Published on May 2, 2006
There are records that grab your attention
immediately and never let go. These are the works that just speak
to the soul from the very first note. Then there are records that
given a listen or two evoke nothing — at first. Occasionally,
though, those records will get a second chance, and sometimes you
realize putting it aside the first time was a mistake. Case in
point — Up.
It was my uncle who told me to give Up a
chance about two years ago. The man is a big Peter Gabriel fan, so
I gave it a shot, but my first impressions were of confusion. There
seemed to be something there, but I didn’t know what, and the disc
lay dormant until recently.
Maybe it’s the two years that broke up my listening
to Up, but this time I “got” it. This is a dark, textured,
subtle work that doesn’t necessarily emote, but sets a mood that
permeates from every note. Gabriel’s haunting lyrics and vocals
unify his vision and keeps the album focused. It does take a while
to grow on you, meaning there’s a good chance a lot of people will
never “get” it.
Stylistically, Up never fails to impress,
pulling sounds from all sorts of genres and mixing them together in
a brilliant fashion. “Darkness” opens with a few rippling sound
effect, before twisting into a heavy, pulsating, and messy
drumbeat. Almost immediately, the track shifts gears, presenting
Gabriel’s whispering and piano work. Techno/dance music gets
featured prominently on “Growing Up,” with the beat anchoring the
song while Gabriel piles on electronic flourishes, orchestral
arrangements, etc.
The ethereal “Strawberry Fields Forever”-like opening
to “Sky Blue” is a picture of understated beauty, sparse guitar
chords littering the landscape, before eventually segueing into a
full-fledged gospel chorus ending. ” I Grieve” takes on shadows of
African tribal music, simmering beneath Garbriel’s haunting, coarse
vocals. “The Barry Williams Show,” a blistering satire on the Jerry
Springer TV culture, taps into a heavy R&B beat reminiscent of
“Sledgehammer.”
The U2-like “More Than This” probably displays the
most accessible music on the record, but it’s more sophisticated
than anything one would hear on pop radio. The Middle Eastern vibe
of “Signal To Noise” is just as effective as “Kashmir,” slowly
building to a climatic, explosion of sound. To close things out,
Gabriel does a 180, foisting up the listener a gentle, sparse
“ballad” clocking in at only 3 minutes, by far the shortest song on
Up. One of the best Wilco songs never recorded by the group,
“The Drop” sums up the general mood of the album, an album of
despair and hopelessness by Gabriel’s delivery of “One by one
they’re going out / You watch them dim / One by one, you watch them
fall and wonder where they’re falling to.”
Up literally blindsided me, coming out of
nowhere and hitting me hard. This is certainly not a light and
breezy album one would listen to on a sunny day. If you can make it
past the first few spins, there is a wealth of treasure waiting to
be found.