My cousin's kid wants to "investigate" Peter Gabriel. She's insisting on a compilation of some kind and not a proper album. I know that's not the best way to go, but, whatever...

I'm familar with Peter Gabriel, but, no expert. Hit seems like the obvious choice because it's got many more songs, but, a co-worker here says Shaking The Tree is still the better introduction.

What say you?

Steve

I say overwhelm the kid. More likely to blow it away.

There are several versions of Hit, the single Cd 15-song one, the 29-song 2-cd US version and the 30-song 2-cd UK version. I'd go with that, even though 16 Golden Greats is very good. The problem with his first two best-ofs is they don't cover everything. Retrospective is heavy on the early Atco/Atlantic prog solo work and 16 Golden Greats is heavy on Geffen stuff.

I'd get the US version of Hit, even though it doesn't have "Mercy Street" on it.

If it will help, these are the tracks

Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats
Solsbury Hill
I Don't Remember
Sledgehammer
Family Snapshot
Mercy Street
Shaking the Tree
Don't Give Up
San Jacinto
Here Comes the Flood
Red Rain
Games Without Frontiers
Shock the Monkey
I Have the Touch
Big Time
Zaar
Biko

Hit
Solsbury Hill
Shock the Monkey
Sledgehammer
Don't Give Up
Games Without Frontiers
Big Time
Burn You Up, Burn You Down
Growing Up [Tom Lord-Alge Mix]
Digging in the Dirt
Blood of Eden [Radio Edit]
More Than This [Radio Edit]
Biko
Steam [Radio Edit]
Red Rain
Here Comes the Flood
San Jacinto
I Don't Remember
THR Rhythm of the Heat
Loved to Be Loved
I Grieve
Family Snapshot
In Your Eyes
The Drop
The Tower That Ate People [Steve Osborne Mix]
Lovetown
Father, Son
Signal to Noise
Downside Up [live]
Cloudless

Neither.

Get the first four solo albums. Don't waste money on a comp that doesn't include "And Through The Wire" (excellent Paul Weller guitar work).

If you need a comp, I'm sure there's a willing soul around here somewhere that could whip up a good one, one which will most likely include a slew of Genesis tracks as well.

I know more is supposed to be better and Shaking the Tree is definitely incomplete, but what a great tracklist! I even like the way it ends with the predominantly instrumental Zaar from Passion followed by Biko.

I had to vote for Shaking the Tree.

At least the Brian Williams Show was left off the HIT. That's my least favorite single of his. Ever. Kinda glad they skipped Kiss That Frog too. Though that's not nearly as bad.

I agree with Billzebub to a degree... while I don't dislike any of Peter's later stuff, his earlier stuff seems to be more visceral and evocative. The Passion album is a must-have as far as I'm concerned.

I thought he was married....

Whatever you end up getting, slip the kid the Secret World Tour Live album.

Gabriel at his best, with his best backing band. 2 cds worth of hits.

I'd say get the remastered Shaking the Tree album. Coming from the perspective of a hardcore fan (almost obsessed you might say), it's more focused and easier to listen to. However, Hit has "Loved to Be Loved," which is amazingly beautiful and the only song that both William Orbit and Brian Eno ever simultaneously worked on I believe.

While many people seem to think Gabriel's first four albums are his only good material, I totally disagree. I think all of his albums are fantastic, especially the later ones such as Us and Up. In fact, Up, which is insanely brilliant on so many levels, was #1 on my Listmania for 2002.

And don't forget his scores for a number of movies!

Why not just buy both? They both have different versions of things on them, enough of which to warrant owning both. However, I might side with the coworker on Shaking The Tree, simply because it's shorter and has less of his newer, more "grower" type songs on it.

I'll also agree with Borg166, however - PG is incredible throughout his whole career - Us is just as good as PGII to me, and each album has it's own odd little personality that will wind up endearing itself to you.