Ovo: Millennium +1 (Ltd Edition)

Artist: Peter Gabriel
Label: EMI Int'l
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2

UPC: 724384954703
EAN: 0724384954703
ASIN: B00004TKZO

Release Date: 2000-06-12

Ovo: Millennium +1 (Ltd Edition)

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Tracks:

Low Light
Time of the Turning
Man Who Loved the Earth/The Hand That Sold Shadows
Time of the Turning (Reprise)/The Weavers Reel
Father, Son
Tower That Ate People
Revenge
White Ashes
Downside-Up
Nest That Sailed the Sky
Tree That Went Up
Make Tomorrow

Amazon.com

Created for the performance area situated at the center of London's Millennium Dome, Ovo is an ambitious concept piece that attempts to address the stages of human evolution through a family saga. That it fails is not all that surprising, given the project it's associated with. Never one to be intimidated by a concept or a challenge (see Genesis, the early years, or The Last Temptation of Christ), Gabriel may have been the ideal choice for a multicultural, technology-focused show, and his general instincts seem sound. But even Cirque du Soleil, whose work this most resembles, never had to contend with the blending of Gaelic folk and tribal overtones, techno-futuristic soundscapes, gentle ballads, or a sludgy reworking of "Digging in the Dirt," complete with a rapped story line. Though there are some fine, interesting moments here, they're too often lost in the shuffle--which sounds as much like a requiem for the Dome as it does for Ovo. --Randy Silver

Album Description

Dutch limited edition version of the artist's soundtrack tothe show he created for the Millenium Dome in London. This special edition includes a bonus CD single, comic book, multimedia tracks, a bonus track and comes packaged in a slipcasewith a standard

Album Details

Extremely Limited Edition Exclusive Slipcase Package with Bonus Disc of 'the Story of Ovo' by Neneh Cherry and 'ovo Time Lapse Video' plus Deluxe Color Booklet. Music is from the Millennium Dome Show in London. Guest Vocalists Include Richie Havens Andmore

Customer Reviews:

Millenium hopes.......2003-08-11

I ordered this special import thinking it was a live CD of the now legendary millenium show. In case you are harboring similar misconcenptions, it's not live. It's the OVO album with a few extras. It has an OVO rap single (you may or may not like it), a fairly cool color booklet with pictures from the show and some PC extra video from the show--abstract looking aerial shots of show choreography.
If you already have the standard OVO disc, you won't be getting much new here. It all depends on how serious a collector you are. Fortunately, I hadn't bought OVO yet, so the import, though a little pricey, filled the bill. Unlike some Peter Gabriel fans, I happen to like OVO very much. I think it is one of the most interesting and innovative musical projects he has designed. Hopefully one day he will release a DVD of the show (certainly someone must have filmed it!). It was an historic occasion, apparently a very big show, and many of us Gabriel fans across the world were unable to see it.

C'mon Peter. Share the fun.

OVO/Millennium -- underrated and worth discovering.......2002-10-28

... Taken in the right light, this underrated set of compositions is worth discovering and should satisfy Gabriel fans who enjoyed Last Temptation or, even more so, Birdy (except that this is all original material).

It would have been nicer to have Peter take all the lead vocals, given that his voice is one of his best strengths. However, he appears more director than performer in the project, playing and arranging the music rather than being the rock star behind the mic, and his vocal stand-ins, Ritchie Havens and Paul "Blue Nile" Buchanan, are perfect analogs for him. Standout tracks are "Downside Up," " Make Tomorrow," "The Time of the Turning," and the hard-edged "The Tower That Ate People."

Millennium makes a better listening experience, so I'd start with it if buying it for the first time, but people who already bought OVO don't really need to trade up. Millennium gives a better package (comic book for the kids, cardboard slipcover, different artwork, expanded CD booklet with photos and commentary on the Millennium Dome Show) and improves the playing sequence slightly by adding a brief extra tune, the celebratory marching-band number "The Tree That Went Up," while placing "The Story of OVO" rap on a separate CD single. This also features the same video clip of the Show, scored with "Nest that Sailed the Sky," as that on both versions of the album. The brief time-lapse video can't do the Show justice but is still lovely to watch and the only way most people will ever get to see it.

OVO/Millennium is great listening, especially once the details of the story are sorted out. The atmospheric, polyrhythmic, mostly instrumental melodies shouldn't be considered a commercial follow-up to Us, but they fit nicely in the sequence of Gabriel's music, continuing his same rough alternation between pop album and non-commercial project.

