Performer Notes

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel includes: Peter Gabriel (vocals, arranger, guitar, piano, harmonium, organ, Mellotron, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion, prgramming, samples); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (vocals); Richard Evans (acoustic guitar); David Rhodes (guitar, background vocals); Daniel Lanois, Peter Green, Tony Berg (guitar); John Brion (mandolin, chamberlin); Shankar (violin); The London Session Orchestra (strings); Christian Le Chevretel (trumpet); The Black Dyke Band (horns); David Sancious (Hammond B-3 organ); Danny Thompson, Tony Levin (bass); Manu Katche, Steve Gadd, Dominic Greensmith, Dave Power (drums); Richard Chappell (percussion, programming); Will White, Stephen Hague, Manhut Dominique (percussion); The Blind Boys Of Alabama (background vocals).
Producers: Peter Gabriel, Steve Osborne, Stephen Hague.
Principally recorded at Real World, Box, England; Air Lyndhurst, England; and
Hype Studios, Singapore.
"The Barry Williams Show" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
Personnel: Julian Leaper, Mark Berrow, Gavin Wright, Christopher Tombling, Rebecca Hirsch, Antonia Fuchs, Jonathan Evans-Jones, Peter Hanson , Patrick Kiernan, Boguslav Kostecki, Cathy Thompson, Jackie Shave (violin); Donald McVay, Robert Smissen, Roger Chase, Peter Lale (viola); Ben Chappell, David Daniels , Martin Loveday, Anthony Pleeth (cello); Chris Lawrence , Mary Scully (double bass); Johnny Kalsi (drums).
Audio Mixer: Tchad Blake.
Recording information: Air, Lyndhurst, England; France; Hype Studios, Singapore; Real World Studios, Box, England; Senegal.
Photographers: Kurt Hentschlager; Adam Fuss; Shomei Tomatsu; Arno Rafael Minkkinen; Ulf Langheinrich; Susan Derges; Granular Synthesis; Mari Mahr; M. Richard Kirstel; Paul Thorel; Michal Rovner.
Though much effort has obviously been put into the sonic details of UP's production, and to fine effect, the album seems to represent not so much a new direction for Peter Gabriel, but rather a consolidation of the styles he's mined in preceding years. For instance, the opening track "Darkness" combines the dark, tension-filled paranoia of Gabriel's third self-titled album with the positive, seemingly therapy-derived lyrical direction of US's "Digging in the Dirt." Similarly, the heartworn emotionality of "No Way Out" brings to mind US's "Red Rain," but adds some slinky spy-movie guitar lines.
With a decade passing since his last album of new songs, Gabriel clearly has much to say, and accordingly most tracks hover around the seven-minute mark and are filled with sophisticated, enticing touches in an agreeable electronic/organic blend. With nothing to prove anymore, Gabriel sounds appropriately unconcerned about commerciality, as the only thing that comes within shouting distance of an "accessible" track is the TV-sensationalism parody "The Barry Williams Show," whose length and gritty lyrics make it an unlikely candidate for the top 40. In the end, UP is the sound of a mature artist pursuing the perfection of his craft, giving little thought to anything but the realization of his distinctive artistic vision.

Professional Reviews

Entertainment Weekly (9/27/02, p.86) - "...Those who value the emotional nakedness of his best work will find much to treasure here..." - Rating: A-

Q (10/02, p.107) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...As good as anything he's done....Gabriel is mesmerising..."

Uncut (10/02, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...clever and theatrical songs that combine technology with emotion...all assembled with an obsessive attention to detail...Nobody else could have come up with such an exotic concoction."

Album: Robert Frost, Poetry and Prose
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Darkness
2)	Growing Up
3)	Sky Blue
4)	No Way Out
5)	I Grieve
6)	Barry Williams Show, The
7)	My Head Sounds Like That
8)	More Than This
9)	Signal to Noise
10)	Drop, The
11)	[CD-ROM Track]

Album: Robert Frost, Poetry and Prose
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Darkness
2)	Growing Up
3)	Sky Blue
4)	No Way Out
5)	I Grieve
6)	Barry Williams Show, The
7)	My Head Sounds Like That
8)	More Than This
9)	Signal to Noise
10)	Drop, The
11)	[CD-ROM Track]