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Peter Gabriel: In His Own Words
In this collection of quotations Peter Gabriel talks about his life and music from his days as lead singer with Genesis to his solo career. He discusses his spectacular live concerts, his involvement in the Womad Festival, and his support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
- GenresMusicBiographyNonfiction
Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
About the author
Peter Gabriel
58 books11 followersPeter Brian Gabriel is an English musician. He first came to fame as the lead vocalist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 4, 2015
Good insight into the ex-front man of the mega group and a creative force in his own right.
April 5, 2026
The book follows the same format for all of St. Michael’s In Their Own Words books. They are collections of text mixed in with black and white photos. The photos are all nicely credited, but the text is not, so I must assume they are all the result of his one-on-one interviews, which he never mentions doing. In other words, he doesn’t formally credit himself. Some text blocks are tagged with the year they were recorded.
Where Gabriel’s time with Genesis is shown, St. Michael inserts a section where band members give us their impressions of Gabriel. Drummer Phil Collins describes how nervous Gabriel was when he asked Collins to join the band. “Peter is what you might call rather vague. …that’s how he was when he rang up and said ‘Um, ah, well, we’d, er, like, um, well, if you’d like to come down…’ That’s how he is – positive but vague.”
As a result, this vagueness creeps into some of Gabriel’s descriptions of Genesis and his early school years. It’s not always clear what is true and what is Gabriel having fun with the author or reader. He also sometimes has trouble describing things, as he is a musician and artist, but not a writer. Further along in his career, he gains more experience as a musician and his vagueness dissipates a bit. Although keyboardist Larry Fast, who worked with him early in his solo career, said that he mumbled a lot.
It helps to understand that, with the In His/Her/Their Own Words series in general, you mostly only get that person’s perspective on everything. In the case of this book, you also hear the Genesis band member’s take on Gabriel and how the band interacted, which I appreciated. However, when it comes to Gabriel’s take on his music’s impact, he may see things differently than his fans or a reviewer would. But, you won’t hear that here, by design. St. Michael has nothing to say; he’s an editor here, not a reviewer.
As for this book, the “her/his own words” design is quite limiting in some situations, where his comments are too brief, or are presented without comment or explanation. So, you are sometimes at a loss for what he is saying, or it’s presented out of context. There’s also a fair amount of duplication in Gabriel’s quotes, for example, his dinner/creativity club. Also, some quotes are too short to communicate anything meaningful. The editor needs an editor.
My favorite part of the book is the chapter titled “The Records”, where Gabriel talks about individual albums, and selected songs, starting with the first Genesis album, and ending with his solo album Us. It’s interesting to compare your opinion with the artist.
Where Gabriel’s time with Genesis is shown, St. Michael inserts a section where band members give us their impressions of Gabriel. Drummer Phil Collins describes how nervous Gabriel was when he asked Collins to join the band. “Peter is what you might call rather vague. …that’s how he was when he rang up and said ‘Um, ah, well, we’d, er, like, um, well, if you’d like to come down…’ That’s how he is – positive but vague.”
As a result, this vagueness creeps into some of Gabriel’s descriptions of Genesis and his early school years. It’s not always clear what is true and what is Gabriel having fun with the author or reader. He also sometimes has trouble describing things, as he is a musician and artist, but not a writer. Further along in his career, he gains more experience as a musician and his vagueness dissipates a bit. Although keyboardist Larry Fast, who worked with him early in his solo career, said that he mumbled a lot.
It helps to understand that, with the In His/Her/Their Own Words series in general, you mostly only get that person’s perspective on everything. In the case of this book, you also hear the Genesis band member’s take on Gabriel and how the band interacted, which I appreciated. However, when it comes to Gabriel’s take on his music’s impact, he may see things differently than his fans or a reviewer would. But, you won’t hear that here, by design. St. Michael has nothing to say; he’s an editor here, not a reviewer.
As for this book, the “her/his own words” design is quite limiting in some situations, where his comments are too brief, or are presented without comment or explanation. So, you are sometimes at a loss for what he is saying, or it’s presented out of context. There’s also a fair amount of duplication in Gabriel’s quotes, for example, his dinner/creativity club. Also, some quotes are too short to communicate anything meaningful. The editor needs an editor.
My favorite part of the book is the chapter titled “The Records”, where Gabriel talks about individual albums, and selected songs, starting with the first Genesis album, and ending with his solo album Us. It’s interesting to compare your opinion with the artist.
August 20, 2022
This autobiographical tell all share Peter's personal and musical career from Genesis to his solo career. A worthy read for Gabriel's fans!
August 27, 2022
Legend.
December 28, 2014
Chock full of great photos and quotes gleaned from decades of Peter Gabriel interviews. Some quotes are doctored slightly in order to fit the format of the book, but they do not change the meaning. This winds up giving a better portrait of PG than the Spencer Bright or Chris Welch bios!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews