FEATURED CD - Peter Gabriel : So

[Duncan Glenday]

Per Allmusic:

Peter Gabriel introduced his fifth studio album, So, with "Sledgehammer," an Otis Redding-inspired soul-pop raver that was easily his catchiest, happiest single to date. Needless to say, it was also his most accessible, and, in that sense it was a good introduction to So, the catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. "Sledgehammer" propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and Gabriel had enough songs with single potential to keep it there. There was "Big Time," another colorful dance number; "Don't Give Up," a moving duet with Kate Bush; "Red Rain," a stately anthem popular on album rock radio; and "In Your Eyes," Gabriel's greatest love song, which achieved genuine classic status after being featured in Cameron Crowe's classic Say Anything. These all illustrated the strengths of the album: Gabriel's increased melodicism and ability to blend African music, jangly pop, and soul into his moody art rock. Apart from these singles, plus the urgent "That Voice Again," the rest of the record is as quiet as the album tracks of Security. The difference is, the singles on that record were part of the overall fabric; here, the singles are the fabric, which can make the album seem top-heavy (a fault of many blockbuster albums, particularly those of the mid-'80s). Even so, those songs are so strong, finding Gabriel in a newfound confidence and accessibility, that it's hard not to be won over by them, even if So doesn't develop the unity of its two predecessors.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/so-mw0000650174

[Poisoned Youth]

SLEDGE!

[Steve F.]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

I've certainly seen plenty of other popular pop albums dismissed here that should appeal if you like this one.....

[flowerking]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

I've never been a fan of Gabriel's solo material. I do like Here Comes the Flood, Solsbury Hill and most of this album, but otherwise I was just never interested in his material. But this one has some very nice songs, great production and some outstanding performances on drums and bass. My favorites are Don't Give Up (maybe because of my love of Kate Bush), Red Rain and In Your Eyes. Big Time and Sledgehammer - not so much.

[3LockBox]

I liked it. I also owned the CD maxi-singles of Sledgehammer and Big Time. I was in the Navy when this came out and had a bitchin car stereo, and this album was a must-have. I played it to death. The songs Big Time and Sledgehammer were also dance club mainstays besides being all over the radio - inescapable. I liked just about all of the album except the overtly weird stuff like This Is The Picture and We Do What We're Told.

[3LockBox]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

I've certainly seen plenty of other popular pop albums dismissed here that should appeal if you like this one.....

Luckily for me, pre-Gabriel Genesis wasn't but a blip on my radar and knew him more as a solo artist before I joined the Navy. Prog as a genre wasn't in my vocabulary yet. I liked all kinds of music with no regard to agenda, dogma or social concerns. And before I was bumpin So I was wearing out my copies of Abacab and puzzle pieces (side A anyway).

[Esoteric]

Excellent live I thought, but suprised I must admit to see he looked like he had popped out for a spot of gardening. ! Don't know why but I had always imagined him to be a bit slicker presentation wise, not a bad thing, just not quite what I expected, hasn't seen him before.

[Oreb]

PG's Invisible Touch - a very good album that had mass-appeal, making it viable for him to continue working for decades.

Sledgehammer - Big Time - Mercy Street - In Your Eyes

In Too Deep - Throwing It All Away - Tonight x 3 - Domino

All great songs

[Echoes]

PG's Invisible Touch - a very good album that had mass-appeal, making it viable for him to continue working for decades.
In Too Deep - Throwing It All Away - Tonight x 3 - Domino
All great songs

Aren't all of those post Gabriel Genesis songs and albums?

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

I've certainly seen plenty of other popular pop albums dismissed here that should appeal if you like this one.....

I've never been a fan of Genesis. I always found that the experience of listening to Genesis albums was ruined by the quasi-poetic warbling of PG... he never seemed to shut up and let the music do the talking. When he went solo, he changed his lyric writing style for the better. This is a great album in spite of it's huge commercial success. No Genesis album rates as high as PG3 and this one for me.

[Paulrus]

I remember buying this and the ELPowell album on the same day. The latter is a much better collection of prog rock, but that's not what the PG album was intended to be. He clearly had moved on from the innovative music of the III and IV albums and, with the help of Bob Geldof and his many mega-save-the-world-festival appearances, was settling into his role as "the mature voice of concerned pop stars". That part bugs me to this day. But there's no denying that So is a superbly crafted collection of mid-80s world-pop that influenced a bunch of people at the time. It's correct to compare it to 90125 or Genesis' mid 80s albums in terms of career impact, though I'd rate it above any of those artistically. Still... it was overplayed at the time on radio and MTV, and it's not a record I reach for often today.

[Progatron]

Has two of my favourite PG songs on it, "Red Rain" and "Mercy Street". I'm a bit tired of the rest of it but I do love the full version of "In Your Eyes" with the "accepting all I've done and said, I want to stand and stare again..." sections.

