Peter Gabriel left Genesis on August 15, 1975. A two-year retreat from the music business followed, which the singer used to plan his solo career. It was supposed to be a break with his past. From the four albums he released between 1977 and 1982, all of which bear the significant title "Peter Gabriel", we can see the development of a vision unparalleled in popular music. On the occasion of the re-release of the first four albums on vinyl, eclipsed sets off on a search for traces.
Today, Peter Gabriel describes the time after he left Genesis as the phase in which he was busy watching "vegetables and children" grow up. In fact, in the year of his separation, he began to concentrate on music again: He had written a few songs with the poet Martin Hall, only two of which were ultimately published: While "Excuse Me" landed on Gabriel's debut album, "You Never Know" had been recorded in 1976 by the British comedian Charlie Drake (1925-2006) with a first-class line-up: alongside Gabriel, Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Keith Tippett and Sandy Denny had arrived in the studio. Fripp remembers "the strangest session of the whole era".
Although Gabriel quickly ended the collaboration with Hall, he had been licking blood. At first, he envisioned a multimedia concept around an alien named Mozo, who invisibly influences people's lives. Although he rejected the idea as close to Genesis, he used the songs "Down The Dolce Vita", "Here Comes The Flood" and "On The Air" (in which he mentions the character Mozo) for his first two records. He eagerly wrote new songs and started recording demos with his former band colleagues Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, among others. He contacted the producer Bob Ezrin (Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Kiss); the control freak deliberately hired only North American session musicians. Gabriel cautiously sought permission from Ezrin to at least bring in a compatriot with Robert Fripp. The request was granted, but the King Crimson boss doesn't have too good memories of the recordings: "Somehow the record didn't turn out as I expected".
