Its Raining Outside and On This LP

Here Comes The Flood- Peter Gabriel MP3

10/27/11

beeradvocate.com review

Autumnation Sixpoint Pumpkin Ale- Community Beverage, Queens, NY- 16 oz. can into Pub Glass- 6.8% ABV

Head- Creamy 1 ½ finger head. The head on this beer lasted a while and continued to hang around for almost ¾’s of the beer. No lacing.

Color- Cloudy, orange. At first I thought it may have been an unfiltered beer but I don’t see any sediment collecting in the glass. Medium carbonation.

Mouthfeel- Nice creamy medium bodied ale.

Aroma- Grassy, slightly hoppy aroma. More of a piney quality and not much citrus at all. No pumpkin spices.

Brewed in Brooklyn, NY, the taste has an almost farmhouse or saison quality to it which was not what I was expecting. Kind of bitter and grassy. Maybe even has wheat beer qualities. This was described on beer advocate as a pumpkin beer but I detected very little spices or taste associated with other pumpkin beers I have had. This ale also lacks some of the qualities I associate with an autumnal/fall seasonal beer. Like I said above this beer reminds me of some of the Saison/ Farmhouse ales I have tried. A lot of the reviews I read were describing things I completely did not find in this ale. One review I did read mentioned wet-hopping and that may be what I am getting out of this beer myself. On a the good side this beer has a really nice mouthfeel with a creamieness similar to Boddingtons and a head that had almost stout like qualities but not quite as thick.

On the turntable is Peter Gabriel’s first solo album known variously as 1, Car and Windshield released in 1977. Its stark, vaguely creepy cover and LP insert were designed by the world class design group Hipgnosis. Try and count how many albums you have whose LP covers have been designed by this group! I got this and a few others at a thrift store this summer including Gabriel's more well known LP So. More encouragement towards my current Genesis fixation. I am not sure I am too happy about this fixation to be honest. I am actually fairly certain that as a younger man I would have cringed at the thought of listening to Genesis circa 1973 but what can I say I am enjoying a lot of it. In some ways there music reminds me of Pink Floyd. Some would call that comparison sacrilegious but I see parallels between the two bands. There are also glaring differences which for me is in their approach to lyrics. The dense, surrealism present in Genesis’ lyrics, for me, make them less easy to digest than Floyd’s lyrics have much more tangible and relateable quality. I guess what I find similar in both groups is their overall ambitious musical directions and the subtle, refined “Englishness” in mood experienced when I listen to their music.


LP Inner Sleeve - Kind of Creepy

As ubiquitous as Peter Gabriel is I haven’t really heard much of his stuff with a critical ear until now. I didn't even know Solsbury Hill was on this LP, I had assumed it was the product of one of his 80's LP's. When I think about he is really is a remarkable singer and stylist. You can't really mistake a Gabriel vocal for anything else. I did have his third solo LP at one time known as ‘Melt” but I think I actually gave it to someone because to be honest at the time I didn’t really give it the listens it needed for me to fully appreciate it. I will be keeping my eyes open for some Genesis and or Gabriel LP’s at the record fair this weekend to augment my collection. Particularly I would like to find a copy of Nursery Crymes by Genesis and the live Peter Gabriel LP from 1983. There is probably not a whole lot that I can contribute to the discourse on Gabriel but I would recommend digging into his catalog beyond the hits like Salsbury Hill, Sledgehammer and In Your Eyes. There are a lot of layers to his music and as with a lot of artists who have experienced mainstream success as wide as Gabriel his more experimental and less known works get neglected. This record includes music that borders on Vaudeville (Excuse Me) and Down the Dolce Vita is a clavinet driven track with instrumental backing by the London Symphony Orchestra. I included the MP3 of Down In The Flood, which to me, has that Floyd feel I mentioned above.