The third i/o track is called Playing For Time and is an old acquaintance: The song was already played in a deliberately unfinished version during the Back To Front Tour and still had the working title O But, which was later changed to Daddy Long Legs, which, as it now turns out, was also only temporary. In fact, Gabriel has been working on that piece since at least 2007.
It is about the passing of time, about life, about dying and about the memories that we collect along the way. That we may be prisoners of time, but that rich memories strengthen us in life. And somehow it is also about the fact that all of this is quite tedious. That we are all somehow "playing for time".
As is apparently the case with all tracks, Gabriel again relates this to a scientific-social project. This time it's the Long Now Fondation, which aims to promote long-term thinking that is necessary to truly understand and address global problems.
For the Back To Front Tour, the song had no finished lyrics. Gabriel sang his typical vocal nonsense, with which he always approaches finding lyrics. (His wife allegedly insisted that he point this out at the concerts because otherwise he sounded "as if he was drunk"...).
In the first half, the text consists of two long, rather free-flowing strands. Structure only emerges through the repeating melodic sections, in which one can recognise verse and refrain at some point. After an instrumental middle section, five text blocks follow, a coda so to speak, which form the climax and conclusion freely in their structure.
Gabriel says he had an old couple in conversation in mind when he was writing. The verse-and-chorus part tells in simple images of the effort of life, of the "hill we all have to climb" to face the "mists of time". That in the process, memories flow and ebb and everything you love is inside you. This has a rather melancholy aftertaste - because effort can be very exhausting.
But this basic mood takes on another dimension in the final part: the voices fall silent, because time will tell, the cards are on the table. Everyone is still "playing for time" - but that is also part of something big and can be extremely exciting.
All lyrics of the album can be found on Peter Gabriel's website here.
The track is accompanied by a work by French artist Annette Messager entitled Mes voeux (avec nos cheveux). A kind of collage of black and white photos. They show different parts of the human body and hang from the wall on long strands. They are perhaps longings, or at any rate facets of something invisible.
Messager has made several versions of this work, one in example can be seen at the Centre Pompidou. Apparently, Gabriel almost had her involved in the US Album art project back then - because he has known and appreciated her work for a long time.
We have gathered more about the artworks and artists behind them here.
The track could almost be called sneaky, because it changes the mood enormously at the end. Also, the part known from the Back To Front Tour is only the first half of the song.
At the beginning, Gabriel wanted to write a composition using the chromatic tone sequences - the semitone steps of the western tonal system. This can be heard, for example, in the descending tone sequence of the lower intro section - which was apparently also the starting point for the whole song.
Playing For Time begins with a piano prelude in two parts. The first, in high notes, sounds like the melody of a nursery rhyme. The second, in lower registers, is sustained and already leads to the first verse. The piano playing is now accompanied by a few bass notes. Essentially, this remains the same in the first half: vocals, piano, bass - plus discreet orchestral accompaniment to the chorus, first with the main emphasis on the winds, then on the strings. This could sound cloying - but the arrangement is too unconventional for that. The melodic figures always keep moving. There are no usual poppy string lines that glue everything together (à la I am sailing).
Striking: Gabriel sings with a lot of free phrasing - so he doesn't stick strictly to the melody with the lyrics, but sometimes drags out individual words slightly or shifts the emphasis. This is especially noticeable if you remember the live version from 2012/13, which was much more straightforward in this respect. The singing thus gets a little bit of "spoken text", rather than just nice unison. In addition, Gabriel sings with a fragile, vulnerable voice.
All this supports the mood of longing and effort that underlies the first part, with its also rather intricate text structure. The lute that Gabriel sings in the instrumental interlude is also melancholy, followed by lines that already announce a new attitude.
And then the piece suddenly breaks into a climax and conclusion - the harmonies change, become solemn, a powerful rock band suddenly enters. All structures become clear, directed and now tell universal greatness. "It's time that wears the crown."
The fact that Gabriel, after the first half, in the contrition that is his due, turns the song in such a way, tilts it into encouragement, lets the heaviness become part of something with a cosmic dimension, is already a successful trick.
For quite a while, no regular rock line-up is used here. On the piano we hear Tom Cawley, who has been associated with Gabriel since the Scratch My Back concerts, on the bass Tony Levin and on drums manu Katché, but only in the final part the usual i/o band.
The orchestra's arrangement is surprisingly by Ed Shearmur, the composer of film scores such as Passengers and K-Pax. He also did the arrangement for Randy Newman's That'll Do, which Gabriel had sung. Shearmur's work with chromatic scales and a certain retro feel is what Gabriel wanted here. The element, by the way, was the last to be added to the song production. The usual orchestra plays, with much of the old Scratch My Back line-up.
The track was again produced by Gabriel alone. The mix (like all "Dark Side" mixes) was done by Tchad Blake.
Without any delay, the Bright-Side Mix of Playing For Time arrived at the New Moon in March. The versions of 'Spike' Stent are usually more pop in their approach. This is also evident here - although the song doesn't seem to offer many possibilities for this at first. Because, as always, the basic structure and the available recordings remain the same as in the parallel mix.
