At the peak of their popularity in 1978, Kiss decided to maximize their sales potential and exploit their loyal audience by having each member release a solo record on the same day. Instead of sending sales through the roof, it had the unexpected effect of stopping their momentum cold…
Peter Gabriel is the second solo album by the British singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released in 1978. The album is the second of four with the same eponymous title. Guitarist Robert Fripp served as producer, whose influence on the album is evident in the use of Frippertronics on the track "Exposure". The album did not sell as well as the first Peter Gabriel, but reached No. 10 on the UK charts. "Mother of Violence" was written by Peter and his first wife Jill Gabriel…
As the debut album on the Rolling Stone label in 1978, Bush Doctor benefited immensely from the involvement of Jagger and Richards, as well as the publicity inherent in the high-profile nature of the release. Thankfully, Tosh was up to the challenge, and although there are moments that are less roots than anything he had previously recorded, Bush Doctor is no slick sellout. It's bolstered by his incredible Word Sound & Power band featuring the legendary Sly & Robbie rhythm section along with lead guitarists Mikey "Mao" Chung and Donald Kinsey (fresh from his stint with Marley). Although the cover of the Temptations' "(You Gotta Walk) Don't Look Back" single featuring Jagger's duet with Tosh seemed like an obvious ploy at crossover radio play, the rest is more roots conscious, and only slightly less compelling than some of ex-bandmate Bob Marley's work.
For this, his seventh soundtrack for director Peter Greenaway, Nyman deftly orchestrates a mix of strings, horns, and voices to produce another of his fetching and romantic minimalist backdrops. The opening "Memorial" is the highlight of the lot and drives along with stuttering saxophones, an insistent string arrangement, elegiac brass solos, and the soaring vocals of soprano Sarah Leonard (Leonard would be featured on a large part of the Prospero's Books soundtrack). The piece was originally inspired by a 1985 Belgian soccer match tragedy, in which 39 Italian fans were killed. Nyman utilized a death march in his earlier Greenaway collaboration, Drowning by Numbers, and revives the scheme to great effect here for what would become the main theme of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Nyman contrasts the piece's climatic quality with two relatively sedate yet brooding numbers.