Peter Gabriel and Fairlight CMI

French documentary about Peter Gabriel demonstrating his new toy - The Fairlight CMI.
He also talks about the song The Rythmn of the Heat which used the Fairlight extensively.

[@muzixco]

This dude was way ahead of his time, a true pioneer.

[@beekay5914]

Rhythm of the Heat is as good as anything he ever did. Superb. I don't like his stuff after 1986, except for soundtracks, but the quality of his early work has earned him an exalted place. He is a genius, even if his muse has faded somewhat. I wish he would live forever.

[@SIE44TAR]

I saw Peter Gabriel at the Music Hall in Houston in 1982. What an absolutely amazing experience. The acoustics in that place were like being in a studio and with a 2,200 seat capacity it was an intimate experience the likes of which I’ve never had since. I still remember everyone singing ‘Biko’ after the show on the way back to the parking garage. www.setlist.fm/setlist/peter-gabriel/1982/houston-music-hall-houston-tx-bd2ed8e.html

[@MarkLynskey]

...its January 2021 and I'm watching Peter Gabriel from 1982 trying to smash a Tv in a scrap yard....god bless the internet....I was 3 at the time.

[@ajd626]

For some reason, that crazy laugh he does at 2.33 has had a profound effect on me! It just comes out of nowhere. It sort of sums up Gabriel. He's calm, calm, calm and then mental! The animal within. Hahaha

[@Danimal1577]

Awesome piece of music-history. Thank you for finding, uploading, and sharing :)

[@snavs420]

This has one of my all time favorite Peter Gabriel quotes: "There's been many great songs which have had really appalling lyrics, but there have been no great songs which have had appalling music."

[@VintageSoundsNumber1]

The sound of the air in the pipe : EXCELLENT ! The sound of the glass being crashed : ABSOLUTELY AWESOME ! E-mu + Fairlight keyboards used to rock !!!

[@LinxAudio]

Awesome footage. PG is a great musician and forward thinker. Respect PG!

[@eyepatchplease]

Look at his smile when he first plays "Mummy" on the keyboard; he's like a little kid!

[@benriner]

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[@RosePetal17]

Kate Bush's "Toy" as well. I understand now how she got all those amazing, unique vocal sounds.

[@rhythmfield]

In its time this was truly groundbreaking stuff. My friends and I were obsessed with the 'Security' album that came out of this experimentation -- very exciting. Wow! Thanks.

[@kidneystoner88]

"So i pull out my phallic symbol here"....he's hillarious 3:04

[@tx3851]

I was incredibly fortunate, as a teenager on the late 80s, to work at Real World Studios....Whilst I took a different path; the words and wisdom of PG stay with me....Especially in my own music....

[@ladymelde]

Fantastic clip. Peter was so ahead of his time.

[@MattSingh1]

'There is no Fairlight on the record'- No Jacket Required (sleeve notes), Phil Collins (1985).

[@pyry-pekkajaala4684]

Great video!! Thanks for the upload

[@pbarc552]

Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!

[@VenjaMusic]

Great interview!

[@vanrose9857]

The TV smash would’ve been easier if you would’ve used ... your sledgehammer!

[@JoeyGrace]

LOL!!!!! GOOOOOD ONE ;-) I see what you did there......

[@moribund14]

Fantastic! Great to see an innovator like Gabriel at work when digital sampling was all so fresh.

[@sanmiguelito64]

That was great,i never seen this before,thanks for posting

[@Chavvvvvvv]

J'adore Pete Gab' et le Fairlight, merci ! Cette vidéo est géniale, je viens la voir régulièrement...

[@wind84]

thanks a lot, very interesting video of Peter. :-) take care.

[@holydigital]

A visionary!

[@kpfeif]

Awesome stuff. Thanks for posting this. As a huge Gabriel fan and a Fairlight junkie, it offers the best of both worlds.

[@guynamederik]

Ha floppy disks! Damn thing is bigger than my head..... Ahhhh love the 80's

[@1969atam]

I have the soundtrack to that interview on a Genesis Interview CD I got 20 years ago! Great to actually see it! Thanx for sticking it on KZbin! I love this kinds stuff! You're a Star!

[@GrzegorzBojanek]

He looks so young and innocent... and yet, his voice is so powerful. Amazing. One of the best vocals on this planet...

[@jacomix71]

this is amazing!!!!

[@agumonkey]

Powerful live set at the end

[@wrldonwill]

Pete was ahead of his time.

[@Lexcoaster]

Oh, this is just fantastic. :)

[@f.d.3289]

Wow. Guess I'll have to put old Peter Gabriel onto the list. Thought he was just another 80s pop act, but this video clearly shows he's a fucking music freak. Thanks a lot for uploading this gem!

[@Eric_In_SF]

80s? He was on his third or fourth career by then. And already a musical genius performing for 20 years. You need to read up a little. In the late 60s and 70s he was in Genesis. One of the most pioneering and experimental bands all the way up into the 90s. Then he had his own solo career from the mid 70s to the 80s that was Filled with world music and lots of avant-garde synthesizers. He’s composed for films and all this other Stuff and has had a completely diversified intensely artistic career. But I think most of the people I know know him as a true artist and visionary I’m not really from that song that was a big pop hit.

