u/some12345thing

It was nice to get the bright side mix of the latest track today, as I actually prefer it, but it has now been 70 days since we got the last BandCamp exclusive track. On 9/30, Christian on the Genesis News forums said the missing demos would be out “in a few days or so”… and still nothing.

I know PG isn’t one to be rushed, but I’ve really got to wonder what is keeping the team behind the BandCamp so busy that we are this far behind. I really hope we get something soon… that’s 2 months of paying for the BandCamp subscription without the perks :(

Last night, I was watching a video of Genesis performing Supper’s Ready live, and I was listening to Peter‘s introduction where he talks about the man writhing on the grass and the worms surfacing, where he does the funny voice scat song and the whistling, and it got me thinking about his body of work in general, this latest album, and how I feel about it.

While I have enjoyed a lot of it and I’m so happy we’re getting it, I think part of what I’m longing for is the absurd element that I enjoy in Peter’s work. Think about the nonsensical noises and screams at the end of Solsbury Hill, Shock the Monkey in its entirety, Moribund the Burgermeister in it’s entirety, Big Time and how sarcastic and sardonic it is in mocking people who chase success… Think of the dark humor and wild imagery in The Family and the Fishing Net or the wry tone of Not One of Us. Games Without Frontiers shows how absurd nations going to war really is and the sarcastic, absurd tone runs through everything: the music itself, the lyrics, his delivery, and the arrangement. He’s always had this magical way of using absurdity in a profound and colorful way and I think it’s a core part of why I love the music he makes.

If Peter is kind enough to grace us with more music after o\i, I hope he rekindles that sense of absurdity again in a strong way. I enjoy the sincere stuff, but I do miss his razor sharp wit manifesting in music. I feel like Road to Joy was the best example of what I’m talking about on i/o. Not sure we’ve really seen it make an appearance here on o\i.

Just some Friday night ramblings, but does anyone else relate to this?

Not sure when this changed, but I noticed something interesting with i/o on Apple Music.

I listen to the album pretty regularly, and in the past, if I played the In-Side version on my iPad using the built-in speakers, Apple Music would default back to the Dark-Side stereo mix. That made sense, since the In-Side mix is the Atmos version and the Dark-Side mix was apparently the stereo fallback associated with it (I remember this was specifically called out in a newsletter or something in 2023).

Recently though, that’s definitely not what I’m hearing anymore. It’s playing what sounds very clearly like a stereo/downmixed render of Hans-Martin Buff’s actual In-Side Atmos mix through the iPad speakers.
I know the mixes well enough that the differences are really obvious — balances, percussion, reverbs, placement, etc. It’s definitely not the Dark-Side mix.

And it honestly sounds really good!

I know in the audio world there is some controversy over Atmos fold-downs/down-renders, and I don’t think Buff originally intended the In-Side mix to be heard this way, but I’m kind of thrilled Apple Music is doing it. You still get a lot of the different musical choices and character of the In-Side mix, even without headphones or an Atmos speaker setup.

Curious if anyone else has noticed this, or knows when Apple changed the behavior. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t how my iPad handled the album before.

Just in case anyone else was checking the weather app on their phone and hoping to VPN into NZ on Wednesday like me, I wanted to post this. I thought we were past these for the year, but it appears this is another month in which the full moon won’t show itself until a day later in the UK vs the US.

I really love using the “Preview” feature in the browser on the Trinity VST to get a sense of each preset. Is there any way to do the same in the Triton VST? I was poking around with it today but couldn’t find anything. Closest was turning the “arp” button on, but that doesn’t seem to persist across all patches.

Always loved this track. One of the most fun collaborations Peter has done. Sounds really great live, too!

So cool! This is better quality than the PG YouTube channel has. It’s pretty pristine! Cool to see without the artifacts, but with all that early CG insanity. Also interesting to learn that the team who did this eventually went on to become Rockstar games, famous for GTA, Red Dead Redemption, etc.

