So (album)

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So
Studio album by Peter Gabriel

Publication
(s)

May 19, 1986

Label (s) Charisma Records

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

8 (CD: 9)

running time

40:07

occupation see below

production

Peter Gabriel, Daniel Lanois

chronology
Birdy (1985) So Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ (1989)

So the fifth regular is solo - album by the British singer and musician Peter Gabriel , published in 1986th

General and content

Unlike its predecessors, the work is not simply called Peter Gabriel , but was given a title, albeit a minimalist one, for the first time. The album was recorded in Gabriel's then domicile and studio Ashcombe House and is still the most commercially successful of his career. Guest stars include Kate Bush , Laurie Anderson , Stewart Copeland , Youssou N'Dour and Jim Kerr .

The themes of the song lyrics, almost exclusively written by Peter Gabriel himself, are broad: the opener Red Rain is about people who lock up their feelings according to a text written by Wolfgang Tilgner . With Sledgehammer , Gabriel paid a memorable tribute to the soul music of his role model Otis Redding ; the piece became the biggest single hit of his career. The ballad sung in a duet with Kate Bush and the second single Don't Give Up thematize unemployment, desperation and courage. That Voice Again , about the mind's suppression of feelings, closes the A-side. The rousing In Your Eyes , often performed as an encore at concerts, was later contributed by Gabriel to the teenage romance film Teen Lover . The atmospheric Mercy Street is based on the poem of the same name by the poet Anne Sexton . Big Time pokes fun at small-minded megalomania and became another single hit. The original LP closes with the sound experiment We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) , which was also used in the television series Miami Vice and was sung by Gabriel at concerts as early as 1980 . This piece deals with the Milgram experiment , which was developed in 1961 by psychologist Stanley Milgram to test whether average people obey authoritarian instructions even when they are in direct conflict with their conscience . The original CD and music cassette version contained a bonus track This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) , a new version of an earlier collaboration between Gabriel and Laurie Anderson .

Re-releases

In 2002 a remastered version of the CD was released. This Is the Picture was retained, In Your Eyes slipped from fifth to last position on the album.

In 2012, a remixed 25th Anniversary version appeared in three different versions:

  • just the album
  • Special 3 CD Limited Edition : album and two additional CDs with a live recording of a concert in Athens ( 1987 )
  • 25th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set : album, two live CDs, a further CD called dna with "unfinished" versions of the pieces, a DVD of the Athens concert, a DVD about the creation of the album, two vinyl LPs and a book (the included Documentary has already been released individually as Classic Albums: So on DVD and Blu-ray Disc ).

Track list

Original from 1986

  1. Red Rain - 5:40
  2. Sledgehammer - 5:12
  3. Don't Give Up - 6:33
  4. That Voice Again - 4:52
  5. In Your Eyes - 5:29
  6. Mercy Street - 6:22
  7. Big Time - 4:28
  8. We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) - 3:22
  9. This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) - 4:25 (not included on the original LP version)

Remastered in 2002 and 25th Anniversary 2012

  1. Red Rain - 5:40
  2. Sledgehammer - 5:12
  3. Don't Give Up - 6:33
  4. That Voice Again - 4:53
  5. Mercy Street - 6:22
  6. Big Time - 4:28
  7. We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) - 3:22
  8. This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) - 4:25
  9. In Your Eyes - 5:27

Musician

Main cast

  • Peter Gabriel - vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, wind arrangements, producer, composition
  • Tony Levin - bass, tuba
  • David Rhodes - guitar, arrangements, co-writer That Voice Again
  • Jerry Marotta - drums
  • Manu Katché - drums, percussion
  • Daniel Lanois - guitar, wind arrangements, producer

Guest musicians (selection)

Awards for music sales

It has been awarded 5 gold and 19 platinum awards worldwide.

Country / Region Award Sales
Awards for music sales
(country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF) Argentina (CAPIF) Gold record icon.svg gold 30,000
Australia (ARIA) Australia (ARIA) Platinum record icon.svg 3 × platinum 210,000
Belgium (BEA) Belgium (BEA) Gold record icon.svg gold 25,000
Germany (BVMI) Germany (BVMI) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 500,000
France (SNEP) France (SNEP) Gold record icon.svg gold 241,800
Hong Kong (IFPI / HKRIA) Hong Kong (IFPI / HKRIA) Gold record icon.svg gold 10,000
Japan (RIAJ) Japan (RIAJ) - 132,000
New Zealand (RMNZ) New Zealand (RMNZ) Platinum record icon.svg 5 × platinum 75,000
Netherlands (NVPI) Netherlands (NVPI) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 100,000
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 50,000
Spain (Promusicae) Spain (Promusicae) Gold record icon.svg gold 50,000
United States (RIAA) United States (RIAA) Platinum record icon.svg 5 × platinum 5,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI) United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum record icon.svg 3 × platinum 900,000
All in all Gold record icon.svg5 × gold
Platinum record icon.svg19 × platinum
7,323,800

Main article: Peter Gabriel / Music Sales Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. release date
  2. Thomas Groß: Peter Gabriel - So (1988). May 29, 2017, accessed on September 22, 2019 (German).
  3. Sales figures for So in France ( Memento from March 16, 2020 in the Internet Archive )
  4. Oricon Entertainment (Ed.): Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 . Roppongi, Tokyo 2006, ISBN 4-87131-077-9 .