Peter Gabriel (1978 album)


Peter Gabriel is the second solo album by English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released in 1978. The album is the second of four with the same title. It was produced by guitarist Robert Fripp, whose influence 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 in the UK.
In the U.S., the album was titled Peter Gabriel II. The album is also often referred to as Scratch, referring to the album cover by Hipgnosis. Music streaming services currently refer to it as Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch.
This album was originally intended as part of a loose trilogy with Fripp's Exposure and Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs.

Songs

Gabriel explained the songs in the May 1978 issue of the French magazine Best.

Critical reception

In the NME in 1978, Nick Kent wrote: "Its brazenly left-field veneer left me cold at first, and it's only now that its strengths are starting to come across ... once past the disarming non-focus veneer, there's a quietly remarkable talent at work – quiet in the manner of the slow fuse burn of "Mother of Violence" with Roy Bittan's piano work outstripping anything he's turned out for either Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie. Closer to the root of the album, there's a purity, a strength to the songs individual enough to mark Gabriel out as a man whose creative zenith is close at hand."

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Gabriel, except where indicated.

Album