DVD Review: Peter Gabriel – Secret World Live
Eagle Vision/Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Review: B+
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| Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live 2012 |
Shaken to the very core of his being by a gut-wrenching
divorce, Peter Gabriel tried to figure out what it all meant on 1992’s somewhat
glum and dispirited Us, the deeply introspective
and long-awaited follow-up to Gabriel’s vibrant, sexually expressive solo
breakthrough album So. Six years in
the making, Us meticulously explored
the emotional jungles of human relationships with naked honesty and a confused,
exposed vulnerability, and Gabriel, searching for answers that were probably never
there to begin with, came out the other end none the wiser.
Frustrated perhaps by his inability to find resolution,
Gabriel seems to retreat into the secret sound world and experimental bubble of
Us, living amongst its layers and
layers of exotic textural sediment and its rich, immersive tonal environments
as a reclusive artist who has broken off communication with outsiders. At the
same time, Gabriel is an open book on Us,
unabashedly baring his soul in descriptive lyrics so uncomfortably personal
that they read like the notes of therapy sessions, Gabriel having apparently
waived any invocation of doctor-patient privilege. Given all this, it’s
understandable then that Us – despite
the propulsive funk of “Steam” and the organic throbbing of “Digging in the
Dirt” – couldn’t possibly rise to the mega-smash hit status of So. Us
required too much of its audience – too much of an investment of time and
patience, and even too much of their own damaged hearts
Out of this miasma of pain, guilt and intense
self-reflection emerged Gabriel, somewhat healed and ready to face the world
again with his ambitious “Secret World Live” tour. A spectacular staging of
Gabriel’s hard-won perspective on gender relations – with two stages
symbolizing male and female sensibilities and a visual bombardment of
multi-media adventures – “Secret World Live” set up shop in Modena, Italy for
two nights in November 1993, and the arty, uplifting performances were captured
for a much-beloved 1996 Grammy Award-winning film. All gussied up for the new
millennium, “Secret World Live” is being re-released this summer on Eagle Vision, and it looks
as if it hasn’t aged a day, which is both a blessing and a curse.
Visually, this new and improved version is magnificent,
revitalizing the multi-camera shoot and enhancing the already vivid imagery of
the original film with gorgeous color and a well-rounded sonic remastering that
adds power and energy to the sound. Bulging with extras, the newly-packaged
“Secret World Live” includes a time-lapse movie of the elaborate stage set-up
process, a revealing making-of featurette with exclusive period interviews –
Gabriel doing most of the talking – and interesting behind-the-scenes footage, a
beautiful still photo gallery from the tour set to an unsettlingly quiet
version of “Steam” and a captivating 2011 performance of “The Rhythm of the
Heat” featuring Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra at the Hammersmith Apollo
in London.
Truly a transcendent concert experience, the mostly joyful
and celebratory “Secret World Live” finds Gabriel’s theatricality taking on
more meaning and metaphorical significance. As the sensual, slow-moving melodic
currents of “Across the River” and “Slow Marimbas” gently drift, Gabriel
paddles an imaginary skiff up river on the conveyer belt that connects the two
stages, with his band in tow, all gazing upward in wonderment. A makeshift
oasis – complete with a tree of life – provides the setting for a wounded,
yearning version of “Blood of Eden,” a song of disconnection, suspicion,
self-loathing and rebirth beautifully rendered by Gabriel and singer Paula
Cole. Needing no stage props, Gabriel and his team of handpicked musicians dance
with a relaxed, whimsical choreography as they strut their way through the
sweaty push of “Steam” and the chunky, dynamic grooves of “Sledgehammer,”
before skipping and hopping around the life-affirming, uplifting cheeriness of
“Solsbury Hill,” “Shaking the Tree” and “In Your Eyes” like carefree children
in a playground.
That bounce in Gabriel’s step is nowhere to be found on the “Come
Talk to Me,” where Gabriel, stuck in one of those typically British red phone
booths, pleads with Cole to reopen negotiations to salvage whatever the song’s
characters once had together. Heavy-handed and interminably drawn out, this
particular scene, which opens the movie, is a wet blanket and lacks the subtle,
if obscure, drama Gabriel once employed to jarring effect, like when he
famously donned the old fox head and dress in concert for Genesis. Worse yet
are the distracting and off-putting close-ups from the small camera mounted on
Gabriel’s head for “Digging in the Dirt.” The self-indulgent stagecraft used in
both instances seems uninspired and hopelessly dated as if Gabriel didn’t care
that the expiration date on such hackneyed devices had long since passed.
All is forgiven, however, when “Secret World” arrives, with
upside-down camera shots and flashing lights heightening the tension and
excitement of its more aggressive parts and Gabriel handling the tender, more
meditative spots with warm humanity. As a bonus, the new edition of “Secret
World Live” features the cascading “Red Rain,” not included on the original
version. And, of course, this dark waterfall of emotions and melody is as
affecting as ever, its mood penitent and heartfelt.
An orgy for the senses, if a tad melodramatic in spots, “Secret
World Live” – accompanied by a booklet packed with gorgeous photography – is a spiritual
awakening of sorts, with Gabriel’s charisma and refreshing openness bonding
audience and cast in ways that language cannot explain. Helping Gabriel make
this stirring journey is a backing band that is without peer, as Tony Levin’s
agile, sinewy bass movements, David Rhodes’ unassuming guitar figures, and Manu
Katche’s splashy drumming – not to mention the flood of keyboards, Shankar’s violins
and other strange instrumentation that washes over it all – craft a sublime
vehicle for Gabriel’s meditations. Even though his musings have an insular
quality on Us, there is a
universality to Gabriel’s lyrics that connects with people of all creeds and
colors. Never has that been more apparent than on “Secret World Live.”
-
Peter Lindblad
