Personnel includes: Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute, recorder, Bosendorfer piano, keyboards); Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor (vocals); Richard Evans (acoustic guitar); Robert Fripp (electric & classical guitar, banjo); David Rhodes (guitar, 12-string guitar); Peter Green (electric guitar); Steve Hunter (pedal steel guitar); Daniel Lanois (guitar); Tim Green (tenor saxophone); Dick Morrisey (saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Jozef Chirowski, Brian Eno (keyboards); Larry Fast (synthesizer, programming); Tony Levin (bass); Dominic Greesmith, Jerry Marotta (drums); Ged Lynch, Will White, Stephen Hague, Phil Collins (percussion); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (background vocals).

Producers include: Bob Ezrin, David Lord, Peter Gabriel, Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite.

Recorded between 1977 & 2003.

Although Peter Gabriel received the greatest-hits treatment with 1990's SHAKING THE TREE, the 13 years following that collection made it clear that another, more comprehensive retrospective was needed. During this time, Gabriel recorded only two official solo albums, US and UP, but the avant-pop icon also pursued other audio/visual projects, such as OVO, his contribution to London's massive Millennium Dome exhibit. The two-disc compilation HIT pairs his post-2000 work with his pioneering songs from 1977-1992, and the result is a remarkable musical document.

While HIT features the majority of the classic songs from SHAKING THE TREE, it also includes two essential tracks excluded from that earlier compilation, "The Rhythm of the Heat," a slow-burning exercise in tribal beats, and "In Your Eyes," the gorgeous ballad made famous by the film SAY ANYTHING. Moving on to latter-day Gabriel, HIT offers up the wonderfully grimy stomp of "Digging in the Dirt," the yearning "More Than This," and the previously unreleased "Burn You Up, Burn You Down," which hearkens back to his gloriously quirky mid-'80s period. Other post-SO songs include "Love to Be Loved," "The Tower That Ate People" (from the OVO project), and a live rendition of "Downside Up," featuring Gabriel's daughter Melanie on vocals.

Q (1/04, p.132) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Gabriel's discovery of world music and a growing mastery of atmosphere make his later work evermore compelling..."