Especially during the opening, the simple musical accompaniment of Playing For Time seems to leave hardly any room for independence. But it is immediately noticeable that the Bright-Side Mix mix has more reverb - and generally more treble in the equalising.
The bass accompaniment at the beginning is a little more present in the foreground, just like the delicate orchestral background that is then added. Again, Spike brings out the individual elements more clearly. Compared to the Dark-Side Mix, however, the accompaniment perhaps loses some of its cohesion.
Clearer differences become noticeable when the song is heading for its climax. In the instrumental interlude, Gabriel's long-drawn-out lutes are much further back in the room. The striking use of the band with drums then seems somewhat softer, since the orchestra is more central from the beginning and the powerful piano is more retracted. In addition, the focus within the orchestra was shifted to the strings and away from the dark winds.
However, there is then a noticeable emphasis on the accompaniment in the repetition of the shot part, an increase, before the song then fades out as familiar. Remarkable: at the very end, a few new string flourishes can be heard.
As in February, the In-Side Mix of Playing for Time was released at the new moon and thus again together with the second mix of the respective new song. It can be assumed that this direct release of two mixes at the same time will be maintained for the new moon.
As expected, the In-Side Mix is once again available exclusively on Apple Music and Amazon Music. Hans-Martin Buff is again responsible for the mix.
Compared to the songs in January and February, Playing for Time does not contain any electronic elements or rhythm patterns that can be arranged differently in the sound picture. The fact that it is a Dolby Atmos mix is not directly noticeable during the piano intro. When listening with Apple AirPods Pro, the 3D effects are only perceptible at the moment when Tony Levin starts with the bass. If you move your head a little to the side, you get the feeling that the bass tones stay in the middle, while the piano tends to follow the movement of your head. Finally, this effect is even more striking with the vocals. Compared to the other two mixes, it is noticeable that the In-Side Mix again lies somewhere in between. While the bass is dominated by the piano in the Dark-Side Mix, it has a much greater presence in the Bright-Side Mix. In the In-Side Mix, the bass is again more audible than in the Dark-Side Mix, but not quite as prominent as in the Bright-Side Mix.
The first orchestral parts are heard directly in the second part of the first verse, but remain tastefully in the background. In the second verse, the dynamics increase at exactly the same point, but the orchestra is not pushed to the foreground. In between, there are passages ("Down, getting it down") where the orchestra temporarily stops completely, only to set dynamic accents again a little later.
In the short interlude before the third verse, Peter's singing is a little more enigmatic and mixed with reverb. Here, too, the In-Side Mix lies somewhere between the other two mixes. The voice is not quite as forward as in the Dark-Side Mix, but also not quite as far back as in the Bright-Side Mix.
The increase in the bridge is tastefully discreet and not as opulent as in the Dark-Side Mix. While at this point one initially has the feeling that the drums slip very much into the background, one notices shortly afterwards that not only do an astonishing amount of details come to the fore and the individual broom hits of the snare drum can be clearly heard, but that here too the 3D-elements are again used somewhat more strongly. The snare beats move discreetly from one side to the other, but without pushing themselves unnecessarily into the foreground.
All in all, the In-Side Mix can be described as pleasant and sensitive. Those who are bothered by the design of the Dark-Side Mix and would like to have the song less thick will probably find themselves here even more than in the Bright-Side Mix. The orchestra sets accents and provides dynamics, but is not dominant at any point. The 3D-effects are used in a way that is appropriate to the song and not overdone. At the same time, one has the feeling that important details such as bass and drums can be perceived well.
This bonus version of a new i/o song is really very different. Gabriel shows with it which paths he is willing to take when trying to find the right expression. This Up Tempo Time grooves, swings and comes across much more light-footed than the heaviness of the two main mixes.
Most of the version was recorded during the September 2021 recording session with band, but it also contains some earlier elements, as the description state.
The basis is a minimal rhythm loop that creates a Latin feeling. This is accompanied by discreet drums and restrained guitar and bass, which only dab in some individual sounds. The piano joins in, hardly coming to the fore - except in the prelude. Everything flows and swings, occasionally making syncopated accents that emphasize the groove.
A few decorative elements are mixed into this flow. In the first part with "down, getting it down...", for example, there are glassy synth chimes; at the very end, there are "breathing" sounds.
Gabriel's singing is audibly not that of a final recording - unintentionally it occasionally sounds brittle and thin. What we have here is clearly a live recording for work purposes.
Overall the structure of the song remains the same - it is modified in the final phase. First of all, Gabriel's long drawn-out "Oh" is missing in the short instrumental bridge - it remains noticeably empty here. The increase that follows is nonexistent. The musical duct hardly changes, remains buoyant and does not go into compression and emphasised power. It even takes a step back.
This version then comes to an end without any particular ups and downs.
In this version, Playing For Time has become a breezy, relaxed number. Peter, however, feels that it "lost its heart" a little. For him, it was a wrong turn.
In contrast to the main mixes, David Rhodes is also represented in the band here. However, he does not make a special appearance (as he has unfortunately done on all i/o songs so far). The piano is again not played by Gabriel, but by Tom Cawley.
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