So (album)

So
Original UK vinyl cover
Studio album by
Peter Gabriel
Released19 May 1986 (1986-05-19)
RecordedFebruary–December 1985
Studio
Genre
Length
  • 41:56 (vinyl)
  • 46:21 (CD)
Label
Producer
Peter Gabriel chronology
Birdy
(1985) 		So
(1986) 		Passion
(1989)
Peter Gabriel studio album chronology
Peter Gabriel
(1982) 		So
(1986) 		Us
(1992)
Singles from So
  1. "Sledgehammer"
    Released: April 1986[nb 1][7]
  2. "In Your Eyes"
    Released: August 1986 (US)[8]
  3. "Don't Give Up"
    Released: October 1986[9]
  4. "Big Time"
    Released: March 1987[10]
  5. "Red Rain"
    Released: June 1987[11]

So is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 19 May 1986 by Charisma Records and Virgin Records. After working on the soundtrack to the film Birdy (1984), producer Daniel Lanois was invited to remain at Gabriel's Somerset home during 1985 to work on his next solo project. Initial sessions for So consisted of Gabriel, Lanois and guitarist David Rhodes, although these grew to include a number of percussionists.

Although Gabriel continued to use the pioneering Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer, songs from these sessions were less experimental than his previous material. Nevertheless, Gabriel drew on various musical influences, fusing pop, soul, and art rock with elements of traditional world music, particularly African and Brazilian styles. It is Gabriel's first non-eponymous album, So representing an "anti-title" that resulted from label pressure to "properly" market his music. Gabriel toured So on the This Way Up tour (1986–1987), with some songs performed at human rights and charity concerts during this period.

Often considered his best and most accessible album, So was an immediate commercial success and transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into a mainstream star, becoming his best-selling solo release. It has been certified fivefold platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album's lead single, "Sledgehammer", was promoted with an innovative animated music video and achieved particular success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and subsequently winning a record of nine MTV Video Music Awards. It was followed by four further singles, "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Kate Bush), "Big Time", "In Your Eyes", and "Red Rain".

The album received positive reviews from most critics, who praised its songwriting, melodies and fusion of genres, although some retrospective reviews have criticised its overt commercialism and 1980s production sounds. So was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 but lost to Paul Simon's Graceland. It has appeared in lists of the best albums of the 1980s, and Rolling Stone included the album in their 2003 and 2020 editions of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 it was voted number 82 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[12] So was remastered in 2002, partially re-recorded for Gabriel's 2011 orchestral project New Blood and issued as a box set in 2012.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ultimate classic rock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference paste was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference AllMusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  5. ^ Easlea 2013, p. 378.
  6. ^ "Hot 100 Singles for week ending September 20, 1986". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 38. Nielsen Business Media. 20 September 1986. p. 74. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Sledgehammer". Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  8. ^ "In Your Eyes". Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Don't Give up". Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  10. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. ISBN 978-0-86241-541-9.
  11. ^ "Red Rain". Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  12. ^ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 69. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.


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