomplished.
****2/3
