"Intruder" is a song written and performed by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. The song was the first to use the "gated reverb" drum sound created by Hugh Padgham and Phil Collins, with Collins performing the song's drum part.^[3] The gated drum effect was later used in Collins' own "In the Air Tonight", and appeared frequently through the 1980s, on records such as David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and the Power Station's "Some Like It Hot".

Recording

The gated drum sound – which features heavily throughout the song – was achieved by Hugh Padgham while working with an early SSL console at The Townhouse, which had noise gates and compressors built into every channel. The console had a reverse talkback feature that allowed the musicians to communicate with the producers in the control room. To facilitate communication with the musicians, a microphone with heavy compression was fed through the SSL console. Pagham recalled that “One day, Phil was playing the drums and I had the reverse talkback on because he was speaking, and then he started playing the drums. The most unbelievable sound came out because of the heavy compressor."^[4]

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel – piano, lead and backing vocals, whistling
• Phil Collins – drums, drum pattern
• Morris Pert – xylophone, bell
• Larry Fast – synthesizers
• David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals

Other versions

The song was often performed live by Gabriel in the early '80s, and is included on his first live album, Plays Live (1983). It appears also on Gabriel's ninth studio album New Blood (2011) in symphonic version.

In 1992, the band Primus recorded a cover version of the song and included it as the opening track to their Miscellaneous Debris EP.

In 2013, American industrial rock band Iron Lung Corp recorded a version of the song that appeared as the first track on the Body Snatchers covers album.

References