proggermusic
Active member
Here's one that never fails to give me chills. The popularity of Peter's hit record So continues to blow me away considering how much brilliantly creative and unusual music is on it. It's a fantastic record cover-to-cover, but "Mercy Street" might be my favorite, and it's certainly a remarkable song.
Harmonically, it's dead simple, and I don't know if there's a single non-diatonic pitch in the whole track. The melodies are simple and singable, and the harmonies on the chorus are beautiful, dense, well-written and well-executed, but nothing technically innovative. None of that matters because every single thing in the song serves its patient, deliberate, and thoroughly haunting concept. There's a deep sophistication to all of it that makes perfectly elegant use of each element to create a feeling that's both beautiful and thoroughly creepy.
Groove-wise, there's no drum kit, no LinnDrum, no 808 or 909, nothing like that (at least not out front). Instead it's a quietly perfect African or Afro-Caribbean percussion thing, gently propulsive and still somehow totally haunting. Tony Levin's bass is in there with it, jumping out of the groove for the occasional "bwow" that somehow doesn't distract and just adds to the concept.
Texturally, it's clear that PG spent an enormous amount of time getting everything just right. Vocal harmonies, etherial pads, eerie loops, everything blends together and works together while staying distinct and individual. It's a marvel of production.
And lyrically... Well. Peter is on the very short list of songwriters who, in my estimation, have linguistic and musical sophistication in equal measure. There have never been many and there never will be many, but there are occasionally one or two who break through and find popularity, and he's one of the ones who did.
PG is one of the artists I admire most in the music industry. He's a genuine artist, and everything he does seeks to serve the concept of what he's creating before anything else. "Mercy Street" is a great example of that: he's not out to prove anything flashy, he's just out to create a work that's as haunting as it is beautiful, and he succeeds.
Harmonically, it's dead simple, and I don't know if there's a single non-diatonic pitch in the whole track. The melodies are simple and singable, and the harmonies on the chorus are beautiful, dense, well-written and well-executed, but nothing technically innovative. None of that matters because every single thing in the song serves its patient, deliberate, and thoroughly haunting concept. There's a deep sophistication to all of it that makes perfectly elegant use of each element to create a feeling that's both beautiful and thoroughly creepy.
Groove-wise, there's no drum kit, no LinnDrum, no 808 or 909, nothing like that (at least not out front). Instead it's a quietly perfect African or Afro-Caribbean percussion thing, gently propulsive and still somehow totally haunting. Tony Levin's bass is in there with it, jumping out of the groove for the occasional "bwow" that somehow doesn't distract and just adds to the concept.
Texturally, it's clear that PG spent an enormous amount of time getting everything just right. Vocal harmonies, etherial pads, eerie loops, everything blends together and works together while staying distinct and individual. It's a marvel of production.
And lyrically... Well. Peter is on the very short list of songwriters who, in my estimation, have linguistic and musical sophistication in equal measure. There have never been many and there never will be many, but there are occasionally one or two who break through and find popularity, and he's one of the ones who did.
PG is one of the artists I admire most in the music industry. He's a genuine artist, and everything he does seeks to serve the concept of what he's creating before anything else. "Mercy Street" is a great example of that: he's not out to prove anything flashy, he's just out to create a work that's as haunting as it is beautiful, and he succeeds.
