Peter Gabriel

So

The critics loved it. Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice

Review Score:

(10/10)
They called it "breakthrough" (to them, that means "more normal"), but as far as I could hear, it didn't make but one concession to the mainstream pop rules that they're the guardians of--the song "Sledgehammer". Okay, that was worth listening to as decent Atlantic R & B, but the rest of the album still sounded like the adventurer who founded Genesis. Hey, one of progressive's rules is that good players get to PLAY. For example, Tony Levin's bass playing shines in "Don't Give Up" almost as much as guest vocalist Kate Bush's voice does. In the same way that she's half of a duet rather than a backup singer, Levin' third harmony bass figure is half the accompaniment rather than a mere part of the rhythm section. And at the coda, the time signature shifts from three to four, and under Peter & Kate's repeat of the song's signature phrase, Levin really jams! He does it again in "Mercy Street" by putting out a low-register growl that's an octave below where "real" rock bass players are "supposed to" play. Don't tell me this album's conventional!

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