Peter Gabriel’s is still unveiling treasures. Flotsam and Jetsam is both a “best of” record and a compilation of rare finds. A few months after his very brief album Rated PG, which brought together the artist’s songs for the big screen, Flotsam and Jetsam comprises three volumes – ordered more or less chronologically – of Peter Gabriel’s career. We find both his well-known hits (Solsbury Hill, Sledgehammer, Biko, In Your Eyes...) and other much more obscure tracks. In the 80s, B sides contained EPs and singles, offering artists a way to share both new releases and remixes and Peter Gabriel was among those to pounce on this format. He also used the opportunity to share songs that were only available in film soundtracks. This compilation unearths tracks that never appeared on official albums and we find some nuggets that would have deserved more attention as their commercial potential seems obvious today: Digging In The Dirt (in its rock version), Walk Through The Fire (also found on Rated PG), Don't Break This Rhythm, Curtains...
With 62 tracks and a duration of nearly 6 hours, no one will blame you for picking and choosing from the songs. At times, we wonder if perhaps just one version of the songs (which often come in many different versions) would have sufficed! Especially since his huge hits are already readily available (especially on his album Hit, which boasts many of his greatest songs). Things don’t get off to a great start with his cover of the Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever, itself taken from the highly debatable soundtrack of the film All This And World War II. Few will have the courage to listen more than once to this bizarre situation where the singer is hardly to his advantage… On the other hand, the idea of gathering together his covers is brilliant. We find In The Sun borrowed from Joseph Arthur, Summertime by George Gershwin with Larry Adler’s harmonica, and Suzanne by Leonard Cohen... Flotsam And Jetsam also fills the gaps left by some of Rated PG’s omissions, including the remarkable Signal To Noise and The Tower That Hate People.
This relatively balanced album offers an overview of Peter Gabriel’s many styles, from hard rock to electro, chill-out new age, pop new wave, funk and most of all world music, a genre for which he is still one of the most ardent defenders. Though despite this grand unveiling, I Go Swimming, Lovetown, Baby Man, Out Out Out, While The Earth Sleeps are still missing. © Jean-Pierre Sabouret/Qobuz