OVO [The Millennium Show]

by Peter Gabriel

Overview

In 1997, Peter Gabriel was asked to pilot a visual project for London's Millennium Dome. OVO is a work based on the intersecting problems of race relations, environmental concerns, family issues, and fairy tales as allegories, violence, and more. And keep in mind that this was to be a visual piece. Gabriel, to meet the challenge for CD, added a ton of multimedia to the musical soundtrack: there is a drawn storybook, The Story of OVO, a view of the installation itself from every angle, and many stopgap notes, drawings, and the like. For the soundtrack, he enlisted the help of collaborators such as Elizabeth Fraser, Neneh Cherry (whatever happened to her third record, the one she did with Tricky?), Richie Havens, the Black Dyke Mills Band, the Electra Strings, Paul Buchanan (of Blue Nile), Adzido, the Dhol Foundation drummers, and Iarla O Lionaird from the Afro-Celt Sound System. Needless to say, the music is all over the map, from a rap version of the "Story of Ovo" to an Irish jig to Gabriel's percussive culture plundering soundscapes and new songs (including a truly dull rework of "Digging in the Dirt") to Eno-like ambiences to folk songs and new songs with Havens and O Lionaird singing like the opposite ends of a heavenly choir and Liz Fraser soaring over the Dhol Foundation drummers. It sounds awesome doesn't it? It should be. But it's not. OVO sounds labored, choppy, and pasted together, like it is the soundtrack to a visual installation, and feels incomplete without it. This is not a project like Passion was or even Birdy; it's a pastiche that attempts to be as ambitious as the installation project. And it is ambitious. Unfortunately, musically it isn't consistent enough to sustain the listener's interest for the entire length of the recording. It is a curious project with moments, but is most likely for hardcore fans only. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	08/29/2000
Label:	Msi Music Distribution / Real World Records
UPC:	0724384954000
Rank:	108477

Tracks

1. The Story of OVO
2. Low Light
3. The Time of the Turning
4. The Man Who Loved the Earth/The Hand That Sold Shadows
5. The Time of the Turning /The Weavers Reel
6. Father, Son
7. The Tower That Ate People
8. Revenge
9. White Ashes
10. Downside-Up
11. The Nest That Sailed the Sky
12. Make Tomorrow

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Peter Gabriel   Primary Artist,Strings,Tanpura,Clapping,Dulcimer,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Keyboard Bass,Synthesizer Bass,African Percussion,Vocals (Background),Bass,Lute,Drums,Loops,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Crotale
Hossam Ramzy   Primary Artist,Drums,Tabla,Crotale,Cymbals
Richard Evans   Primary Artist,Bass,Drums,Flute,Loops,Guitar,Shaker,Crotale,Mandola,Clapping,Dulcimer,Percussion,Synthesizer,Guitar Loops,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Richard Chappell   Primary Artist,Drums,Loops,Tom-Tom
Brian Transeau   Primary Artist,Bass,Drums,Guitar,Strings
Richie Havens   Vocals
Neneh Cherry   Rap
Carol Steele   Congas,Shaker,Percussion
Omi   Vocals
Ravi Shankar   Violin,Vocals
Rasco   Rap
Assane Thiam   Drums
Stuart Gordon   Viola,Fiddle
Adzido   Drums
Babacar Faye   Drums
James Watson   Conductor
Jim Barr   Bass,Guitar,Double Bass,Guitar (Acoustic)
Tony Levin   Bass,Drums,Guitar (Bass)
Steve Gadd   Drums
Sussan Deyhim   Vocals
Iarla O Lionaird   Vocals,Featured Artist
Simon Emmerson   Bells,Drums,Cymbals,Percussion
Nigel Eaton   Hurdygurdy
Kudsi Erguner   Flute,Ney Flute
James McNally   Bodhran,Accordion
Shankar   Violin,Vocals
Elizabeth Fraser   Vocals
Ganga Giri   Didjeridu
Johnny Kalsi   Drums,Tabla
Dhol Foundation   Drums
David Rhodes   Guitar
Ged Lynch   Drums,Shaker,Percussion
Markus Dravs   Percussion
Jim Couza   Dulcimer
Electra Strings   Strings
Elizabeth Purnell   Brass,Orchestra
Omi Hall   Vocals
George Dzikunu   Drums
Manu Katche   Drums
Alison Goldfrapp   Vocals
Paul Buchanan   Vocals
Jacquie Turner   Percussion
Jocelyn Pook   Strings
Black Dyke Band   Horn,Brass

Technical Credits

Richard Chappell   Drum Programming,Mixing
Ravi Shankar   Producer
Brian Transeau   Arranger,Producer,Programming,Drum Programming
Peter Gabriel   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Programming,Bass Programming,Horn Arrangements
David Bottrill   Mixing
Tchad Blake   Mixing
Simon Emmerson   Producer,Drum Programming
Will Gregory   Arranger,Horn Arrangements
Shankar   Producer
Electra Strings   Arranger
Elizabeth Purnell   Arranger,Horn Arrangements
Richard Evans   Mixing,Composer,Bass Programming,Drum Programming
Jocelyn Pook   Arranger