Comments from Peter

CAPTURED COMMENTS FROM PETER GABRIEL

On choosing singles -

"I used to choose my singles but I found that if the record company doesn't like a track, nothing happens with it. So I take the view that I'll go with the single they want because they'll work harder on it."

On the possibility of a songbook -

"What I wanted to do was an illustrated song book along the lines of what The Beatles and Talking Heads have done. It would give me the chance to work with some really interesting visual artists, which is something I love. I don't know when it will happen."

On working with Laurie Anderson and the future of theme parks-

"We haven't any plans musically but she still asks fondly about the theme park dinner discussions. They were really good because they were great discussions with good food and wine. We're still talking about the theme park and have been having meetings with Disney so it's not a dead issue. But we're looking, maybe, to start with something on CD Rom which is easier than starting in concrete and will, at least, help us to get our feet wet."

As preparation for the next album intensifies, tying Peter Gabriel down for a conversation becomes increasingly difficult, but during a steamy summer day at Real World, he gave time to explode a few myths and to start a few rumours.

On becoming a Doctor of Music at Bath University -

"I'm a doctor already a couple of times over and I couldn't get a degree any other way. I have a science doctorate from City University and one in art from Salford. I must admit I'm getting a little cynical about them because I get the feeling that they just want a few famous faces at these events and don't want to have to pay for them. I was speaking to Laurie Anderson the other day and she's a doctor in six universities so she's well ahead."

On being a record company executive -

" I take it pretty seriously though I never seem to have enough time. I get especially involved in the visual side so they hate me in the design department because I'm always sticking my oar in. Generally, we get a short list of cassettes to listen to before A&R (artist and repertoire) meetings and for me that means in-car listening. We have an A&R committee for Real World Records with Mike Large, Amanda Jones, Rob Bozas, Thomas Brooman and myself and sometimes some others sit in like Dave Bottrill or Richard Evans. Real World Records has always been rather cheap and cheerful with its budgets to survive but now we have some bigger projects as well, like Nusrat, The Afro Celts and Joe Arthur. "

On taking a long time to make an album -

"I'm a master at accepting distractions and I'm thinking about only coming to the studio late at night when it's quieter because once you've been distracted it's hard to get back into writing. There are just so many things I am interested in...I always have lots of ideas and then have to cut back from there. I have about seventy ideas for the next album though not all of it is good. They need a lot of tidying up over the next few weeks. I do take a long time over lyrics though, if you add it up, I generally spend about two weeks spread out over a period writing the lyrics to a song."

On concept albums and The Lamb that won't lie down -

"I have often thought about the dreaded concept album because if it's done well the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. But it's a lot more ambitious and a lot easier to go off the rails with a concept album. I've had proposals to put The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway on stage in America and I'm considering two serious offers, at the moment. I spent about a month working on a film script for it with the cult director, Elijandro Jodorowski, who directed "El Topo" but his English is a little restricted so we are having that translated now by someone else and I will correct it later."

On reading and films -

"One of my daughters rented the video of "Murder In The First Degree" recently, which I thought was a really good film and I enjoyed "Seven" as an interesting stylistic movie. The last book I finished was "Trainspotting", though I haven't seen the film. I've got a couple of books which I am reading at the moment but I'm really bad and read before I'm going to sleep so when I pick up a book, the brain goes "Oh! We're reading. That means it's time to go to sleep." and I drop off before I've finished the first paragraph."