Peter Gabriel - So - 180g Vinyl LP

Vinyl LP pressing.

The first of Peter Gabriel's studio albums to have a proper title So was a watershed release with it's perfect marriage of the artistic and the commercial. This is a 1LP black vinyl release with sleeve artwork and inner bag as per the original LP release but still with the artist's preferred running order that has In Your Eyes closing the album. The album comes with a download card with a choice of digital download (Hi-Res 24/96k or 16/44.1k).

The album, produced by Daniel Lanois, features intriguing collaborations - with Laurie Anderson on This Is The Picture, Kate Bush on Don't Give Up and Youssou N'Dour on In Your Eyes - and contains some of Peter's most recognisable and popular songs. "There is always wisdom from hindsight. And because 'So' was my most successful record, I think that a lot of people think that it was designed to be that. From the other end of it, you never really know which records are going to do well. You know that some things are going to be so obscure and difficult for a mainstream audience that they're no-hopers but generally, with what I do, it's hard to predict which albums are going to do well."

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.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine