Peter Gabriel - 'Live At WOMAD 1982' Album Review

11 hours ago
5 min read

Tracklist:

San Jacinto
The Family and the Fishing Net
I Have the Touch
Lay Your Hands on Me
Shock the Monkey
I Go Swimming
The Rhythm of the Heat
Kiss of Life
Biko

This one is a double whammy for me to try and review as being a massive Gabriel fan I dive in already a bit biased but also this release is of a show in 1982 that I was lucky enough to be at.

From the get go my memories are being triggered and a big broad grin takes over my face and that’s just reading the sleeve notes and track listing!

It’s July 1982 and the very first World Of Music Arts & Dance Festival (WOMAD) has been organised over a weekend at The Showering Pavillions, the Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Bath. Put together by Peter Gabriel he wanted to highlight many of the world music stars he had encountered who at run of the mill festivals would be shunted off into the background tents when they deserved to be seen side by side with main stage headliners.

Acts like The Drummers of Burundi, Ekome, Tian Jin (from China) and many more shared the stage with the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Beat and two special performances from Peter Gabriel on the Friday & Sunday nights.

This album is the set from the Friday night. Headlining a festival you’ve organised must be daunting enough but to decide to play a set made up of mostly songs still to be released is either a brave or insane move!

Opening up the (now) familiar intro for 'San Jacinto' still has that hypnotic quality and you hear the crowd roar as Peter comes on the stage and begins the tale of the cross cultured area where the young Native American “braves” through the ancient coming of age rituals whilst “Geronimos Disco “ and “Sit ‘n’ Bull Steakhouses“ are popping up taking those names in vain. The performance is pretty faithful to what eventually came out on album 4

(titled 'Security in the USA' ) but raw and quite stripped. John Giblins bass and Jerry Marottas drums hold the song together and although it’s missing some of the layers it eventually acquired it’s still a powerful song.

I remember standing there at the time stunned even in my youthful state I knew I was seeing something great.

'Family & The Fishing Net' has always felt to me that it was meant for the third album. Musically it has that claustrophobic feel to it highlighted in the likes of 'No Self Control' and 'Intruder' but here in this story of a wedding ritual, when they get to the chorus the live backing vocal from Peter Hamill makes it sound like it could be a Bowie song and it’s only taken me 44 years to hear that!

It’s really weird listening to these very familiar songs trying to remember that this was the first time anyone there (apart from the band) had heard them.

'I Have The Touch' and 'Shock Monkey' were still miles away from the dancing chicken video and MTV awards that came later but certainly set that poppier/funkier path in motion even if the lyrics were a little bit more involved than a boy meets girl love song.

'Lay Your Hands On Me' (thankfully not a cover of the Bon Jovi song) and this version in its infancy stands tall again powered along by Marottas almost tribal rhythm, it’s odd hearing such a short live version as in later tours this was a show piece where whilst David Rhodes and the rest would be singing “I am ready, lay your hands on me“ Peter would emphasise the meaning of the song of trust and sacrifice (not the perceived messiah complex many critics mistook it for) with a backward trust fall into the crowd to be passed around whilst the band continued. I’m not sure if this version has been edited because I have a hazy memory of him entering the crowd that night BUT I could be mistaking it with future tours.

'I Go Swimming' was one of the two crowd familiar tracks that night which despite the brilliance of the unknown ones definitely came as a bit of a relief but here it’s elongated into a full on festival drum dance fest with the Bristol based Ekome joining the fun! I still remember singing the chorus with my pal over and over on the way back to the tent.

The highlight of this set and that night and many shows after kicks off side three and 'The Rhythm of the Heat' was inspired by psychologist Carlo Jung who whilst in Africa witnessed a tribal drum and dance ritual but became so drawn in and overwhelmed by it he feared he was losing his mind! Larry Fasts keyboards provide a menacing background whilst the drums build and build to that point where Gabriel cries out “The Rhythm Has My Soul“ and Ekome plus Marotta unleash a ferocious war dance and if memory serves me right Gabriel was at the centre of the drum circle on his knees arms flailing as though the music had indeed taken over.

In the sleeve notes Peter says that there was a bit of a drum train wreck during this but to be fair it was the first time they’d played together AND no one knew the song so didn’t know any better.

Personally I’ve never been a big fan of 'Kiss of Life' and although the frantic pace of this one plus the added multi drummers do make it a great bouncy set closer it’s still not won me 100%

The only other known track was saved for the encore and is still the last song in every set to this day. 'Biko' still stands in my opinion as one of the most powerful political songs ever! It may well be a 46 year old song but it inspired so many other musicians to take a stand and others to look further into what was happening at that time! I think as long as he performs Gabriel will always have this one in the set it’s too important not to.

It was such a shame this first WOMAD was not the success it should have been. It almost bankrupted Gabriel leading to a one off reunion with Genesis to recoup the losses. It didn’t help that there was a train strike that weekend and believe me Shepton Mallet was an absolute ballache to get to via National Express!

I’ve realised this has become like a cross between an album and a nostalgic gig review, but like I said just reading the sleeve notes set off that memory bank.

It’s encouraging that Peter is still recording and releasing new albums he has always been one to look to the future but at the same time it is nice now and then getting little reminders of the past like this.