(2021) Peter Gabriel - Plays Live (1983, Reissue)


Review:
This CD release contains the full 16-track version of the Plays Live album, long out of print in its full glory. For many years only an abridged 1CD, 12-track version has been available which omitted the tracks ‘The Rhythm of the Heat’, ‘Not One of Us’, ‘Intruder’ and ‘On the Air’. These are now back in their rightful place. Plays Live was compiled from live recordings made at four venues across the American Midwest in late 1982. It is effectively a sign-off to the first phase of Peter Gabriel the solo artist. As such, it’s a celebration of all that was achieved on that opening quartet of self-titled long-players, while also standing as confirmation that Peter was an engaged and engaging frontman. At the time, all bar one of the tracks would be familiar to the Gabriel completist, the exception being the previously unreleased ‘I Go Swimming’. A studio vocal version of the song has still never been released. The touring band captured by the recordings consists of Peter, alongside Jerry Marrotta (drums and percussion), Tony Levin (bass and stick), David Rhodes (guitar) and Larry Fast (synthesizer and piano), whilst the iconic cover image of Peter in ‘monkey mask’ make-up was taken by long-time collaborator Armando Gallo. It’s a new edition, but it’s not a new remaster – it’s the same master used for the most recent vinyl edition, which was based on the 2002 Remaster series. This 2CD release utilises the iconic original artwork in a new layout design by Peter Gabriel’s long-time designer Marc Bessant.





Tracklist:
CD1
01.The Rhythm of the Heat 6:26
02.I Have the Touch 4:50
03.Not One of Us 5:29
04.Family Snapshot 4:48
05.D.I.Y. 4:06
06.The Family and the Fishing Net 7:34
07.Intruder 5:03
08.I Go Swimming 4:44

CD2
01.San Jacinto 8:29
02.Solsbury Hill 4:41
03.No Self Control 5:03
04.I Don’t Remember 4:13
05.Shock the Monkey 7:09
06.Humdrum 4:23
07.On the Air 5:22
08.Biko 6:54


Media Report:
Genre: rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits