What a way to grow up , live

Peter Gabriel is a 70-year old English musician who used to be in the progressive rock band Genesis. Gabriel has since risen in fame to produce 26 albums, including compilations and soundtracks. One of these albums is a live-concert production titled Growing Up Live, from 2003. It has 17 tracks and was released on music streaming services for the first time in February 2019. Longer than most movies, Growing Up Live is an assortment of life stories that have no cohesive theme. While the album is said to be rock, the songs on it strayed into different genres, mostly classical-rock and some somewhat funk.

My favorite of the album was one that encompassed those two embodiments. Sky Blue, featuring The Blind Boys, features very soft and soothing instrumentals. The Barry Williams Show, also showing elements of funk, was very upbeat and can only be described as groovy. I also had a soft spot for Downside Up, which featured Gabriel’s daughter singing. Suffice to say, she had a really nice voice and it worked very well with the haunting sweetness of this song. All of the songs in Growing Up Live were very long, even for a “concert film,” I would say. Animal Nations (feat. Dr. Hukwe & Charles Zawose) was 15 minutes long and the only song on this rock album that had gospel elements to it.

I definitely preferred the more rock-centric songs such as Red Rain and Digging in the Dirt. Overall, the songs on Gabriel’s album were really nice. They were a lot more soothing than the titles would have had me to believe. One of the songs, Mercy Street, was so mellow that I could imagine falling asleep to it. I would give this album a 7/10 for its Guitar Hero-reminiscent music. Well done, Peter Gabriel. I’d recommend Growing Up Live to anyone who likes rock in all its subgenres and doesn’t mind a super-long track listing.