A funky uptempo number that is appropriately called Road To Joy. It could be a light-hearted dance number. With Peter Gabriel, however, such things can go differently. Sure, the June track encourages music-related bobbing along - but it's not half as free and easy as, say, i/o, the song.
This is not least due to the theme. At first, the lyrics make you think it's about sex. But Gabriel explains that the track is actually about a person in a coma who comes back to life after periods of absolute motionlessness.
The song seems to have been taken up quite late for i/o and - according to Gabriel - has its starting point back with OVO in a piece called Pukka. That must have been something completely different, but it had a good groove - and Gabriel wanted something like that for the album. So he started working on the material with Brian Eno.
The schematic structure of the song lyrics is again classic: Three verses (short - four lines each) between them always a longer pre-chorus and a very short (two lines long) main chorus. There are also lyrics in the bridge and outro.
At the beginning, the meaning is not easy to get. But as the song progresses it becomes clearer: "Been so many days - been held inside this body". The comatose one rises from the rigidity of their lack of contact: "Back in the world - waking up the road to joy".
Later, it is said that "you can wake up every part of me" and that "young and old, girl and boy, dance along the road to joy". A certain ambiguity in sexual terms cannot be denied in the that.
The finale then says that the mind starts to open up the universe - shows who you really are "I'm more a dog, you're more a cat" - before jumping into the lake.
All lyrics of the album can be found on Peter Gabriel's website here.
This time, the cover image is by Ai Weiwei - who is the best-known artist in the i/o collection so far.
The picture is called Middle Finger In Pink and is from this year. It goes back to Ai Weiwei's photo series Study Of Perspective, which is also currently being taken up by an art project of the Avant Artesociety: Ai Weiwei gives the middle finger to those who are regarded as authorities. On the project's Website, visitors can do the same digitally from their own locations.
This provocative gesture is meant as a reaction to the supposedly superior - in the context of the song, however, it is - according to Gabriel - death to whom the one awakening from his coma gives the finger.
During the live shows, the motif is also shown animated on the screens.
It is also noticeable that no i/o logo has been inserted for use as a song cover this time. This would have been an unattractive addition to the graphics.
By the way, there is more about the album artworks and the artists behind them here.
Again it is the Bright Side Mix that is released first. At half-time, the score is now 4:2 in their favour. Is there a recognisable preference on Gabriel's part - or is this just a momentary coincidence?
In the i/o songs, Gabriel always shows a preference for prefaced intros that don't necessarily speak the same musical language as the main part. This is also the case with Road To Joy. It moves smoothly on a simple riff, probably by a sampled harmonium. This has a soft echoe of world music. The sound structures are reminiscent of the intermediate section of The Tower That Ate People - also the tension build-up is similar. It develops for a good 40 seconds. The first lines of text can be heard: PG sings "waking up" and the choir answers "to road to joy". Here, the last moment of coma rigidity is probably described and the climbing out.
Then rhythm sets in and the main part begins. It's an electro beat, pulling along, casual - but it also rocks out in the groove, it's not smooth and pleasing. Everything is also based on a lingering harmony, which adds static, but also tension. Many details are added to it: Everywhere there's a tinkling, a scraping or a whirring.
During the verse and pre-chorus, the bass is bubbling in the depths all the time, creating movement, perhaps also restlessness. The funky groove comes from Don E on synth bass. Only in the main refrain does it become more direct, more lying. At this point there are also harmonic changes for the first time. The short two lines of the chorus are always followed by a keyboard motif that sounds perhaps a little synthetic.
Unexpectedly, after two repetitions, the song falls into a middle section - clearly everything pulls back, the bass murmurs deeply through circling harmonics, the lyrics come in staccato, almost a rap. A brief fall back to the torpor of coma. This reaches its climax with a string glissando - and returns to verse mode.
Musically, the outro is like the middle section. And in there the song suddenly comes to an end. It's a break-off in the middle of the song's development. Quite drastic for a groovy number. But perhaps the "jump into the lake" also indicates a final departure from the scene here.
There are a few things to say about the musical team this time. First of all, for the second time on i/o, we have a co-producer alongside Gabriel. This time it's Brian Eno, who has already worked on the electronics of several songs and was significantly involved in the final processing of the track.
The drum programming is - so far already known - by Gabriel and Eno, but also by Hans-Martin Buff, who sets up the in-side mixes. He is free to record new sounds - as it seems, his work now extends into the main mixes. Buff alone also contributed additional percussion.
Josh Shpak, who is already part of the i/o live shows, plays trumpet. At least in this Bright-Side Mix here, his contribution is not really discernible.
Otherwise, the usual i/o studio band is at work - but what is special is that besides Tony Levin on bass, Don E is also listed on keyboard bass. Another person who belongs to the touring band in the meantime, but can be heard now on a studio track.
An amusing thing: according to the credits, Gabriel plays something called 'Charango Guitar'. It's an instrument from the Andes region, similar to a ukulele, but with 5 double strings (so 10 strings in total). What exactly Gabriel does with it (he doesn't actually play the guitar) is not quite clear. Brian Eno is also listed for real ukulele. Both instruments are said to be 'manipulated'. Whatever they have done there...
Finally, it should be noted that Road To Joy again features the string orchestra and the Soweto Gospel Choir. Not for the first time, however, the contributions are not particularly in focus.
This time, the second mix is indeed clearly different in character and effect from the first one released. It is darker in sound and bulkier in effect.
