Line #42 Music/Scratch


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scratch_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Every night I'm back at the shack, I'm sure no one is there''\
3	''I'm putting the aerial up, so I can go out on the air..."'']]
4
5	->''"Which Peter Gabriel?"''
6	-->--'''{{Tagline}}''' from the album's advertising campaign.
7
8	''Peter Gabriel'', also known by its AscendedFanon alternate title ''Scratch'', is the second SelfTitledAlbum by the English ProgressiveRock musician [[Music/PeterGabriel of the same name]]. It was released through Creator/CharismaRecords in the United Kingdom, and Creator/AtlanticRecords in the United States, on 2 June 1978.
9
10	Like [[Music/{{Car}} the album before it]], ''Scratch'' primarily continues the style of ProgressiveRock that Gabriel had specialized in with Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}. At the same time, however, it starts to lean into more aggressive, experimental territory influenced by the then-new PostPunk and NewWaveMusic movements, effectively picking up where ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' left off.
11
12	To consolidate this change in approach, the album was produced by prior collaborator and former Music/KingCrimson guitarist Music/RobertFripp, who envisioned the record as part of a trilogy of albums that {{deconstruct\|ion}}ed the idea of pop music. The other two albums, Fripp's solo debut ''Exposure'' and Music/{{Daryl Hall\|AndJohnOates}}'s ''Sacred Songs'', were made concurrently but released one and two years later, respectively. Gabriel and Hall both provide guest vocals on ''Exposure'' (which also features new versions of Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood" and, appropriately, "Exposure") to return the favor.
13
14	Recorded in Hilvarenbeek, UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands[[note]]incidentally, Music/{{Genesis\|Band}} recorded [[Music/WindAndWuthering two]] [[Music/AndThenThereWereThree albums]] in the same studio there[[/note]], the album's sound serves as an early and formative example of "post-progressive", a new form of ProgressiveRock that explored influences outside the ClassicalMusic and {{jazz}} elements that defined the genre's heyday in the early '70s. Both [[Music/{{Melt}} Gabriel's next self-titled album]] and Fripp's [[Music/{{Discipline}} first album]] with a revived King Crimson would in turn build upon this album's elements to further codify post-progressive's hallmarks.
15
16	The album was supported by one single: "D.I.Y.".
17
18	!!Tracklist:
19	[[AC:Side One]]
20	# "On the Air" (5:30)
21	# "D.I.Y." (2:37)
22	# "Mother of Violence" (3:10)
23	# "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" (3:33)
24	# "White Shadow" (5:14)[[note]]LP releases feature a locked groove at the end, making the runtime "5:14 plus however long it takes to lift the needle off the record"[[/note]]
25
26	[[AC:Side Two]]
27	# "Indigo" (3:30)
28	# "Animal Magic" (3:26)
29	# "Exposure" (4:12)
30	# "Flotsam and Jetsam" (2:17)
31	# "Perspective" (3:23)
32	# "Home Sweet Home" (4:37)
33
34	!!T.I.Y. (Trope it yourself):
35	* SeventiesHair: Gabriel sports a bowl cut on the Creator/{{Hipgnosis}} cover.
36	* AntiLoveSong: "Flotsam and Jetsam" describes a dysfunctional relationship through the metaphor of a sinking ship.
37	* BizarreInstrument: Robert Fripp was credited in "Exposure" for "Frippertronics", which is a tape-delay system that would go on to be a fixture in his later work.[[note]]It works by feeding the signal from the guitar amp into a reel-to-reel tape recorder set on 'Record', then feeding the tape from that reel-to-reel to a second reel-to-reel tape recorder set on 'Play', and then feeding the audio signal from the second recorder back into the first one as a second input signal, and then recording the audio output from the first recorder--so if you play a note on the guitar, it gets repeated a moment later, and then again a moment later, and so on. In this way, Fripp was able to record huge washes of sound that would go on playing for ages. He later replaced it with a less unwieldy and more versatile digital way of doing the same thing.[[/note]]
38	* DeathSong: "Indigo" is narrated by an old man just about to pass on, contemplating the end of his life.
39	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album artwork is in black and white, a trend that continue through most of Gabriel's career.
40	* DoubleEntendre: "Animal Magic" uses magician imagery as a metaphor for joining a paramilitary group to fight in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.
41	* DownerEnding: The album closes out with "Home Sweet Home", a song about a marriage that ends in tragedy.
42	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Much like ''Music/{{Car}}'' before it, ''Scratch'' is an experimental continuation of Gabriel's work in Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}, prior to the worldbeat sound introduced in ''Music/{{Melt}}''.
