Peter Gabriel

So

"I come to you defenses down, with the trust of a child..."

Review Score:

(10/10)
Gabriel has enjoyed since the beginning of his solo career the company of some of the world's most brilliant musicians: some as sit-in session musicians, and some as part of his "permanent" band -such as the case of David Rhodes and Tony Levin. But the norm has been that all of them are extremely talented at performing with the instrument they play.

The album 'So' is no exception to this, with talents such as Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson and Youssou N'Dour, singing alongside Peter in "Don't Give Up," "This Is the Pictures (Excellent Birds)," and "In your Eyes" respectively; Jerry Marotta (former member of the PG band), Manu Katche (now permanent drummer of PG), and Stewart Copeland (former Police drummer) taking turns with the drum kit; Daniel Lanois, co-producer of the album and guitar player; and long-time PG companions, David Rhodes and Tony Levin (one of the world's best, if no THE best bass and stick player). This is far from being an exhaustive list, I'd like to note, but you get the picture...

The album, though, is not about great musicians only, as you might guess. It's about great songwriting as well. Whoever deems this album as commercial because of the tracks "Sledgehammer" or "Big Time" obviously has not taken the time to listen to the lyrics, or see how the respective videos for the two themes are part of a larger picture, where Peter touches on the topics of sex and fame in a very clever way. But even (which they're not) if these two tracks were commercial in the plain sense of the word, there's so much more to this album: it's so dense in rich content, that I could spend hours reviewing it. The songs "Red Rain," "In Your Eyes" and "Mercy Street" are just larger than life: they're songs that you'll be able to listen to in fifty years and the message they carry will still be alive.

To wrap this up, I'd like to leave behind one line taken from the song "That voice again" (not one of the famous, ah?) to give you an idea of the type of lyrical treasures you're bound to find in 'So': "I come to you defenses down, with the trust of a child..."

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