Peter Gabriel

So

You were alive in 1986? Then you've heard this...

Review Score:

(10/10)
The album that the querulous at the time saw as Gabriel's "sellout" has turned out to be amongst his best. Four years after "Security" Gabriel drastically changed direction and suddenly found himself a household name. If he was competing with his old Genesis bandmate Phil Collins then Gabriel won. "So" epitomizes quality 1980's pop and still stands up solid today. That and it sold in droves. "Sledgehammer" clogged the pop airwaves almost as much as its video clogged the then young MTV's playlist. Many new listeners (like myself) had no idea that Gabriel had already notched up almost twenty years in the business. We all told each other "Hey! This new guy Gabriel's great!"

As everyone now knows, "So" is anything but a blatant grope for success. True, it's more accessible than anything Gabriel previously recorded. But no album containing "Red Rain", "Mercy Street", "Excellent Birds", and "We Do What We're Told" could ever get subsumed as a mere "sellout". These songs sit aside some of Gabriel's best ever, particularly "Mercy Street" (which is probably the closest that "So" came to "Security").

The hits just kept pouring out of this album. After "Sledgehammer" conquered pop music "Big Time" (Gabriel's jab at over confidence and maybe a slam on himself) followed along with "In Your Eyes" (it was re-released a few times, but the extended live version far outshines the version here), "Don't Give Up" (even with this big hit people in the States still don't know who Kate Bush is; Poor Kate), and "Red Rain". One wonders if Gabriel himself was as surprised as anyone by this level of success. The man who once dressed up as a bat for concerts now stood on the pinnacle of the pop scene. It must have felt strange.

Once the hype and attention to "So" petered out (as every big thing does) Gabriel did what any sane person would. He hid. Almost three years later he released a mostly instrumental masterpiece called "Passion" (the re-worked soundtrack for Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ"). Fans of "So" probably didn't know what to think of this one. Longtime Gabriel fans probably recognized the same old Gabriel in this move.

The only complaint about the CD reissue is the song order. Why put "In Your Eyes" after "Excellent Birds"? Originally it came after "That Voice Again" and before "Mercy Street". It sounded good there. This new order also ruins the effect of "We Do What We're Told", Gabriel's ode to the fascinatingly controversial psychologist Stanley Milgram. What a closer for a pop album. ("Excellent Birds" was originally listed as a "bonus song"; it's a re-working of a song co-written for Laurie Anderson's 1984 album "Mister Heartbreak"). The original song order made more sense. Put it back!

Gabriel's popularity still remains strong, but it has never reached the dizzying heights of the "So" years. Gabriel probably prefers this. He's never been one to hamster fame. Instead, he uses his fame and money to promote music from all over the world (on his "Real World " label that started not long after "So"; it features artists rarely heard in the West). What better way to celebrate success than to share it?

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