Big Blue Ball

Amidst the big names, Peter Gabriel's is clearly the biggest of the Big Blue Balls: his stylistic fingerprints are all over this star-studded collection of globally-attuned pop, even when the vocals come from the distinct pipes of North African specialist Natacha Atlas. Mostly recorded in the early '90s (but released in 2008), the album features guests like Sinead O'Connor who have long since peaked, and the whole affair exudes the sandalwood-scented multiculturalism mid-career Paul Simon liked to dance with (and step on the toes of), but it's still exciting to hear Gabriel belt out "Whole Thing."

Gabriel fans hoping for a follow-up to 2002's Up will have to keep waiting. Big Blue Ball is
neither new nor is it strictly Gabriel, although the pioneering art rocker's aesthetic stamp
(and, on four songs, his voice) is all over this global-music mosaic. In the early Nineties,
Gabriel staged a series of jam sessions at his Real World Studios in the English countryside,
where musicians ranging from Sinéad O'Connor to Living Colour guitarist Vernon... More >