Shaking The Tree

Released in 1990, Shaking The Tree was a career-spanning overview of Peter’s solo years from his first self-titled album of 1977 up to the 1989 Passion soundtrack, with a few curiosities and rarities to grab the ear of the completist.

The compilation’s title track, a playful duet between Peter and Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour, hadn’t previously appeared on a Gabriel album, just on Youssou’s The Lion album. Here it reappears, albeit it with a new vocal from Peter. Here Comes The Flood, originally from his 1977 debut, is also revisited, this time in a deeply effective (and affecting) piano-and-voice treatment.

“’Shaking The Tree’ was somewhat ironically called ‘Sixteen Golden Greats’. Normally people do their greatest hits, but it would be more like greatest ‘hit’ for me."