Great song.

This is the first single off Peter Gabriel's newest work "UP". It's a upbeat, somewhat danceable song that attacks the destructive influence of the shock trash-talk shows andJerry Springer on TV viewers minds. It's actually quite a great song and while not necessarily the wisest choice for the first single, it sure deserved better chart success than what it got.

BTW, about the title of the song, when Gabriel was finished producing the song, he didn't at that moment know that there actually was an actor named Barry Williams, who played one of the charachters on The Brady Bunch. When Gabriel found out, he invited Barry Williams to star in the video and so he did. I hope this will clear things up.

The remix of My Head Sounds Like That isn't as interesting as the original. I like the original better. The version of "Cloudless" on here is merely just a shortened version of the original on the "Long Walk Home: Rabbt Proof Fence" soundtrack. Nothing really must is offered on this item IMO.

ONLY FOR GABRIEL COMPLETISTS, & THEN ONLY WITH GRITTED TEETH

Unlike the wonderful CD singles that were released for "US" a decade ago that contained really interesting material, this single is just a waste of money.



You get the album version of "Barry Williams" (why do we need that?), the "Radio Edit" of the same (boring duplicity), a Gabriel-less "Cloudless -Radio Edit" (and pray tell, with Gabriel's vocals removed, why would it receive radio airplay?), and finally, but very least, an annoying, vapid, drum-machine-driven "remix" of "My Head Sounds Like That", which should have been re-titled "This Piece Sounds Like Every Other Useless Piece Of Electronica Drivel".



Small wonder this CD5 has not been made available in the U.S.; perhaps even the record company bean-counters couldn't bear to inflict it on us.



What a disappointment!

The Barry Williams Show Single

I think this song is wonderful. Leave it to Peter to make a song about "Jerry Springer" type television shows. Peter pulls no punches. The searing sarcasm of these lyrics is dead on. "Got the reputation of a surgeon/ Cause they cannot feel they cut/ It looks very simple but it really is an art/ They call the studio the hospital/ Making money from the sick/ We let people be themselves there is no other trick/........ What a show! The Barry Williams Show/ It's my show! Dysfunctional excess is all it took for my success/ What a show!/ And when the punches start to fly/ the ratings always creep so high/ SHOWTIME!!" I wish this song was released about 6-7 years ago. I would have made my friends listen to this song everytime they made me watch "The Barry Wiiliams Show".
On this single there is the Barry Williams Show (radio edit), The Barry Williams Show (album version), My Head Sounds Like That Remix by Roksopp and, Cloudless (radio edit). I was dissapointed with this single. I think radio edit versions are useless. I understand why there are radio edit versions of songs, especially Peter Gabriel songs. No radio station is going to play a seven-and-a-half minute song. No problem, I understand. I think the radio edit versions of songs are appropriately named. They are for the radio. They are chopped down and distilled. What Peter Gabriel fan turns on the radio to listen to him?
I buy PG's singles because I know that three out of the four songs will be new. They might be remixes, updated versions, or songs I have never heard. However you break it down, there will be at least two songs you can get no where else. That is why I buy the single.
The only new song on this single is My Head Sounds Like That Remixed by Roksopp. I should say it's the only different version of any of the songs on the single. This remix is bursting with readiness to be played in clubs. It is itching to have something mixed on top of it. It is malleable. It is waiting. I am sure it is already being used.
If The Barry Wiiliams Show is the first song you have heard from Peter Gabriel and you want to hear more don't buy this single. Go buy UP and work your way backwards. If you are a Peter Gabriel fan and haven't heard Cloudless, the real version of this song is on The Long Walk Home. (I read a nice opinion about The long Walk Home. I must paraphrase: The auditory fullness, depth, surety and openess of Passion conjures up the ideas and feelings of a middle-eastern journey as easily as Whitman's poetry conveys nature. Immerse yourself in either and it is as if you are there. The Long Walk Home is no different. This time around we are introduced to the Australian outback.) If you are a Peter Gabriel fan who has Up and The Long Walk Home and you are like me, happy to gather any and all new songs, then I highly reccomend purchasing this single.