Word: gabriels
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...Peter Gabriel, with four Grammy nominations, flourishes...
...Born in the U.S.A." "I ain't gonna play Sun City." Lyric fragments that, once heard, become a whole political statement in miniature, a rhythmic testament of pride and conscience. There is another that belongs in their company. It is a simple declarative dedication, really, spoken quietly by Peter Gabriel: "This is for Steven Biko." And Biko begins, its incantatory drum sounds and eldritch rhythms working some deep magic before Gabriel even gets to the first verse...
...Gabriel, one of the most respected and most elusive of Britain's rock elite, meant Biko to be an act of conscientious solidarity. Steven Biko was a black South African activist who died while in police custody, and, as Gabriel performs his tribute, the song takes on the power of a folk requiem. Gabriel, however, has found a resonance in Biko's death that goes beyond outrage or simple protest. The further away history moves, the deeper Biko cuts. "You can blow out a candle/ but you can't blow out a fire/ once the flame begin to catch...
...also marked an important way station in Gabriel's career, combining activism with intricate, African-inflected rhythms. That soulful style, similar to Paul Simon's recent Graceland excursions but rather more sober, found its fleetest expression in last year's smash album So and Top Five single Sledgehammer, a smoking slice of revisionist 1960s rhythm and blues that turned male sexual braggadocio into high comedy. The album and the single just earned Gabriel four Grammy nominations (awards to be announced Feb. 24), and the singer says that he is "pleased." Then, using a characteristic combination of deflective wit and earnestness...
...pivots on the peculiar axis of coin-tossing to decide whether certain victims live or die. Having cornered Brolin’s horrified wife, he asks her to “call it,” in a voice that whispers rumors of the hell that exists inside. The Gabriel to Bardem’s Mephistopheles is Tommy Lee Jones ’69, the aging sheriff of Brolin’s hometown. Jones follows the trail of bodies just a step behind Bardem, hoping to protect Brolin from the unstoppable evil. Jones provides a psychological grounding point...