Hit

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Product description ------------------- Peter Gabriel: Hit - 2xCD - Real World Records 5952372 .co.uk ------ A judiciously-selected two-CD compendium of Peter Gabriel's finest moments, Hit offers a far more generous windfall than can be found on the only previous Peter Gabriel best-of selection, the 1990 Shaking the Tree ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005Y4EA/${0} ). The devil, after all, is in the detail, particularly on the second disc (self-deprecatingly entitled "Miss"), which really traverses the whole gamut of Peter Gabriel's globally-visioned artistry. It includes recent soundtrack work (the haunting "Cloudless" from Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000647KC/${0} )), material from 2002's sterling Up ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006I9K3/${0} ) ("Signal To Noise", featuring a compelling vocal from the late Nusrat eh Ali Khan ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Nusrat%20eh/${0} ) and some ominous string arrangements, really does sound like a thinking man's Massive Attack ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Massive%20Attack/${0} )) and goes right back to that fourth album when marrying the reticence of cold, synthesised new wave with insistent African percussion seemed like a good idea (it was). The first disc--including the MTV smash "Sledgehammer", anti-apartheid war cry "Biko", "Big Time" (interesting how the styles of Gabriel and his former group Genesis ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Genesis/${0} ) seem to converge at this time) and "Games Without Frontiers"--really speaks for itself, although with hind it seems the single-buying public-at-large had a particular taste for a certain kind of Peter Gabriel record. Universally excellent throughout, the collection is rendered even more desirable by the inclusion of three previously unreleased tracks: a live rendition of "Downside Up", a shorter version of "Blood of Eden" and "Burn You Up, Burn You Down", latterly included on a video game and initially earmarked for the Up album but jettisoned at the last minute. --Kevin Maidment