Peter Gabriel - So: mooring my rowboat at the dock of the island called God...
Written: Aug 05 '04 (Updated Aug 17 '04)
Product Rating:
Pros: music that can make a difference – there is beauty to be found here
Cons: songs with subtitles will make most people scratch their heads and say "whu…?"
The Bottom Line: #3 of the Top Ten Albums that molded my musical tastes. This is also one of my desert island discs, if that makes any difference to you…
bob_tomato's Full Review: So [Remaster] by Peter Gabriel
I was twenty in 1986, a young man struggling with entering adulthood, trying to form some sort of plan for my future, and working out my place in the world. Music played a major role in forming my worldview – I looked to music as a sort of soundtrack for my soul, my conscience. I was no longer satisfied with hearing a song and liking it because of peer pressure – I had begun thinking about what I was hearing, actively seeking out music and lyrics that were intelligently persuasive, anything of substance that was far from average for pop music of the time. I didn't wish to hear what was popular – I wanted to find music that mattered. Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert had impressed me greatly, and the Amnesty International tour featuring U2, Sting and Peter Gabrielwas a worthy effort that I applauded. The music, lyrics and concepts of these and other causes of the time caught fire in my heart, and I devoted much of my listening time to the artists featured in the AI tour. In fact, I have now come to realize that the music of 1986 and 1987 was the most formative of all for me…The Joshua Tree, Nothing Like the Sun, and So - my holy trinity of musical taste. (OK, so I've let the cat out of the bag now, but there is still a surprise in store for #2 in my Top Ten list – stay tuned)
Peter Gabriel was the flamboyant front man for Genesis in their heyday as one of the world's top progressive-rock bands, and it was his ever-increasing popularity (or notoriety, depending on your viewpoint) that helped lead to his departure from the band. Gabriel launched a fairly successful solo career in the late seventies, one that garnered him both popular and critical acclaim for his inventively catchy songs. He wrote insightful lyrics that cut into matters of the heart and the mind, using the latest in cutting edge audio and video technology to create an alchemy of politics and science, arts and the humanities. Gabriel was one of the first to make full use of the power of computers in creating and recording his songs, and he wielded these same powers in many of his pioneering videos, some of which became the standard for others that followed. He also became well known for his wide ranging use of musical influences from around the globe, seeking to incorporate not only the sounds but also something of the culture and traditions behind the music so unfamiliar to the West.
I have to admit that none of these things initially drew me to Peter Gabriel's work – though I was familiar with songs like Solsbury Hill, Games Without Frontiers, and Shock The Monkey, it was the groundbreaking video for the lead single of his 1986 album So that really caught my attention. Sledgehammer combined stop motion photography, animation, graphics and live action into a whirl of color and movement that perfectly accented the Stax drenched sounds of this instantly classic song. The video for Big Time got me off my rear and into my local record store, where I bought both the CD and the video for So. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that these two radio hits only scratched the surface – they only hinted at how good So would be…
One of the major strengths of the album is the cast of supporting musicians that played on the album – drummers Manu Katche, Jerry Marotta and Stewart Copeland, guitarists David Rhodes and Daniel Lanois (who produced So, and also helmed U2's The Unforgettable Fire, and The Joshua Tree among others) , sax man Mark Rivera, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Don Mikkelsen on trombone, bassists Tony Levin, Larry Klein and Bill Laswell, and guest vocalists Kate Bush, Youssou N'Dour and Laurie Anderson - all a virtual who's who from the finest musicians of the period (and some to this day) . The music of So is rich and diverse, intelligent and cohesive, one of the best efforts of the decade.
Just how good this album is can only be proven by listening to it several times through. It's one of those recordings that takes time to seep in; there are so many different layers, so much to sift through and marvel at that one can't possibly decide it's relative worth upon first hearing. A couple of the songs would still be considered experimental, far outside "normal" music – the songs with (subtitles) We Do What We're Told and This Is The Picture are sound paintings, abstractions of melody and lyric that challenge you to stand back and consider their deeper meanings. Yes, these songs are definitely odd, but it's songs like these that make any Peter Gabriel album complete – you never know what he will present you with or why, but it works…
The radio hits (and there are several here) are still fresh, still relevant in today's music scene. As I noted earlier, Sledgehammer relies on the classic big sax sounds of early Stax recordings at it's core – it's a sound that still grabs you and makes you want to move with the music. Of all the hits, Big Time could be said to have suffered the most over time, a paen to eighties excesses that comes closest to the pop radio sounds of the era, while the moving balladry of Don't Give Up, a stunning duet with Kate Bush, remains a staple of adult contemporary to this day. The sounds of the African continent are woven throughout In Your Eyes, and despite the image of John Cusack wooing the girl by standing outside her window in the rain playing this song on the boom box raised high above his head, it's much more than just another eighties love song. It's a heartfelt expression of a lost soul, searching for solace and comfort in a confusing world, just the sort of thing I could relate to at twenty years of age.
