Plays Live

Plays Live
Live album by
Released6 June 1983[1]
RecordedNovember–December 1982, United States
1983, Bath, England
GenreArt rock
Length89:53 (original version)
66:50 (highlights version)
LabelGeffen (US & Canada), Charisma
ProducerPeter Gabriel, Peter Walsh
Peter Gabriel chronology
Peter Gabriel
(1982)
Plays Live
(1983)
Birdy
(1985)
Singles from Plays Live
  1. "I Don't Remember"
    Released: June 1983 (UK)
  2. "I Go Swimming" / "Solsbury Hill"
    Released: July 1983[2]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
Rolling Stone[4]

Plays Live is the first live and fifth album overall by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was originally issued as a double album and long-play cassette in 1983, with sixteen songs. It was re-released in 1985, as a single CD called Plays Live (Highlights) with only twelve songs, some of which are edited so the album fits on a single disc. It was rereleased in its entirety as a double CD set in 1987. In 2002, a remaster of the Highlights version was issued. In 2019, the complete double-LP version was released on streaming platforms for the first time.

In 2021 the original 2CD version was released in remastered form. The sound recordings copyright (p) date featured on the back of the package suggests this had actually been remastered at the same time as the rest of Gabriel's back catalogue in 2002.

Armando Gallo took the cover photograph. "I was always listening to the music when I photographed a concert," he said. "Somehow my index finger pressed the clicker in time with the lights and the percussion - the heart of the music. I always felt grateful that I could shoot Peter’s entire shows. Once I asked Peter if he didn’t mind me being in the pit photographing his every move. 'No, I love to see a friendly face,' he answered. Making me feel good about it."[5]

  1. ^ "Plays Live".
  2. ^ "Peter Gabriel singles".
  3. ^ Eder, Bruce (2011). "Plays Live – Peter Gabriel | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  4. ^ Fricke, David (1 September 1983). "Plays Live". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  5. ^ petergabriel.com subscribers' email, 12 October 2020