[3LockBox]

I bought this and Paul Simon's Graceland around thec same time on CD and transferred them to a 90min cassette for my car. A great pairing actually.

[Boceephus]

Top shelf stuff, I must say. In Your Eyes is in my top ten tracks of the soundtrack of my life.

[Digital_Man]

I never owned it. My brother had it but he was not a prog fan. This is the album that put PG over the commercial edge.

[Oreb]

Aren't all of those post Gabriel Genesis songs and albums?

Yeah - that was my point. So is PG's Invisible Touch.

[Digital_Man]

Yeah - that was my point. So is PG's Invisible Touch.

Yeah I see your point that is if you are trying to say this was his huge commercial breakthrough. However, I don't feel SO is as deliberately commercial as Invisible Touch. I think he was just moving in a more pop/r&b direction. However, I do feel that part of the success of SO was due to the fact that Genesis were very high profile and maybe he was able to capitalize on that(even though I don't personally feel it was calculated). I don't remember which album came out first though.

[Oreb]

Yeah I see your point that is if you are trying to say this was his huge commercial breakthrough. However, I don't feel SO is as deliberately commercial as Invisible Touch. I think he was just moving in a more pop/r&b direction.

I don't think we can ever know about deliberation. I like both albums - but it's pretty clear to me that the spite thrown towards Collins et al for their pop music is typically not thrown at PG for his, despite the fact that they are both transparently commercial in sound and approach.

[SteveSly]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

I've certainly seen plenty of other popular pop albums dismissed here that should appeal if you like this one.....

Very good point. I don't love it or hate it. He has other albums that I like better, and other albums that I think are much weaker. At the time would I have given this album the time of day without the Genesis connection. Hard to say.............

[Paulrus]

However, I do feel that part of the success of SO was due to the fact that Genesis were very high profile and maybe he was able to capitalize on that(even though I don't personally feel it was calculated). I don't remember which album came out first though.

The "shapes" album came out before (1983), but Invisible Touch came out a month after So.

I can recall an MTV produced history of Genesis at the time and I'm sure for many of their viewing audience it was a bit of a "oh wow, THAT GUY was in Genesis?" moment when Gabriel showed up talking about the early years.

EDIT:
OK, this is hilarious. I went to YT to see if they had the 1986 MTV Genesis history up there. Didn't find it, but found the promo which -- funnily enough -- includes a brief snippet of Gabriel, but nobody from Genesis.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Pass.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I don't think we can ever know about deliberation. I like both albums - but it's pretty clear to me that the spite thrown towards Collins et al for their pop music is typically not thrown at PG for his, despite the fact that they are both transparently commercial in sound and approach.

well... I think the compositions and arrangements on So are a bit deeper and less formulaic than the stuff on Invisible Touch
The main difference for me is that So seems to be a bit more intimate and personal lyrically... heartfelt even
Musically, well... the musicians on So are world class

[bob_32_116]

I think I'd like this album a lot more if it did not have Big Time and Sledgehammer, neither of which I ever liked much, neither the music nor the smartarse lyrics. The rest - well one can't just dismiss an album that has In Your Eyes, Mercy Street and Red Rain.

I never really warmed to Don't Give Up. The tune is fine, but I find something off-putting about the production - the verse seems to get into a kind of groove that is sonehow lost when Kate starts with the chorus. It's as though Peter could not decide whether to give the song a strong rhythm, or to make it like a soul ballad.

[Dusty Chalk]

I got nuthin against P.G. or this album, but I wonder how many on this forum who love it, would love it so much (or would have even paid any attention to an album of music like this), if PG had not previously been the singer for a band mucho beloved by many on this board?

Despite my age (50-ish), I was late to Genesis -- I heard Solsbury Hill before Follow You Follow Me (my intro to Genesis). So...yeah, dyed in the wool PG fan from day one.

Favourite track when I first heard the album was "Mercy Street". It just stood out with that triangle.

[JJ88]

I love this album and plenty of other 'pop' music too, FYI.

The one song I have reservations about is 'Sledgehammer' which to me is very much Gabriel-going-for-a-hit IMHO. It worked, and the video became particularly famous, but it's not a favourite of mine. See also the later 'Steam' and 'Kiss That Frog', the former of which especially was very much son-of-'Sledgehammer'. These songs to me don't really have the same sort of artistry I usually associate with him.

The rest of the album doesn't strike me as being any more 'commercial' than anything else he's ever done. 'Big Time' has that gaudy 80s sound but look at the lyrics, which are very clearly satirical, and it kind of fits. 'Red Rain', 'Mercy Street' and some of the stranger tracks on the 2nd side ('This Is The Picture', 'We Do What We're Told') are as good as anything he's done.

As for the inevitable 'Invisible Touch' comparison, well, I like quite a bit of that album as well. But again, the title track on that isn't my favourite (I like the instrumental bit in it though), for the same reason. That album also has more of an 'Adult Contemporary' flavour on the ballads, to my ears.