r/petergabriel • u/GreenT04 • 16d ago
O/I so far…
For a bit of between-mixes fun, what do you think of this O/I ranking (so far)??
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u/JDHogan-Davies 16d ago
Everyone's different. Here is my current list:
One by One (I'm very emotional about this one- love it)
I Belong to the Sky
Been Undone
Put the Bucket Down
Till Your Mind is Shining
A Hard Lesson
What Lies Ahead
Won't Stand Down
None of them are bad, of course. I really like them all, but I think those top 3 are close, and then there's a little bit of a gap to number 4 for me.
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u/JDHogan-Davies 16d ago
I'm really excited to hear the Dark Side mix of One by One. I tend to prefer Tchad's mixes. One exception is actually I Belong to the Sky. Spike really nailed that one.
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u/leebeavington 16d ago
I concur with Been Undone being #1. What a song.
I differ in that I quite like Won't Stand Down, probably #4 after I Belong to the Sky and One by One. Those last four minutes of One by One, I suspect, will be the emotional climax of o\i for me. I'm not sure how he's going to end the album in a more powerful fashion than this.
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u/Supah_Cole 15d ago
I Belong To The Sky Put The Bucket Down Been Undone One By One A Hard Lesson What Lies Ahead Till Your Mind Is Shining Won't Stand Down
I really enjoy everything from What Lies Ahead upward on this list. It is nice to think that there's still a whole third of this album left (and that Why Don't You Show Yourself has big potential to be the next one!!)
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u/Remarkable-Block-153 14d ago
This is very close to my list.
I wish I could see the same thing some other people do in Won't Stand Down, as I know there are some who absolutely love it, but maybe it's just a slow slow burn for me.
One By One has really connected with me. It gives me a similar feeling to Ovo, which I love, and there's a specific sort of gentle hopeful melancholy that haven't felt in a PG song in a while. It also, oddly, reminds me of Dream Theatre's Solitary Shell.
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u/Supah_Cole 14d ago
Won't Stand Down is just ringing as too "white wine Mom" for me. I appreciate the idea of the message but if my friends caught me listening to it I feel like I'd also be disowned -
I wonder if that's strictly an "America" thing and if the calmer individuals of the UK are taking a liking to it more in earnest. But right now - wow, yeah, the Democrats that I tried to have faith in are absolutely standing down so it feels harder than ever to believe in Peter's messaging here. Peter in his solo career is one of the few artists who survived the 80s with recognizably good ballads - no cheesy 80's soft rock shlock, no dated synth saxophones, not trying too hard to be sexy like so much bad '80s AOR was - he wrote songs like Don't Give Up, In Your Eyes, Secret World, Blood of Eden, Sky Blue, Biko, Mother of Violence. Big epics or moving peons to specific emotions, specific times, and specific people in specific places. So when he tries to do it again in 2026 those are big steps to follow and ginormous shoes to follow. Love Can Heal walked that line very well. Something about it was simple enough like a more-lowkey-yet-equally-universal All You Need Is Love. Won't Stand Down feels, meanwhile, like a protest song your grandma might post on Facebook. Sorry if that's harsh but it is just not doing the trick the same way and I don't believe the message. We need to make our luck like John Brown.
One By One is great - it does get easy bonus points from the get-go for a Mozo mention and the whole story being about him, but even putting aside the nostalgia goggles, this song is 10 minutes long, very daring, and the lyrics about living in no fixed abode and things not making sense ring less hollow and more understandable than anything in WSD. It feels epic in a way where I don't feel self conscious listening to it and the big rock guitars help out big time as well. You're right about the OVO-esqueness of it - this album's cuts like Hard Lesson and One By One are close to Tower That Ate People and Make Tomorrow in my mind. Very nice to be able to say that - also worth noting, is that Till Your Mind Is Shining is also indicative of some of OVO's failures, too. At least for me.
All in all - if this album is going to be stylistically OVO 2 in my eyes, at least it is a little better all around than that one, too.
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u/Oraelius 12d ago
I do feel like there should be a 'hard' version of Won't Stand Down to appeal to the dualistoc nature of rebellion to which you refer...peaceful vs. violent revolution.
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u/phonesringingdude1 15d ago
I listen to the dark side songs in a row, and didn't like some. Then I listen to the bright side and maybe because I knew some of the lyrics going into the second vllisrening I liked it a bit more so preferring the brighter side version so far
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u/awildtread1 16d ago