The great "lost" album in PG's career.......2002-10-01

Because it is an import-only soundtrack to an obscure project,
"Ovo" was completely overlooked in the USA, where most people believe his first studio project since "Us" was the 2002 ambient instrumental soundtrack "The Long Walk Home", and then finally the proper rock/pop followup "Up" which has now just been released. However, like all Gabriel projects "Ovo" is an essential purchase, and one which will delight and surprise in unexpected places. First, although it is the soundtrack to the "Millenium Dome" project, it is not an instrumental work--8 of its 12 cuts feature lyrics and vocals, which would make it the proper studio followup to "Us" (indeed, several of the songs for this and "Long Walk Home" actually derive from the initial sessions for "Up"), the only deviation being that Gabriel chose several other singers to work with him on his songs. Second, it has a narrative storyline, which would be the first time he has attempted such a thing since Genesis' "The Lamb" (or maybe the abandonded late 70s concept "Mozo"). Thus, "Ovo"'s ambitions are indeed quite grand; the amazon[.com] reviewer is right in that it is at times over its head, with bright moments getting lost in a tapestry that may be a little *too* eclectic, but there are more than just a few "OK" songs here.

The only real regret I have about "Ovo" is that, although I like Paul Buchanan, Richie Havens and Elizabeth Frazer, I think Gabriel should've taken the lead on every track and used them only for backup vocalists. This would have made the album sound more consistent, for his voice is still supreme and these are his songs; they all bear his stamp so vividly that even when someone else is singing, I hear Peter. The songwriting is very strong, the melodies are as melodic and the rhythms as innovative as ever, with all of it reminding one of his past work while pointing to a further evolution of the sound: one
unexpected feature of the album is that while Gabriel has been particularly fond of Middle Eastern and North African world music elements in his music for nearly two decades now, in the attempt to be truly global for "Ovo"'s millenial aspirations, elements of indigenous Western forms are blended to the mix to
create a fusion unique to the record but that would then inspire the sound of the following "Up".

Highlights include the touching minimal piano ballad "Father Son" (which could be on any of his albums), the grindingly energetic and innovative techno-rocker "The Tower That Ate People" (a potential hit if only it had been promoted more), the graceful opening "Low Life", "Downside-Up" (Frazer's best moment here) and the 10 minute (!) closing "Make Tomorrow", an epic which involves all four singers and the kind of atmospheric, multi-sectional writing that would mark "Up". This edition of the CD is better than the other, which opens with a rap rendition of "The Story Of Ovo" that is unnecessary, and is replaced with the innocuous but better-fitting instrumental "The Tree That Went Up". I don't understand the couple of reviewers who charge this album is boring--"Long Walk Home"'s ambient instrumentals may have provoked a snooze or two, but "Ovo" is constantly changing styles, moods and singers, and at least one track ("The Tower That Ate People") ranks with his toughest and most danceable rockers. In short, "Ovo" is a great PG album, and makes a good pair with "Up"; I just wish he had sang all the leads.

Unexpected and Superb - I reveled in this album........2001-11-07

I think that the true measure an album's greatness is how often I listen to it and how many tracks I skip over. I bought this album online from RealWorld overseas, the day it became available. I have listened to it countless times in the months since then (over a year now, I think). I never tire of it and I never skip tracks.

It's not all Gabriel. He appears on several tracks but not all of them. This is very much a group effort. He has chosen a group of singers each of whose voices is immedately distinctive and beautiful, yet all of whom fit in perfectly with his of music. Paul Buchanan, Elisabeth Fraser, Richie Havens, Alison Goldfrapp, and others.

Gabriel did write all the music and lyrics on the album and it shows. From the soft opening notes of "Low Light" (I still want to know what those Gaelic lyrics mean!) until the closing chorus of "Make Tomorrow" this album is Pure Gabriel. In my opinion, it's the best work he's done since "Passion". It's not quite the collection of singles that "So" was nor does it evoke the atmosphere of "Passion". Still it is super. This album is sometimes catchy and melodic, other times moody, but always superb.

If you liked "So", if you absolutely loved "Passion", I think you will love "Ovo" as well. To me, those three albums represent the peaks of Peter Gabriel's solo career.

By the way, prefer THIS version of the album (the limited edition version with the red and blue "tower" cover), over the American version (the one with the green cover). This version has an extra track and wisely dispenses with "The Story Of Ovo" track (and relegates a terrible rap version of it to a separate disc where it belongs). It's the only bad thing about the American version.

Unexpected and Superb - I reveled in this album........2001-11-07

He did write all the music and lyrics on the album and it shows. From the soft opening notes of "Low Light" (I still want to know what those Gaelic lyrics mean!) until the closing chorus of "Make Tomorrow" this album is Pure Gabriel. In my opinion, it's the best work he's done since "Passion".

If you liked "So", if you absolutely loved "Passion", I think you will love "Ovo" as well. To me, those three albums represent the peaks of Peter Gabriel's solo career.

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