Wednesday 19 November 2014

San Jacinto (Peter Gabriel, 1982)

This is one of my favourite Peter Gabriel's tracks, it has always been, since its release in the album "Peter Gabriel IV", also known as "Security" LP. There's a tense vibration in this song, a mysterious mood and a deal of weird, fascinating sounds. The lyrics are about a Native American initiation ritual, a painful one, and the short lines are like a wheezy breathing. Useless to say, Gabriel's vocal performance is perfect: deep and intimate, suggestive and moving.

This was the last album Peter Gabriel titled simply by his name.

The electronic effects are like ancestral instruments, and Jerry Marotta's drumming adds a syncopated heart to the track. When the chorus come in and Peter's voice rises up like a scream, I see flashes and colours from an unknown desert bursting out. I do think this song is more like an emotional trip than a mere musical experience.

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