If you’re looking for some music with a little more thoughtfulness, substance, and maturity… Security Project Live 1, a Peter Gabriel tribute, will be a breath of fresh air.
Security Project Live 1
The Security Project
7d Media
12 tracks / 70:24
The differences between an album of cover tunes and a tribute album are subtle and open to argument. For me, an album of cover tunes tries to either mimic the original songs or reinterpret them in a style not necessarily in keeping with the artist’s original intent. On the other hand, a tribute album is an attempt to pay homage to a body of work not by slavishly re-creating it but by reinterpreting it with respect to the original concept and oeuvre of the artist. A tribute is to be done with genuine admiration and affection for the original work and with a genuine attempt at quality or it isn’t a tribute at all. Not every ‘tribute album,’ is a tribute…. But this one is.
Security Project Live 1 celebrates the music of Peter Gabriel in a superbly recorded live concert setting. The music is sparse yet dense, with primal sounds clashing against sophisticated modern textures. This is thanks to founding member, drummer, and background vocalist Jerry Marotta (a long time player with Gabriel), King Crimson’s Trey Gunn on guitar and background vocals, Fuzzbee Morse on guitars, flute, and background vocals, and New York keyboardist David Jameson on a variety of keys and the Eigenharp. Brian Cummins on lead vocals brings a sense of gravitas to the lyrics and adds a special sense of drama to the proceedings – the vocals are simply amazing.
You don’t need to be familiar with the body of Peter Gabriel’s work to enjoy this album, although familiarity always helps you latch on to what’s happening here. If you’re even a casual listener but simply enjoy such icons of the progressive/art/classic rock era such as Yes, Focus, King Crimson and Procol Harum, their collective musical essence haunts this fine music, most notably in the fine track “Back in N.Y.C.”
If you’re looking for some music with a little more thoughtfulness, substance, and maturity than most of what turns up on the music award shows and on AM pop radio, Security Project Live 1 will be a breath of fresh air. Although there are (apparently) some pre-recorded samples used here and there, Marotta, Gunn, Morse, Jameson, and Cummins have done a stellar job bringing life to Gabriel’s compositions onstage. This is a fine group of musicians paying tribute to some fine music. Fans of classic and progressive rock – and of Peter Gabriel’s music in particular – should not miss this album.
4 Tocks
-Bert Saraco
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4 TOCKS
