Big Blue Ball - Peter Gabriel

Big Blue Ball is the long-awaited, much-anticipated collection of stand-out tracks culled from the all-star, pan-global collaborations that took place over three years of Peter Gabriel s legendary Recording Week gatherings at his state-of-the-art Real World Studios in the English countryside. Produced by Peter Gabriel, Karl Wallinger (of World Party, Waterboys) and Stephen Hague (Pet Shop Boys, OMD), it s a nonstop stream of poignant, sterling performances by a truly stellar lineup of artists-- including Gabriel, Wallinger, Sinead O Connor, Natacha Atlas, Iarla O Lionaird and James McNally (both of Afro Celt Sound System), Papa Wemba, Joseph Arthur, Tanzania s late music legend Hukwe Zawose, Hungary s Marta Sebestyen, Tim Finn, Cameroonian starFrancis Bebey, Vernon Reid, Justin Adams, Jah Wobble, Billy Cobham, Rupert Hine, gospel group the Holmes Brothers, flamenco guitarist Juan Canizares, Japanese percussionist Joji Hirota, and many more...in all totaling 75 artists from over 20 countries. Says Peter Gabriel, It s a fine wine ready to be drunk. There s an iconic aspect about that which is probably more important now. Big Blue Ball s songs were created and recorded between 1991 and 1995, but the album has been an active work-in-progress at Real World ever since, a labor of love with ace producer Stephen Hague working closely with Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger. Wallinger says, Everyone was in orbit around this groove, and there is a universal language of dance, of dance grooves. It s like a wall of sound coming at you, listening to the planet from outer space, says Karl Wallinger of the final mix. That groove is the one bit that s non-denominational on the album. It s a timely reminder of how you can cooperate. I d love to do it again. I think it s actually gathered weight with time, because it s people from all over the world playing together, just getting on together. Holding the disparate elements in place is the powerful backbone of big drum tracks underpinning many of the songs. It s a real world-view of music, a snapshot of the music-making continents at that time. It was the most fun music making I ve ever had. Things have become more partisan. It s a more apt time to release it now than ever before.