43	* FaceOnTheCover: As with Gabriel's first album, this one's cover art depicts a manipulated photo of Gabriel (courtesy of Creator/{{Hipgnosis}}) scraping out portions of the image. The print ad for Creator/AtlanticRecords' US release poked fun at this, joking that "at least you can see his face on the cover this time" (referencing the cover photo for ''Music/{{Car}}'', where Gabriel's face is obscured by glare and raindrops).
44	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: The ending of "On the Air" hard-cuts into the start of "D.I.Y.", which in turn segues into "Mother of Violence".
45	* GenreDeconstruction: Producer Robert Fripp envisioned the album as one to the entire concept of pop music itself, together with his solo album ''Exposure'' and Music/{{Daryl Hall\|AndJohnOates}}'s ''Sacred Songs''. Fittingly, the songs on the album contrast seemingly accessible concepts with leftfield structures and subversive lyrics in order to challenge common assumptions of what popular music entails.
46	* IronicEpisodeTitle: "Home Sweet Home" places a dark spin on its title at the end, when Bill is able to buy a lovely country home to live in, but only thanks to the insurance money he gained from his wife and child's MurderSuicide.
47	* LightIsNotGood: "White Shadow" revolves around a angelic figure that emerges in the middle of the night, glowing in a bright white light. However, rather than being seen as a blessing, her presence is portrayed as immensely foreboding and terrifies everyone around, including the narrator, who points out how "light can be deceptive with her rays."
48	* LimitedLyricsSong: The words to "Exposure" consist primarily of Gabriel uttering the title lyric, plus the brief bridge "space is what I need/It's what I feed on" and the outro line "out in the open."
49	* LongestSongGoesFirst: The album kicks off with the 5:30 "On the Air", which beats out "White Shadow" by a quarter of a minute for the position of the album's longest track.
50	* MurderSuicide: "Home Sweet Home" sees Josephine jump out the window with Sam in tow. The only motive she gives is "we've got to get out of here, Bill, I've been saying it all the while," leaving it ambiguous whether she committed murder-suicide due to passing the DespairEventHorizon (being trapped in poverty after being forced into a ShotgunWedding) or if she aimed to let Bill collect the insurance money from their deaths and free himself from debt.
51	* NewSoundAlbum: Gabriel starts leaning into PostPunk and NewWaveMusic for the first time, aided by producer Robert Fripp's fascination with both genres and his copious use of tape effects.
52	* NumberedSequel: The initial US release retitles the album ''Peter Gabriel II'' to differentiate it from its predecessor.
53	* OneWordTitle: "Indigo", "Exposure" and "Perspective".
54	* PyrrhicVictory: "Home Sweet Home" revolves around Bill's hopes to settle down and live a good, stable life. He eventually achieves this at the end, but only via the insurance money from his wife and child's MurderSuicide. Bill spends all the money at a casino out of guilt, and even though he wins enough to buy a nice country house, his accomplishment doesn't alter the song's melancholy tone, having lost his family in the process.
55	* RadioSong: "On the Air" describes Gabriel's character Mozo (previously the lead figure in [[Music/{{Car}} "Down the Dolce Vita" and "Here Comes the Flood"]]) running a pirate radio station in secrecy, traveling through the radio waves themselves in the process.
56	* ReCut:
57	** 8-track releases in different regions adjust the album's tracklist to conform to a four-program configuration. In the US, the running order on 8-track copies goes "On the Air", "White Shadow", "Indigo", "Animal Magic", "Perspective", "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World", "Exposure", "D.I.Y.", "Mother of Violence", "Flotsam and Jetsam", and "Home Sweet Home". In Canada, the running order is mostly identical to the LP release, but "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" swaps places with "Exposure". Additionally, "Mother of Violence" is split into two parts due to it overlapping with the changeover between programs one and two.
58	** On the North American cassette release, "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" swaps places with "Home Sweet Home" in order to even out the lengths of the two sides.
59	* SelfTitledAlbum: The second of four in Gabriel's studio discography.
60	* ShotgunWedding: Bill's recollection of his marriage to Josephine in "Home Sweet Home" implies that the two of them got married solely because he impregnated her during what was supposed to be a one-night stand. This ends up having dire consequences for the pair: they're chased out of town and are unable to make a sustainable income when they finally settle down, leading Josephine to kill herself and her child.
61	* SpecialGuest:
62	** Robert Fripp and future Music/KingCrimson bandmate Tony Levin again provided musical contributions to the album. Fripp would record his own version of "Exposure" as the TitleTrack to his debut solo album.
63	** Roy Bittan of the [[Music/BruceSpringsteen E Street Band]] provided the keyboards in six of the tracks.
64	* TitleOnlyChorus: "On the Air", "D.I.Y.", "Exposure".
65	* WarIsGlorious: The narrator of "Animal Magic" openly believes so, stating that he wants to join the fighting in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles in order to become a man.
66	* TheXOfY: "Mother of Violence"

Context Music / Scratch