In a Time Tunnel of sorts, we travel back to 1982 with Peter Gabriel and a landmark performance at a landmark WOMAD.

SMALL ACORNS

It was a simple idea; to create a festival out of all the brilliant music and art made all over the world. Stuff made outside of the mainstream; music that wasn’t getting on the radio and was even harder to find in record stores… With the dream ‘not to sprinkle world music around a rock festival, but to prove that these great artists could be headliners in their own right’, the fledgling WOMAD Festival, cuarted by Peter Gabriel saw three days and five stages played host to 60 bands from over 20 countries.

Back down the time tunnel to ’82 I was listening to a bootleg of this gig while heading out to Hamburg to watch a Genesis gig (as you do) with King Crimson in support, soon to be followed by a trip to the Milton Keynes Bowl for a Genesis/Gabriel fundraising reunion. You see, WOMAD wasn’t always what it is today. PG’s goodwill and efforts were seriously in debt and his former bandmates were happy to help in out.

LANDMARK AND EDGY

“It was a landmark and edgy gig for me both personally and musically and brings back lots of memories,” says PG. Yeah, for us too, especially following the landmark PG3 album and stories of his own immersion into world music, the results on the subsequent PG4 album and this gig, quite remarkable. All of the forthcoming PG4 album was aired. The only missing track is Wallflower, perhaps the most traditional piano ballad (hence its omission, maybe) but all seven tracks feature in dynamic live versions.

Gabriel recalls: “We played a mix of old and brand-new material. I would normally be very nervous about playing some of this stuff for the first time, however my mind was very preoccupied with the running of our very first WOMAD festival and the potential financial disaster that it was heading towards.” Fair enough, and that’s not even counting the more experimental set he played on a separate night – who could forget Dog 1, Dog 2, Dog 3?

Meanwhile…the recording of that Friday night concert. The brand new material in question is seven of the eight songs that would make up the Peter Gabriel 4 album that wouldn’t be released for a further two months. The band – mainly the usual suspect bar Tony Levin, sees PG joined by David Rhodes (guitar), John Giblin (bass), Larry Fast (synthesisers). Jerry Marotta (drums), Peter Hammill (guitar, vocals) and “the wonderful Bristol-based drum and dance group,” Ekomé (drums, percussion).

PERCUSSION BATTERY

The latter provide a startling percussion battery to The Rhythm Of The Heat, especially the bombastic finale that hasn;t quite found its spot yet as a dramatic opening song or set closer. the climax of most Gabriel shows then and since has almost always had to be Biko. Startling too must have been the impact of the debut of what must be one of Gabriel’s most ambitious musical statements (and a remarkable opening song on his subsequent touring cycle). Giblin’s constantly rubbery basslines and Gabriel’s breakneck delivery on Kiss Of Life try, but can’t quite match the Ekomé fury.

A similar claustrophobic and ominous atmosphere comes from from stark overtones of The Family & The Fishing Net and Lay Your Hands On Me, with the first exposure to some interesting couplets on Lay…. (and easy now to pick on the “living way beyond my ways and means” line considering the financial hit) Kudos to Larry Fast too for his soundscapes and the rhythmic nous developed by Gabriel after his ‘no cymbals’ restrictions of PG3.

Amidst the intensity of the new material, lighter diversions pepper the set. The grooves of I Have The Touch and Shock The Monkey both showcase David Rhodes’ funky and jingly guitar chops and a combo of Bo Diddley and Bowie-esque Changes piano riff and then some Ekomé calypso lift the quirks of I Go Swimming to another level. One that didn’t make the album but was always a nice one to throw into any setlist juggling.

A SIGNIFICANT RELEASE

A most worthy release for a gig that was a highlight of a significant event and era for various reasons – the World Music awareness raising, the financial disaster an, the Six Of The Best fundraiser and for the first shot at Peter Gabriel’s latest groundbreaking music. Happy days.

Here’a snippet of The Rhythm Of The Heat:

Peter Gabriel: Website

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