Increasingly, the mixers are also given producer tasks and not only influence the sound processing, but the entire arrangement.
Even the intro is noticeably different. It begins with an incoming sound and only then changes into the somewhat more accentuated opening groove. There is no notable increase in tension in the course of it. Also noticeable: the intro has no lyrics - the "waking up" is missing, as is the response of the choir. Instead, the harmonium phrase (right channel) gets an answer (left) that is an octave lower.
With the introduction of the main part, it finally becomes clear that the Dark-Side Mix is noticeably drier - less catchy, less opulent and dazzling.
The focus is once again on the core band, with special emphasis on bass and low drum sounds. Many of the playful fullness elements are dropped, the arrangement is clearly emptier. What is still there makes an edgy, rather cranky impression - seems less playful than in the Bright-Side Mix. In any case, the funky swing has given way to something like steady stomping.
However, Josh Shpak's jazzy trumpet can be heard much more clearly. The interjections are inserted more and more densely as the song progresses and set a quirky, flashy accent.
Then, in the chorus, the strings are most conspicuously absent, and the choir is barely present either. The answer melody following the two lines of text is an octave higher here - thus seeming more cutting, perhaps thinner. In the second chorus, it is sometimes not there at all.
At the end of the intermediate piece, there is a short general pause, which the Bright-Side Mix does not have in this clarity. Here, too, the less densely filled arrangement becomes noticeable, just in a special way.
Towards the finale, however, it does fill up - it even becomes almost confusingly dense and atonal. Here the strings also come into play.
The "jump into the lake" at the end is much more central and noticeably more powerful. A dark final blow.
After the Dark-Side Mix showed a very unique approach and strong differences to the previously released Bright-Side Mix, there are also some elements and features to be discovered on the In-Side Mix, which once again follow a different path. As expected, the possibilities of the surround sound are not neglected.
Already during the first bars of the intro it becomes clear that also for the In-Side Mix importance was attached to an own character. In contrast to the other two versions, a riff is used at the beginning that reminds one a little of the Stevie Wonder classic Superstition. Whether guitar and/or keyboard (clavinet) are being played cannot be said clearly because of the filters and background sounds used.
When Chapman Stick and Synth Bass kick in after about 20 seconds, the advantages of the Dolby Atmos format come into play. Instead of focusing on one or the other bass, both instruments can be heard equally and are divided in the sound panorama. It is remarkable how well Tony Levin and Don-E can be recognised and also distinguished here compared to the other two mixes.
Smaller futuristic sounds buzz from side to side in the vocal breaks while the band plays the groove and gradually string and brass interjections are added. The second verse also features David Rhodes' funk guitar, already familiar from the Bright-Side Mix. Here, however, the rhythm is slightly different.
Otherwise, elements can be heard, especially in the strings and interspersed sounds, which are either not used at all or are more subtle in the other two mixes. The jump into the water at the end is somewhat more massive, similar to the Dark-Side Mix. Due to the three-dimensional sound, however, it has a different effect.
In summary, the In-Side Mix can be described as a three-dimensional combination of Dark-Side and Bright-Side. At the same time, however, sounds and elements emerge that give the mix its own independence.
A few comments from Hans-Martin Buff on the In-Side Mix: "It is, I think, the only one where some of my overdubs made it back to the stereo guys as well... some percussion and stuff like that. [...] That big splash at the end, we used the millpond in front of the Big Room at Real World to do that. I used the strings in a really creative way, like cutting them up and putting them all over the place. - It was like a 10-day adventure, which is a long time for a mix in any format."
Only two days after the regular release of the Dark-Side Mix, Gabriel publishes the alternative Post Band Version for Bandcamp subscribers. It is an edition of Road To Joy that is quite close to the final mixes, but also still misses a few elements.
First things first: The version is 1:13 longer than the already slightly longer Dark-Side Mix. This is due to an additional verse plus chorus, which sit before the final part.
Also, Gabriel hasn't written the lyrics yet and just sings his usual early-stage nonsense ("Gabrielish"). An indication of how late the track was added to the i/o catalogue. If the musical preparation could still be completed, the song could just as well be part of the band session in September 2021 - it had not yet progressed as far as the other i/o pieces.
In tendency, this Post Band Version is quite close to the Bright-Side Mix. However, essential elements of it are also missing.
The song's inherent jubilation seems much drier, as both choir and strings have not yet been added. The many details are also not yet so precisely placed, which is why the overall structure is somewhat more consistent.
The intro, like the Dark-Side Mix, has an approaching sound before the rhythm accompaniment kicks in. In it, there is still a rather synthetic sound wood click to hear.
Later, the middle section is less lush compared to the Bright-Side Mixx, but not quite as spartan as the Dark-Side Mix.
The recording ends in a long drawn-out high note by Gabriel, the jump into the lake is missing (the corresponding lyrics have not even been written yet).
What is interesting about this version is that it reflects the state after the band session, but also already includes all the pre-production work (we know from previous bonus releases that these are very detailed in the case of i/o). At the same time, the final edit with the additions from the choir and strings is still missing. We thus get an exciting insight into i/o's production methods.
In this version, Hans-Martin Buff's contributions to the rhythm arrangements are not present. But since we don't know exactly which ones are his anyway, we only hear that there are fewer details overall.
Josh Shpak is represented here by horn as well as trumpet. His participation is possibly a little cheated in this version, because presumably he wasn't there at the band sessions and only joined later.
The fact that there is no choir and no strings is an obvious feature.
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