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Usually I try to find reasonably off-the-beaten track videos for LNMC -- and I usually prefer live stuff -- but every now and then it's fun to dust off the ol' faves.

At one time this video was considered the best studio vid ever made. I expect that's no longer true, but I'd like to know what you all think would be the videos that surpass it. Post some nominees in the comments, I'll sift through them, and run some of the better ones. Obvious and well-known ones like this are welcome too.

I really loved Pixar's new movie, "Wall-E," and I was really happy to hear the voice that screams "humanity," sing to us during the end credits. Peter Gabriel wrote the lyrics to the very cool song "Down to the Earth"

The Book Of Love / Washing Of The Water

What a sad day.

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(From the Secret World Live disc.) In the '80s and '90s I did a fair amount of music writing as a freelancer, and in that time I saw probably over a hundred concerts, including a lot of great grunge shows in the '90s. Still, seeing Peter Gabriel on the '93 Secret World Tour -- he played locally at the Tacoma Dome, but the show looked identical to the one captured here, in Italy -- remains probably my favorite. Gabriel's songs mean a lot to me personally ("In Your Eyes" was "our song" when my wife and I were dating), but the show was just riveting, and the talent (Youssou N'dor, Paula Cole, Tony Levin) was awesome. I also have a cool big-disc 45 of this song, which included an extended version that included the line poem at the end ("Accepting all I've done and said ..."), which does not appear on the album version, but is included here. Of course, on this song, even in the live performance, you can't help being reminded of Lloyd Dobler standing outside Diane Court's window with his music blaster.

Rolling Stone:

This year’s Academy Awards took a big risk by only nominating three songs in the Best Original Song category, and it looks as though it has backfired: Peter Gabriel, who was nominated for “Down To Earth” from Wall-E, will not perform at the ceremony. Gabriel is protesting the producers’ decision to only allow him to perform 65 seconds of the track as part of a medley.

Since Gabriel's song is one of only three nominated, and the other two are both from Slumdog Millionaire, he'll almost definitely win. As you can see above, it's hard for Gabriel to whittle his show down to 65 seconds.

The real reason to protest the Best Original Song category? The fact that the Academy dissed Bruce Springsteen and didn't nominate "The Wrestler".

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

You know what happens when a band breaks up and the members start doing solo projects. Usually they're not as good, to put it mildly, as the original band.

The Smiths were on my label and they were an awesome band. I had some real anguish about Morrissey going out on his own. But how many years has it been? And he's still doing some of his BEST WORK EVER. Tonight's song is "First of the Gang To Die," although there are over a dozen incredible Morrissey solo songs that are better than anything that most songwriters ever get close to in a whole career.

And tonight's contest-- tell me your favorite solo artist who left a band and did great work. The winner will be someone who does more than just mentions Peter Gabriel or that drummer from his band. The winner will give us some good rationale why his or her answer merits the rare (not for sale) Bob Dylan Victoria's Secret LOVESICK compilation CD. Answers to downwithtyranny@aol.com

C&L's Late Night Music Club with Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel's voice has always had a unique and penetrating quality that seems to tap into the human condition. His 1986 record "So," is one of my top twenty records of all time. With the help of Kate Bush's voice, "Don't Give Up," is a song that reaches out to the hardships we face and has inspired me for many years.

Wikipedia:
Gabriel founded Genesis in 1967 while a pupil at Charterhouse School with bandmates Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, and Mike Rutherford. The name of the band was suggested by fellow Charterhouse School alumnus, the pop music impresario Jonathan King. Genesis quickly became one of the most talked-about bands in the UK ...read on.

He just recently appeared on the PBS show "NOW": "Musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel is empowering people to document human rights abuses in their own backyards and bring them to the world's attention....read on

Here's the lyrics to the song and a link to his World Music site.