42 years ago today (2/25/77), following his shocking departure from Genesis, Peter Gabriel released his acclaimed solo debut LP. This album is often called either Peter Gabriel 1 or Car, referring to the album cover by London artist Peter Christopherson. Gabriel’s first solo success came with the album’s lead single “Solsbury Hill”, although other tracks like “Modern Love” and “Waiting for the Big One” which sounded ahead of its time with its genre pushing recipes. Gabriel and producer Bob Ezrin assembled musicians for the sessions including guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson, bass player Tony Levin later of King Crimson, drummer Allan Schwartzberg, percussionist Jimmy Maelen, guitarist Steve Hunter, keyboardist Jozef Chirowski and Larry Fast on synthesizers and programming. Before he was making epic videos ala “Sledgehammer”, let’s check out his early video for “Modern Love.”
