Shaking the Tree

Infobox Album
Name = Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats
Type = Compilation album
Artist = Peter Gabriel


Released = November 20 1990
Recorded = 1976-1990
Genre = Rock
Length = 77:05
Label = Geffen Records (US & Canada)
Virgin Records
Producer = Bob Ezrin, Steve Lillywhite, Peter Gabriel, Daniel Lanois
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ok57gjqrj6ib link]
Last album = "" (1989)
This album = "Shaking the Tree" (1990)
Next album = "Us" (1992)

"Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats" was released in 1990 as Peter Gabriel's first "greatest hits" album, including songs from his first solo album "Peter Gabriel" (I or "Car") (1977), through "" (1989). It was remastered with most of Gabriel's catalog in 2002.

The tracks are creatively re-ordered, ignoring chronology. Some of the tracks were different from the album versions. Most songs are edited for time, either as radio, single or video edit versions. "Shaking the Tree," a track from Youssou N'Dour's album "The Lion" (1989), is a 1990 version featuring new vocals from Gabriel. "I Have the Touch" is listed as a 1983 remix, although it sounds enough like the remix from 1985 that many reviewers have declared the remixes to be the same.

One song, "Here Comes the Flood", is a new recording from 1990. This version is a piano and voice arrangement, that is far simpler than the highly produced version on "Peter Gabriel" (1977). Its sparseness is closer to the version that Gabriel recorded with Robert Fripp on the latter's album "Exposure" (1979). In interviews, Gabriel has said that he preferred the 1979 version, and it was that version with Fripp that he chose to overdub in German as the flipside to a single released before "Ein deutsches album" (1980).

Although this album highlights songs from Peter Gabriel's earlier albums, tracks from "Peter Gabriel" (II, or "Scratch") and the soundtrack to the film "Birdy" are not included. "In Your Eyes" is notably missing from the compilation. "Say Anything", in which it was played in a prominent scene, had been released the year before. Although this made "In Your Eyes" perhaps the most well known Peter Gabriel song aside from "Sledgehammer," it failed to crack the top 20 and was thus omitted from the album in favor of five of the other eight tracks from "So" — four other hits and album track "Mercy Street."

The album cover and the inside sleeve photographs of Gabriel are by Robert Mapplethorpe from about 1986.

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Gabriel, except as indicated.
# "Solsbury Hill" (from "Peter Gabriel (I)," 1977) – 4:20
# "I Don't Remember (Edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (III)," 1980) – 3:48
# "Sledgehammer (Edit)" (from "So," 1986) – 4:54
# "Family Snapshot (Edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (III)," 1980) – 4:25
# "Mercy Street (Edit)" (from "So", 1986) – 4:43
# "Shaking the Tree (1990 remix)" (Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour) – 6:23
# "Don't Give Up (Edit)" (from "So," 1986) – 5:54
# "San Jacinto (Edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (IV)", 1983) – 6:40¹
# "Here Comes the Flood (1990 re-recording)" – 4:31
# "Red Rain" (from "So", 1986) – 5:35¹
# "Games Without Frontiers (Edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (III)," 1980) – 3:57
# "Shock the Monkey (Radio edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (IV)," 1983) – 3:56
# "I Have the Touch (1983 remix)" (from "Peter Gabriel (IV)", 1983) – 3:44¹
# "Big Time" (from "So", 1986) – 4:25
# "Zaar (Edit)" (from "", 1989) – 2:56¹
# "Biko (Edit)" (from "Peter Gabriel (III)," 1980) – 6:54

¹Not included in original vinyl release.

Additional personnel on remixes

*Peter Gabriel – new vocals on 6, piano and vocals on 9, additional keyboards and vocals on 13
*Simon Phillips – drums on 13"Personnel are otherwise the same as on the original albums."

Charts

Album

Certifications

External links

*MusicBrainz album|id=221c414b-e45c-4a69-a914-d2ef1db7aaf1|name=Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats