Big Blue Ball [Alternate CD Cover] [Digipak]

Performer: Various Artists/Big Blue Ball
Engineer: Marco Migliari; David Bottrill; Paul Grady; Richard Chappell; Ben Findlay; Richard Evans; Alex Swift
Producer: Karl Wallinger; Michel Sanchez; Stephen Hague
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Karl Wallinger (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Joseph Arthur (vocals, guitar); M�rta Sebesty�n (vocals, flute); Hukwe Zawose, Iarla O Lion�ird, Natacha Atlas, Papa Wemba, Sin�ad O'Connor (vocals); James McNally (whistling); Richard Evans (guitar, mandolin, recorder); Vernon Reid (guitar, guitar synthesizer); David Rhodes (guitar); Timothy Whelan (saz); Hossam Ramzy & His Egyptian Ensemble (strings); Francis Bebey, Guo Yue (flute); Ronan Browne (Uilleann pipe); Stephen Hague (accordion, keyboards, programming); Eric Mouquet, Michel Sanchez (piano, keyboards); Angie Pollock (piano); Tchad Blake (harmonium, organ, keyboards, guitar synthesizer, drums, frame drum, hi-hat, shaker, tambourine, tom tom, bells); Rupert Hine (keyboards); Joji Hirota, Hossam Ramzy, Neil Sparkes (drums, percussion); Manu Katche, Billy Cobham, Ged Lynch (drums); Laurent Coatalen (bongos); Arona N'diaye (djembe, sabar, percussion); Chuck Norman (programming); Andy Lee White, Reddy Amisi, Jules Shear, Sevara Nazarkhan, Tim Finn (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Richard Chappell; Stephen Hague; Tchad Blake. Recording information: Real World Studios, Wiltshire, England (1991-2007). Author: Karl Wallinger. Ensembles: Momtaz Talaat; Adel Eskander. Photographers: York Tillyer; Andrew Catlin; Pete Williams. Unknown Contributor Roles: Popsy Dixon; Peter Gabriel; Sherman Holmes; Wendell Holmes. BIG BLUE BALL is an ongoing collaboration shepherded by Peter Gabriel, World Party leader Karl Wallinger, and producer Stephen Hague. The basic tracks for these 11 songs were recorded at Gabriel's Real World studios between 1991 and 1995, during week-long sessions with special guests, including Sinead O'Connor, Tim Finn, Marta Sebestyen, Papa Wemba, Jah Wobble, gospel group the Holmes Brothers, members of Living Colour, Afro Celt Sound System, and dozens of other American, European, Asian, and African musicians. Pieced together and remixed in the 13 years following the last of these sessions, BIG BLUE BALL still sounds primarily like a Gabriel and Wallinger collaboration, with those singer-songwriters' eclectic sensibilities prevailing, although the guest singers and musicians are fully represented as well. BIG BLUE BALL is available as a digital download, a standard CD, a deluxe CD with enhanced packaging, and a vinyl LP. Big Blue Ball is more of a collective than a band, with the final project being completed well over a decade after the majority of the sessions. Back in the '90s (1991, 1992, and 1995 to be exact), Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger invited friends and musicians from around the world to participate in weeklong collaborative writing and recording sessions at Real World Studios. The results were then crafted into this album. Overall, the album crosses the globe-trotting multiculturalism of Music and Rhythm (the first WOMAD compilation) with the slick production of Gabriel's Us (released about the same time these sessions took place). Couple the fact that Gabriel's solo work has been increasingly infused with world music beginning with Security and the fact that he's got one of the more recognizable voices in music, and Big Blue Ball almost plays like a lost Peter Gabriel album. This is not meant to diminish the strong contributions of others. Hossam Ramzy and Natacha Atlas take the lead on "Habibe" and M�rta Sebesty�n, Sin�ad O'Connor, Rossy, and Papa Wemba all turn in great vocal performances. Joseph Arthur and Iarla O Lion�ird's "Altus Silva" actually sounds a bit like Gabriel, and when Arthur joins Gabriel on "Exit Through You," the result could easily be a So outtake. The sound changes a bit at the end of the album, moving from the Peter Gabriel '90s sound to something a bit more 21st century with the Malagasy rap of "Jijy" and the sampled horns of the title track. It's a bit odd that Big Blue Ball was so long in coming, but Peter Gabriel fans will find it was worth the wait. ~ Sean Westergaard

Global Rhythm (Publication) (p.44) - "BBB's voices and instruments float in and out of the 11 songs like fragments of conversations pieced together to create poems."

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