Inspired to look this up from u/leebeavington ‘s post about a kind of live rarities playlist (here: https://www.reddit.com/r/petergabriel/s/orUynpBUnk )

Man, amazing version and performance. I love adore the emotion Peter weaves into this song. I love the album version, but I have to say this is a rare occasion where the song really takes on a life of its own in the live arena. And that life is even bigger, brighter, and emotional than the original. Wish they’d included this one on the New Blood album.

I finally decided to upgrade from 2024.10 to the latest version. I was slightly tempted by track pinning, but also I just spent some time reading all the changelogs for each intervening version and it seemed like they’d fixed a ton of bugs. One of the big ones was that change logs said they’d finally fixed Pro Tools crashing upon exit. That had been plaguing we with Pro Tools for quite a while. It never seemed to cause lasting damage to anything, but it just felt concerning and I always had to click away the “want to send a report?” dialog box after sending something the first time.

Kind of disappointing. I can’t help but feel like I should have double checked here or on the DUC before I spent my money yet again upgrading for a year. Here’s hoping I’ll get my money’s worth in the coming months.

Really fun track. Cool to see what Tony’s been up to aside from the newer PG stuff.

Here is my best shot:

Mozo was a broken man   
He was lying on his land   
Every home that he designed   
Was sinking in the sand 
And unity was goading him   
About his shattered heart   
Reminding him of how it was   
so rock-like at the start   

And later on he fell apart
Left slivers on the road   
When strangers asked him, “Where do you come from?”   
He said, “No fixed abode”   
And at first there was no sign of it  
It looked like all was fine
The clouds came in and swept around him    
They were bringing back the rain  

[CHORUS]
I'm putting it all together   
Though it doesn't make sense   
Putting it back together   
This is my only self-defense   
I'm putting it back together   
Filling in piece by piece   
Putting it back together   
This is my only release   

They said his soul had slipped away   
And left an empty shell   
But there before those many eyes  
His was the tale to tell   
Far and wide we made that call   
but no signal came back home   
By the time the crowd had noticed him   
there was nowhere else to roam   

[CHORUS]
Putting it back together   
Though it doesn't make sense    
Putting it back together   
This is my only self-defense   
Putting it back together   
Filling in piece by piece   
Putting it back together   
This is my only release   

A man maps memory lapse (laps?)   
nothing left to do   
The light had all been shattered   
leaving no sign or clue   
And the words come out wrong   
'cause I'm pushing them through   
They read alike, sound alike, mean alike too   

But I'm coming back   
Getting it together   
Makin’ me whole   
There’s nothing left to do    
Nothing left to feel this love   
Feel this love   

All the faces rush around me, not clear where I'm heading
All that I relied upon is loosening and shredding   
With everything solid that once held some meaning  
So I grab for anything that could give me any sort of feeling   
Like a jigsaw
It's coming back   
Piece by piece   
One by one
One by one   

 
Like a jigsaw   
There's nothing left to do   
Nothing left to be in this love   
Be in this love   

And yet I could be standing at the pole
If I learned to be still   
To be quiet for a moment   
To silence the will   
Swept away from the center   
By the one centrifuge   
I was hot, I was cold   
I was small, I was huge   
What is and what isn’t?   
What wants to exist?     
Was there on the island      
That had formed in the mist    
And the contract was signed
In the darkest red ink   
And the bridges all appeared   
That opened up the link   
To the other world   
That had grown in my mind   
And I caught sight of the ocean   
That lies right behind   
I was looking for admission   
And fighting for a place 
But wherever my gaze fell   
I could make out your face   

Coming back   
Getting together   
Holding your hand   
Holding your hand   

So we gathered all the moments 
Like fish in a net   
Time couldn't hold us   
and the gel wouldn't set   
We were putting it all together   

One by one   
Piece by piece   
One by one   
Like a jigsaw   
Like a jigsaw   
Like a jigsaw