What’s That Sound? How Peter Gabriel created the drum sound for ‘Solsbury Hill’
Some of the most iconic songs in history come along with the most fascinating recording and production processes. Long before all the crazy recording technology, computers and even AI artists have access to today, artists in the 1960s and ’70s had to get creative. One sweet little nugget of innovation came from folk-rock pioneer Peter Gabriel for his 1977 hit ‘Solsbury Hill’.
Having led the progressive rock band Genesis, when Peter Gabriel struck out on his own for a solo career, his creative, innovative attitude didn’t stop there. Continuing his penchant for tricky and unusual melodies, the first thing you might notice about ‘Solsbury Hill’ is that it’s written in 7/4 time. Bringing an unusual time signature into radio-friendly rock, giving the song a feeling of conflict and strife, it’s this strange beat that makes the song feel like you’re climbing up that hill with him.
Describing the song as a track about “being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get”, it’s “about letting go”. However, Gabriel wasn’t letting go of an idea he had for the drum line.
Listening back to the 1977 hit, in the background, you’ll hear a unique, gentle little drum beat. A perfect addition to the sweet song about a spiritual experience, the softer beat keeps the track in the realm of folk-rock with a mellow vibe. Produced by the man behind Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ as well as works from Aerosmith and Lou Reed, rock producer Bob Ezrin decided to discard the full drum-kit set-up in favour of something more organic.
Rejecting the classic rock band set-up, Ezrin restricted the musicians to very specific instruments, like demanding only a twelve-string guitar be used instead of a classic electric, leaving out Gabriel’s regular collaborator Robert Fripp. Some additions weren’t even instruments at all…
In the background of ‘Solsbury Hill’, the drum sound you’re hearing is actually a phone book. The kind your mother would keep for years and never use, the Yellow Pages helped create one of the most iconic tracks of the 1970s. With a shaker in one hand and a drum stick in the other, the drummer on the track, Allen Schwartzberg, sat down in front of a telephone directory rather than a drum kit to create that thick yet mellow drum sound.
Giving the track that rich, full sound as the twelve-string guitar, flute riff and the telephone directory beat all come together, this unique orchestra of left-field instruments made something magic. Heralded as one of the finest folk-pop songs in history, ‘Solsbury Hill’ proves you can do a lot with the random things you find lying around.
