Big Blue Ball

From tapes compiled during the early-1990s festivals for musicians at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, producers Stephen Hague, Karl Wallinger and Gabriel put together an outstanding retrospective from the events.

The list of musicians put the "world" in "World Music," and include Papa Wemba, Billy Cobham, Wobble, Wallinger, Sinead O'Connor and Hukwe Zawose. Gabriel takes the lead vocal role on several tracks, but he is more like a super-glue that brought the artists together to share their styles in a considerably looser atmosphere than typically found in recording sessions.

The U.S. release was facilitated through a venture-capital trust initiative, hence Gabriel (finally) had control over the production and content. This is straight from Gabriel's heart and is a celebration of the wonderful colors that music provides to the universal canvas of joy and peace.

"Big Blue Ball" is a compilation culled from Peter Gabriel's three Recording Weeks in the '90s (1991,1992,1995). Gabriel invited world music artists as diverse as Egypt's Natacha Atlas, Ireland's Sinead O'Connor, Madagascar's Rossy and Hungary's Marta Sebestyen to his home studio in Wiltshire for freeform music. Thousands of recordings were made... and these 11 made into the whole wide world.

"Big Blue Ball" is an amazing collaborative work. "Whole Thing" is an inspirational opening song. Natacha Atlas and Hossam Ramzy provide the intoxicating,sensual "Habibe (Beloved)",evocative of an amorous night in the shadow of the pyramids. "Altus Silva" blends African and Celtic music. Sinead O'Connor powerfully sings with Chinese flautists in "Everything comes from you",a powerful plea for peace and against terrorism. When you consider it was sung in '95,it was eerily prophetic. "Forest" and "Rivers" are organic pieces weaving together many musical styles. The closing song, "Big Blue Ball" is an inspirational,powerful piece. In a way,it shares sentiments with John Lennon's "Imagine." It sums up the purpose of Gabriel's Recording Weeks-to unite people through music,since we live on one "big blue ball."

"Big Blue Ball" is tantalizing as well. There are recordings still in the vault--or perhaps Gabriel should revive Recording Weeks at his Real World Studio. "Big Blue Ball" is a musical journey for the mind and the soul!

First of all, the listener should know that Peter Gabriel's Big Blue Ball isn't the Next Peter Gabriel Album his fans have been waiting for. The album is the result of a series of annual musicians' festivals that Gabriel's Real World Studios threw in the early 1990s. During these "Recording Weeks" (as they were named), he and a whole bunch his talented friends got together at his studio to have fun, party, play music, and record whatever came out. The result of this was a musical motherlode that Gabriel spent over ten years editing and producing, a bit at a time, until finally the results see the light of day in "Big Blue Ball." Because of this, the album is more of a sampler of the different kinds of music produced at Real World Studios, rather than a carefully-planned concept album. In addition to a trio of his own pieces ("Whole Thing", "Burn You Up Burn You Down," "Exit Through You"), we get to hear the Real World musicians putting their own musical works together, with Gabriel's production providing the glue that binds them all together. And fortunately for us all, what could have been a mish-mash of musical mush becomes instead a sampler of the best moments from Real World Studios. If you're looking for the Next Peter Gabriel Album, you're likely to be disappointed. But if you've enjoyed the Real World compilation albums such as "Plus From Us" or the Real World Sampler promo CD released back in 1999, then "Big Blue Ball" is a delightful hodge-podge of ambient world music fusion.

When listening to music in a foreign language, I find the best way to enjoy it is to sit back and wait for a likeable beat...which is why I was hooked immediately on "Habibe," the second track; the traditional Middle Eastern instruments used here made me want to go and listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan again. On the other hand, there's "Forest," an ambient-techno track that would fit perfectly at home on any Afro Celt Sound System album (which I love, especially their first three discs), and in between are the Celt-influenced "altus silva" and "Everything Comes Through You." Something about Papa Wemba's vocals doesn't seem to appeal to me, and I tend to skip over "Shadow" and "Jijy" as a result; but your ear for music is probably different from mine, and you may disagree on this. That's your prerogative, and I'm pleased that there are many great moments on Big Blue Ball that I can listen to over and over.

Even though Gabriel's' "Us" was fresh and new when these "Recording Weeks" took place, his own trip of songs here sound closer to "Up" than "Us"; but there's a freshness to them that is very enjoyable, a feeling that was often buried in the over-production of several tracks on "Up." I'm immediately hooked on "Exit Through You," and his (slight) remix of "Burn You Up Burn You Down" is an improvement over the first version of the song that popped up around the time of "Up." Even though he took nearly fifteen years to finish editing and producing "Big Blue Ball," Gabriel makes the album worth the wait. It's a burst of energy from Gabriel and his friends that makes me hope - once again - that the Next Peter Gabriel Album appears soon, and that it recalls the emotional and mysterious musical soundscapes of Peter Gabriel in his prime.

If I were to rate this as a pure PG album, it would not be on the top of the list, but as a Gabriel inspired and directed project I think it does quite well. The semi-consistant world drum groove in the background of most of the tunes helps provide a general consistency and vibe to the whole album. Burn You Up Burn You Down is a fun tune, as is the title "whole thing". This seems like more of an album you have on in the background than one you actively listen to (like 3, security or melt), but Gabriel fans won't be disappointed, and by the time you get to "Big Blue Ball" at the end, the album will already feel like an old favorite.

Having listened to the free samples, I can safely conclude that this figurative ball sack of songs is a mixed bag, as it were. The songs seem to be organized around the theme of being unable to satisfy one's deepest desire--hence, "Big Blue Ball"--and indeed, I walked away from the samples with a very real case of big blue balls (actually I merely rolled over). I wanted satisfaction but what I got only made me hurt more.

However this veritable mid-life crisis of world music is notable for highlighting the barbaric chants and whoopings of primitive countries, which lends the album a certain poignancy. I cannot listen to certain tracks without being filled with great sadness that luxuries as simple as margarine or 80/20 polyester blends have yet to reach most of the developing world.

In closing, I would advise Peter Gabriel to tackle a bigger subject next time--not to imply the size of Gabriel's own bullocks is somehow lacking, as I have no evidence despite years of unanswered fan letters in which this subject came up more than once.