So [SACD]

Before a single lyric was written there was the process of constructing the percussion tracks, Gabriel's is quoted as saying that "as a failed drummer, I focus heavily on the grooves" and as if to prove the point he recorded different versions of several tracks with 3 of the world's top drummers, Gabriel band regular Jerry Marrotta, Stewart Copeland from The Police and Afro-Frenchman Manu Katche he then chose which one he liked best very time consuming.

Gabriel had started to put some important musical milestones behind him, for the song "Sledgehammer" he flew to New York to record Wayne Jackson the trumpeter he'd seen backing Otis Redding in 1967 at the Ram jam club in Brixton, the experience had made him want to be a soul singer.
For the chorus for the track "In your Eyes", he called in the Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour who was to play such a key role in the music of Peter Gabriel for years to come.
Then in a stoke of genius he gave Kate Bush the chance to deliver one of the most memorable vocal performances of her life, for when Kate duetted on the song "Don't Give Up" the lyrics are on the edge of cornball cliché, but the way Kate sang them they came across as believable.
Gabriel had written the song in response to a famous photograph from the American Depression called "This Proud Land" which reflected his feelings about unemployment in Britain.

"So" was released on May 19th 1986, at the same time the single "SledgeHammer" was riding high in the charts, it got to number 4 in the UK charts and was an American number 1.
The big selling tool was the accompanying video which cost £120,000 pounds to make and took 100 hours to film using "claymation" within the year the album "So" had sold 5 million copies worldwide.

The album opens with "Red Rain" which has the sound of Hi-hat with Levin adding the punch of the track with his stick bass filling the gap between the drums and Gabriel pounding the piano, which gives the opening cry of "Red rain is coming down Red rain is pouring down Pouring all over me".

"Sledgehammer" which is Gabriel's homage to the sound of "Stax" and "Motown", the song has a quiet fairlight intro, this is then followed by Jackson's trumpet sound which along with the constant stick bass sound of Levin is the backbone of the track which all the other parts are hung on.

As the sound of Stick bass comes into earshot with a little run on the keyboard Gabriel begins, "Don't give up" which with its accompanying video which has Gabriel and Bush locked in an embrace for the length of the song with the camera panning round, what makes the track work is the arrangement of the song which has at it's heart wonderful vocal performances of the singers who make you believe the lyrics, truly a hairs standing up on the back of the neck song.

The mood is broken with the groove drenched "That Voice Again" which is another song where simple keyboard riffs are played against several rhythm tracks, hi-hats and the signature stick bass sound of Levin.

"Mercy Street" begins with a quiet keyboard sound that is then given substance by the sound of bass that along with the sound of a triangle, this simple groove gives the lyrics the perfect foil, "Looking down on Empty streets all she can see are the dreams made solid" Joni Mitchell's ex plays the bass on the track, Larry Klein plays fretless bass which gives it a slightly different sound to the previous tracks and as quietly it began the song ends with a bass note that fades into the distance.

The following track begins just simply with Gabriel exclaiming "Hi There" crash the sound of snare drum and more of Klein's funky bass sound to herald the start of "Big time" which is the closest to a simple pop song on the album with it's chorus of "Big Time".

The next track is "We do what we are told" is a song build around that one line in the chorus.

The penultimate song, which is another experiment built around a single line just like the previous track. "This is the Pictures (excellent birds) it has Gabriel duetting with performance artist Laurie Anderson.

To close the album is the excellent "In your Eyes" which is a welcome return to form and just like the better tracks here is a song built around rhythm tracks interlaced with catchy keyboard licks with a superb chorus " In your eyes I see the doorways of a thousand churches In your eyes the resolution, in your eyes, all the fruitless searches Oh I see the light and the heat oh I want to be that complete".
This version of "So" was re-mastered by Tony Cousins who did a similar renovation to Gabriel's entire solo back catalogue in 2002.

This is Gabriel's most complete album.