Peter Gabriel, Up

Album of the Week, October 17, 2026 Peter Gabriel’s album Us came out when I was in college, in 1992. As the subsequent decade passed there was a live album, Secret World Live; some soundtrack songs; and the OVO project. I began to despair of Peter releasing another album of original material ever again. Though there were rumors of an album being worked on, it almost felt like a joke because the rumored album title was one that was being used by other artists. And when Up finally appeared in September 2002, twelve days after the first anniversary of 9/11, I felt an immense relief. Surely, I thought, this would be the longest time between albums that Peter would ever go. Heh. I also felt, honestly, concern. Because while we were all still mourning a year after 9/11, the depths of his despair as it surfaced on Up were striking. Has Peter been hospitalized? Listening to this album for the first time, it seemed as though the answer was yes, that the therapy that had gotten him to such a…