[@StopDropandLOL]

Amazing.

[@cortezforever]

I like that sampler better than the ones today.

[@trevor_mounts_music]

interface is lightyears better than most of the stuff that came afterwards 😂

[@YvoVideo37]

Fabuleux documentaire sur la naissance d'une chanson par un des précurseurs des samples, j'adore le côté bricolage et découverte, rien que pour le rire de Peter ... et la destruction de la TV c'est passionnant !!

[@ginal.f.3462]

Nice information. Looks like fun.

[@TheCorrectAnswer56]

Haha yes I heard that. I love how he says it in an otherwise seemingly serious interview and without cracking a smile either.

[@godslave666999]

PURE CREATIVITY !! the first artist who ever use the failight the second was jean michel jarre ( juste because it was deliver to peter gabriel first !). now if lisa gerrard was in the video then you would have a kind of dead can dance type of music ! thank for this video !

[@MrKeyboarder100]

great video!

[@jazzmanb445]

watched this at the time and got into PG from there pg4 was awesome and well ahead of its time,kate bush got a fairlight shortly after for the dreaming album another awesome albulm of the 80s.............

[@NormDPlume-mc5dh]

If you can only have one Kate Bush album it should be "The Dreaming". Her masterpiece IMO.

[@keykrazy0]

i remember doing the same kinda thing -- shoe squeaks, water sounds, spinning coins, et al -- with my Ensoniq EPS back in 1990 or so... GOOD TIMES !!!! ..and seeing Pete do it now, in hindsight, really brings it all back for me! (and others too, i imagine..) Guess it's time to go power up my keyboards and remember why i started doing this to begin with!! ^_^

[@hojofan]

Hello Vasiliki666 -- I agree with you about Peter Gabriel. He's absolutely brilliant. I love his innovative approach to music. I like artists that are bold and unique. Peace2U, Kim

[@raqbeol]

...pq adoro peter gabriel...

[@zaiterentertainment]

So true i had one loved it

[@garyliddon]

I love Brian Pern, he's amazing!

[@12x1LPE]

Such a long time ago!

[@joorchampi3346]

Genius!

[@KeelyBurnMusic]

I want one of those things, the Fairlight CMI or whatever- do you know how fun that would be?! also, I could listen to Peter Gabriel talk about music forever. It's nice to see him working in the studio.

[@PilferMusic]

It's easy in 2007 to look back at 1982 and poke fun... we'll all do the same to hair styles clothing and dance in 2027 when we look back at today. To minimize the impact of Peter Gabriels solo work and his influence on both popular music composition as well as experimental music is short sighted and niave.

[@-thirteen]

Nick Cave was doing something really special around this time.

[@Vasiliki666]

He is a genius.

[@EYTPS]

The CMI was a fantastic tool that God gave us, love the 1980s fun

[@BaddaBigBoom]

No, some hard working and innovative Australians gave it to us. But yes, 80s fun.

[@EYTPS]

BaddaBigBoom Australians are Gods then

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Maybe ;-)

[@jonnydieffen]

wow,expression......

[@woofiedog3]

Interesting, saw Gabriel right after PG4 was released and he was quite powerful/psychotic/interesting. Thomas Dolby also did a lot with the fairlight.

[@DarkMoonDroid]

That "floppy"!!! LOL Yes, Gabrielese! Def, they communicate more! It takes a paragraph or more to express what a sexual grunt communicates. Thank you for "The Rhythm of the Heat". That will always be the standard for me of his greatness.

[@Vasiliki666]

...whilst I think that he has focused his concentration on developing other world music, he inspires me and whenever I am looking for ideas I take out one of his albums. The last temptation of Christ, is truly the work of a genius. What do you think ?

[@griffineagle7]

is that what pete yawns when he wakes up in the morning ,,aaaahhhhhhhhhheeeeeeoooooooooo >:-)

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Yep, and the drums kick in from afar through the dawn chorus :-)

[@annother3350]

Mummy!!!

[@JohanBrodd]

The entire Fairlight Library is now available as donation ware for Kontakt 4. 30 disks + extras. Really worth checking out if you got the urge to produce older tracks.

[@CassisLips]

his voice is unique

[@pacific707]

@thelurker25 It's a 5 and 1/2 inch floppy disk. It used to be the only medium that we could keep our data on. Back in the early and dark ages of digital audio....

[@berniebleak]

5 1/4 wasn’t it? I remember the little hole puncher to cut a square piece out of each corner so the sides wouldn’t be write protected

[@thiagotecnico]

OH SHIT! THE BEGGINING OF "SAMPLING" SOUNDS

[@JurisDocster]

When will we call Pete, "SIR Peter Gabriel" ??????? I'm ready for it.

[@renajsh]

Blss you for posting this. This is liquid gold for a PG nut like me! Your karma has definately leaned towards the good side.