I considered ending this review right here – but I cannot deprive you of the opportunity to learn something more of the stories behind two songs from So. These songs continue to affect me nearly twenty years after they were released; they are songs that dig deep into the soul, stirring up dark places, disturbing the quiet of things long buried and forgotten for some, illuminating troubling realities for others. These are
two of Gabriel's very best songs - Red Rain and Mercy Street are simply amazing works of art.
Red Rain can stand on it's own lyrically as gorgeous poetry, but the music is equally fascinating. Driven by Copeland's hi hat, Katche's percussion and an intricate bass line by Levin, it seemed at first to many ears a vivid conceptual exploration of the horrors of war, but Gabriel explains in his book Peter Gabriel In His Own Words:
Years ago I had a recurring dream. I was swimming in a swirling sea of red and black. I remember a tremendous turmoil as the sea was parted by two white walls. A series of bottles, of human shape, were carrying the red water from one wall to another, then dropping down to smash into little pieces at the bottom of the second wall. I used this for a scene in a story in which the red sea and red rain from which it was formed represented thoughts and feelings that were being denied. I do believe that if feelings of pain do not get brought out, not only do they fester and grow stonger but they manifest themselves in the external world. For example, if a personal storm cannot be outwardly expressed it will appear in life in events with other people -- in this case a cloudburst.
Red Rain (excerpt)
I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
it can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
this place is so quiet, sensing that storm
red rain is coming down
red rain
red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me
well I've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
they tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
there is no blood around see no sign of pain
hay ay ay no pain
seeing no red at all, see no rain
red rain is coming down
red rain
red rain is pouring down
pouring down all over me
red rain-
putting the pressure on much harder now
to return again and again
just let the red rain splash you
let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
with the trust of a child
The ghostly images of Mercy Street could haunt and comfort all at once; much of the translation of this song depends upon your personal feelings towards the father figure in your own life. The song is drawn from the writings of the confessional poet Anne Sexton, a woman who suffered from brutalizing depression that eventually caused her to take her own life. Gabriel took his title from Sexton's poem 45 Mercy Street, and the concept of the song from her posthumous collection of writings entitled The Awful Rowing Towards God. Gabriel commented again …In His Own Words on Mercy Street - 'Mercy Street' is filled with messages and imagery of dreams, and a constant search for a suitable father figure, whether it be a doctor, a priest, or God....
Here is the complete lyric of what has become my absolute favorite Peter Gabriel song:
Mercy Street
looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real
all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody's head
she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam
lets take the boat out
wait until darkness
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness comes
nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day
there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone
dreaming of mercy st.
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
'swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms
pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word
confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he's the doctor
he can handle the shocks
dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary's lips
dreaming of mercy st.
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
'swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy's arms
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea
The albums that I've listed to date in this Top Ten list are all wonderful collections of music, and they each contain at least a couple songs with thoughtful lyrics that can provoke, but So is at another level entirely. Despite the fact that much of the music on this recording is simply entertaining to listen to, the real strength of the album are the challenging concepts presented to the listener. This is not an album to listen to lightly – it is a journey over joyously bright mountains and through threateningly dark valleys. The title seems deceptively dismissive - So… but don't you dare dismiss this recording! It is so much more than a couple of catchy tunes set to innovative videos – it is music that matters…
Peter Gabriel - So
Originally released in May, 1986 by Geffen Records
All lyrics quoted here are the copyrighted property of Peter Gabriel Original Track Listing
Red Rain / Sledgehammer / Don't Give Up / That Voice Again / In Your Eyes / Mercy Street / Big Time / We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) / This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
note: new releases of So (a re-master CD in 2002 and the SACD of 2003) moved the song In Your Eyes to the end of the recording.
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My Top Ten List of albums that molded my musical tastes
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