Up (2002) is the seventh studio and thirteenth album overall released by the Britishprogressive rock musician Peter Gabriel. After the release of Us (1992) and his Secret World Live tour, Gabriel began work on the album. Its name was Up from the start, though at one point it was considered to be called I/O. Gabriel began saying the album was near completion somewhere around 1998 but did not release it until September of 2002. In the months preceding the album's release, video clips of Gabriel talking about the songs as well as short demos of each song were released at the coming of every full moon on Gabriel's official website. The album's lyrics deal mostly with birth and especially death. The opening track, "Darkness", is a song about overcoming fears. "Growing Up" is a summation of life put to a pulsating beat. "Sky Blue" is a track Gabriel claims to have been working on for over 20 years before finishing it. The track "No Way Out" is the first track to deal with death solely, though death is a common theme across the entire album. "I Grieve" was conceived after Gabriel looked over his catalogue of music as if it were a catalogue of emotional tools. He found one major missing tool to be one to cope with death and therefore "I Grieve" was born. The first single from Up, "The Barry Williams Show" is a down-beat, jazzy song dealing with reality talk shows such as Jerry Springer. The second single, "More Than This" is one of the more upbeat songs from the album. The song wonders over there being something more to life. The song "Signal to Noise" was a challenge for Gabriel because the guest vocalist for the track, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, died. All that was left to work with were recordings from a live performance of an early version of the song at the VH1 Witness show on April 281996. Finally, "The Drop" consists of only Gabriel and a Bösendorfer grand piano. Many artists, including Trent Reznor and Elbow, remixed the tracks. These remixes were included as b-sides to the singles. The song "I Grieve" is (in an earlier version) on the soundtrack from City of Angels (1998), as well as featuring in the Smallville episode "Reckoning". "Signal to Noise" appeared on the soundtrack from Gangs of New York (2002). This album is also available on vinyl and hybrid multi-channel Super Audio CD.
Tony Levin – Bass on "Darkness", "Sky Blue", "No Way Out", "I Grieve", "The Barry Williams Show", "My Head Sounds Like That", and "More Than This".
David Rhodes – Guitars on "Darkness", "Growing Up", "Sky Blue", "No Way Out", "My Head Sounds Like That", and "Signal To Noise". Guitar on "The Barry Williams Show" and "More Than This". Electric guitar on "I Grieve". Backing vocals on "Growing Up", "Sky Blue", "The Barry Williams Show", "More Than This", and "Signal To Noise".