[@MarsHottentot]

Think about all of the cutting edge stuff we have today that we'll be laughing at 30 years from now. Fairlight rules.

[@TheWinkler]

I agree that it's fabulous to see him talk about the process that went into a song like this. I'm torn, though, whether I like the English version or his German version better; guess I'll just have to like them both the same :-)

[@hatchetinhead]

I wish I had my own personal technician in my studio!

[@AKMAC82]

Nice floppy! Those were the big boys, too!

[@psysword]

True that

[@MrNickjones26]

Gabrielese! YES!

[@nicck]

i wish he'd kept what he did on 4.00, the kind of yell. it was amazing and part of the start is cut on the finished song disapointingly. i still love the song, though , it is amazing

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Good Lord. It's the sound of a swan.

[@ERGERTERIC]

Sacré Peter 😉

[@SleepMeditationandAffirmations]

This my folks is how you make a hit song LOL

[@pacific707]

Perhaps it was a big old 8". I'm going to have to watch this again. You should see the optical disks they used for the Synclavier. They looked just like a Laserdisc (remember them? I still have some Laserdiscs and a very good LD player). I also noticed that they used cartridges in the Fairlight, as well as floppies.

[@AeroModule]

And we'll look back at the music of 07 and say, "That sucks; let's hear something from 82."

[@James-ru5ni]

Already happening... This decade had poor music, more and more people are looking back at the 80s stuff 👍

[@PilferMusic]

PG's soundtrack for the Last Temptation of Christ is brilliant and the style has shown up on other soundtracks and songs... sorry no reference ;) The dense production on the Security release and the lack of cymbals through out the songs did provide a specific feel that has been replicated. I can't comment much on today's pop music... there's none that I really find interesting enough to want to listen too. Though I do hear shades of PG in Radiohead... and bands of this caliber.

[@oddn]

that's fucking awesome!

[@Putaspellonyou]

holy shit, look at the size of that floppy disc!

[@pacific707]

@larkydozer Complete Bull! Cupid & Psyche '85 is just as incredible to listen to today, as are all of Peter's records, including Security. Scritti set the standard for high-tech New York-based studio-sequenced wizardry. Dave Gamson is a synthesizer god - as well as a hell of a musician, arranger and songwriter.

[@zackworrell535]

a scientist who liked to make music

[@KeelyBurnMusic]

Maybe the fourth album? I think the studio footage is of him working on Rhythm of the Heat and then the live footage is from later when it was completed. Or maybe So.

[@PilferMusic]

You're probably quite correct! I can't imagine we'll be wanting more 2007 pop or ass shaking video's I can't believe I spelled naive wrong :)

[@jml19221]

How has music technology changed. All the fairlight technology exists now in one single app in a lap top or an ipad.

[@totaltwit]

Very interesting, I'm no fan of PG but it is plain to see he knows what he's doing, very much aware and alert for such a young man! What you see him do here is exactly what sampling is all about, making your own sounds, feeling the texture, mood and emotion they create.

[@Boycottdigby]

Pern!

[@AdamSpade]

Kewl

[@Kazilikaya]

You can GET one! The price of a Fairlight these days is < $1000.

[@i_kyl3]

or a smart phone

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Incorrect it *is* Solsbury Hill -it's near Batheaston in Somerset. Salisbury is in Wiltshire -google the song title.

[@jaggass]

Was this recorded at The Farm?

[@robertbowen]

about £15,000 (in the 80's)

[@EsaRuoho]

i'd still be superhappy having a fairlight and that screen. the sampling seemed very fast. i dont get why theres not more vstsamplers that actually sample - not just load samples.

[@this_connor_guy]

Ok, I gotta ask, what song did he use the smashing sounds? I wanna hear that bad.

[@Hot80s]

2:30 almost sounds like Joel's you maybe wrong but you maybe right intro.

[@skengasaurus]

3:33 ...and turn on English subtitles.

[@PierreRipplinger]

+surripere ( &#39;~&#39;) Of course, when you bought a Fairlight chances you had no more of it.

[@skengasaurus]

Pierre Ripplinger Haha, nice :)

[@skengasaurus]

Pierre Ripplinger ...and you probably had to buy another one and possibly pay for damage clean-up when the thing inevitable caught fire (you may be aware that that was actually a real thing).

[@PierreRipplinger]

surripere ( '~') Haha no, I never heard of any synth that caught fire. Defective or underperforming power supplies? "Crap, my 100,000 bucks synth is smoking".

[@annother3350]

Mummyyy!!

[@PilferMusic]

I thought UP was a big of dog as well. I wanted lots more and didn't think it was worthy of his previous catalog. PG's affect on music I believe is more related to his abilities to be inventive as we see here with his sampling. Also his production techniques have be copied and many are still used today, pumping an entire mix with your compressor, the gated reverb (yes flogged to death and not heard much now - thx)

[@BilisNegra]

@michaeltgrace Sure¡! Even non-English speakers like me ;-)