The final touch to this amazing wall of sound is the keyboards, played by Gabriel himself, and the overall mood and sonic beauty of "Big Time" is truly like nothing else in music history.Īs has been true throughout his entire career, Peter Gabriel possesses one of the most unique and instantly recognizable voices in the history of recorded music. Having played alongside everyone from Roy Orbison to Robert Plant, the guitar on "Big Time" is handled by David Rhodes, and the slightly distorted, almost ska sound he gives remains one of his most unique recordings. Since Marotta was engaged with bass duties, the drums on "Big Time" are played by none other than former Police and Oysterhead percussionist, Stewart Copeland. It is this factor that gives the sound such a percussive feel, and it is this recording that would inspire Levin to create Funk Fingers, which are small sticks that can be worn on the fingers, enabling him to play the part live in concert. Using one of Levin's fretless basses, Levin himself only did the fingers for the notes while Marotta hit the actually strings with drumsticks. In fact, the bass playing on "Big Time" remains one of the most innovative moments in music history, as the unique tone was achieved by bassist Tony Levin and drummer Jerry Marotta both playing the same bass simultaneously. While the deep grooving bassline is certainly akin to that of "Sledgehammer," on this song, it is a bit heavier and can perhaps be said to be more aggressive. Truth be told, "Big Time" often gets lost in the Gabriel catalog, as it happened to be released as a single between two of his biggest hits: "Sledgehammer" and the ballad, "In Your Eyes." While both of those songs are certainly fantastic in their own right, one can make the case that it is "Big Time" that is the most musically adventurous of the three. When it comes to chart success, one must go directly to Gabriel's 1986 record, So, as it was this album that spawned many of his most memorable songs, among them the sonic masterpiece, "Big Time." Whether it is his timeless love songs or his mind-blowing pop singles, more than thirty years after his first solo records, he continues to push the boundaries on music and create some of the most uniquely amazing songs anywhere on the planet. From his years in Genesis to his stunning solo work, there has never been an artist whose even remotely resembles the sonic brilliance of the one and only Peter Gabriel. In this latter group of musicians, there is one man, that even after he left his main group, proved to be even more talented than anyone had assumed, and he remains one of the most innovative and important musicians in history.
While names like Coltrane, Zappa, and Wilson are certainly deserving of such a title, there are a number of artists, that while nothing near "underground," are often overlooked as musicians of the same caliber. For those music fans who have some restraint when using such a word, there are only a handful of musicians in history who are worthy of such a title, and it is these elite musicians who have had such an impact on the world of music, that genres as we know them would simply not exist without their presence. If there is one term that gets tossed around by music critics far more than it should it is the term "genius," and it seems that whenever an artist does something that is even the slightest bit different than the norm, this is the title they are given. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN (will open in new tab)
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