Peter Gabriel completes new project

contactmusic.com 12/08/2008

PETER GABRIEL has completed work on his BIG BLUE BALL project – some 18 years after recording began. Gabriel enlisted the help of WATERBOYS frontman Karl Wallinger to work on the album, which is made up of material from three week long recording sessions at Realworld studios in Box, Wiltshire across 1991, 1992 and 1995.

The Sledgehammer star told Uncut magazine how the project first came about back in 1991: "We had this week of invited guests, people from all around the world, fed by music and a 24 hour café. It was a giant playpen, a bring your own studio party. There'd be a studio set up on the lawn, in the garage, in someone’s bedroom as well as the seven rooms we had available." He added that the material became a "living mass", comparing the experience of so many collaborators to a "dating agency". Other musicians who feature on the finished album include Sinead O' Connor, Tim Finn, Jah Wobble and Natacha Atlas.