Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
1,000 essential albums. One random generator. Zero escape. Jeremy Boyd and Jon VanDyk take a deep dive into the records that shaped music history one randomly selected choice at a time. Whether it’s a 60s psychedelic masterpiece or a 90s alternative powerhouse, we break down the lore, drop 5 fast facts, and give you the tracks that actually matter so you can sound like the smartest person at the record store. New episodes every Tuesday.
Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
So by Peter Gabriel: How an Avant-Rock Outsider Made a Pop Classic
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How did a former prog-rocker create one of the most successful pop albums of the 80s? The Random Album Generator brings us Peter Gabriel’s So. It’s a perfect collision of avant-garde sensibilities, world music influences, and massive, radio-friendly hooks.
Inside This Episode:
- Side A Reaction: Jeremy and Jon react to the first side, discussing the groundbreaking production, the use of the Fairlight CMI, and the soulful energy that made these tracks global hits.
- 5 Fast Facts: We drop five surprising facts about the "Sledgehammer" video, the recording process at Real World Studios, and the legendary collaborators on the record.
- Side B & Final Thoughts: We finish the album and dive into the more atmospheric, experimental textures of the second half.
- The Verdict & Standout Tracks: We each lock in our top 3 tracks. Does So hold up as a cohesive masterpiece today?
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This is Polyphonic Press. The podcast where two music fans pick a classic album completely at random.
SPEAKER_01Alright, hey, welcome to Polyphonic Press. I'm Jeremy Boy. And I'm John Van Dyke. And uh let's not waste any time. We've got the patented random album generator right in front of us here. Uh so let's hit the button and see what album we're gonna be listening to this week. And the album we're gonna be listening to is Peter Gabriel.
SPEAKER_02So oh, okay, cool. I think this came out about 1985.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 85 or 86, around there. And I think it's his first album that isn't just called Peter Gabriel.
SPEAKER_02Was it his first? Because I know a lot of those came out in the 70s and very early 80s, but this might be his first.
SPEAKER_01But anyway, here is a description of the album. It says Peter Gabriel Sew is one of the most iconic art pop albums of the 1980s, a record that blends emotional vulnerability, ambitious production, and global musical influences into something both personal and cinematic. After years of being known as the enigmatic former Genesis frontman, dabbling in experimental textures, avant rock, and political themes, Gabriel pivoted toward a more accessible yet deeply crafted sound with so. The result was a creative crossroads where pop hooks met world beat rhythms, and cutting-edge studio techniques met soulful songwriting. At its heart, so is an album about connection, romantic, spiritual, and human. You can hear it in the yearning in your eyes, the playful and sensual sledgehammer, the haunted introspection of Red Rain, and the grief-stricken storytelling of Don't Give Up, his duet with Kate Bush. The album pairs emotional depth with sonic brilliance, meticulously laired percussion, and innovative sampling and a wide palette of instruments from horns to synthesizers to traditional African rhythms. So also marked Gabriel's breakthrough into the mainstream, supported by visually groundbreaking music videos, especially Sledgehammer, which became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its stop motion innovation. The album remains far more than its singles. Its sequencing, flow, and emotional arc make it a cohesive, immersive listen that still feels fresh decades later. In short, so is a rare achievement, an art rock album that became a pop classic without compromising its intelligence, experimentation, or emotional honesty. If you're exploring the most enduring albums of the 80s, this one is essential. Okay, so the yeah, so this was released uh the 19th of May 1986. Uh the genres are art pop, art rock, progressive pop, and world beat, and uh was released on uh Charisma, Virgin, and Geffen Records, and uh was produced by Peter Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. So there are nine songs on the album, and side one and side two. Uh so the album starts with uh Red Rain and uh it ends with uh That voice again. So if you're listening along, which we do encourage you to do, we've linked the album to both Spotify and Apple Music. So if you want to start the album at Red Rain and then pause at uh That voice again and hear the discussion at the halfway mark. And um without further ado, all right, here we go. Here is the first song on the album, Red Rain. Here we go. Uh yeah, this is um this is a really good album so far. Um I the I like that it's it's very eighties, but it's unique. It doesn't sound like anything else in the eighties. Um and uh it's very slick, the production, but it doesn't feel it doesn't feel synthetic or anything like that. It feels uh still feel feels humans making music. It doesn't have that sort of robotic feel to it. It it has uh but it is the the production is still very slick and and it's it's very well put together. There it's not doesn't feel very loose, it's very every everything every instrument is is sort of a decision, uh, but it it still has a uh uh warm quality to it, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, it's true. It's definitely uh of the zeitgeist of the air era, but it's got a more approachable um sort of uh texture to it. Um that might have to do with a little bit with like the world music. Um that's a in quotations, world music influences in it. With uh well, I I can't exactly say exactly where some of these things came from, but uh that sort of uh flutey note uh noise in the in Sledgehammer or uh even some of the beats he's using are sort of uh African in in in uh origin. Embraces that the aspect of uh, you know, inclusion of uh all sorts of different cultures and to, you know, he he's always been a guy to uh experiment. I mean, that was you know, said in the intro. Um but uh yeah, he he he never shied away from getting influences from everywhere, um no matter what he was doing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's very true. And and like uh that that last song, uh that voice again, I was gonna say the the beats, like the well not the like the rhythm is very African influenced, you know, and uh yeah the the the like that that flute that was used in in Sledgehammer and you know it seemed to be a bit of a trend at this point because I think uh Paul Simon's Graceland came out around the same time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, same same year. Um it's interesting how they were sort of on a similar wavelength around this time. Yeah, I was actually sort of thinking, it was like, well, you know, 86 wasn't exactly the greatest year for music coming out of that time, but uh this is probably one of the best albums. Graceland is another one of probably the best albums, and you also had like whatever Kate Bush was doing as well, and probably the arrhythmics, you know, a very interesting uh direction to uh sort of take things.
SPEAKER_01Still eighties, but 'cause with by by by eighty six you had um like the rock world, the mainstream rock world was fully embracing uh hair metal at this point, and then New Wave was sort of dying out in popularity and sort of the British uh synth New Wave bands were not quite as popular as they once were. And so at this point, and and you know, obviously Peter Gabriel was not a new artist when this came out. I mean, he had been with Genesis for ten years, and then you know, he did this is like his fifth or sixth solo album, so he's not a new name at this point. This uh this is like his commercial breakthrough, but it's not he's not a new artist.
SPEAKER_02Apparently it's his fifth album. Which means I think there was a little bit of a break between his self-titled albums and this one. Um not sure what was going on in there, but I don't think he released much in the throughout most of the early 80s.
SPEAKER_01There's a yeah, so there's a four-year gap between albums, which you know, for an artist that's not new, but like that that's a pretty big gap between albums. Um maybe like more uh established artists who are later in their career, that's a that's not a uh a big gap. You know, you can go a few years. But uh when you're still relatively new, four years is a pretty long time to go between albums.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think they considered him pretty established at this time.
SPEAKER_01Cause at the same time, like he his tenure with Genesis, I mean, they kind of became they did more of a pop thing after he left. He was more in the progressive uh sort of thing that they were doing early on. And you know, even when he does like his solo stuff, which is a little more poppy, but it's still has that uh experimental progressive spirit to it. And and things like this. I mean, um I was watching a video about a couple of years ago I I got a a bass, and so I got really, you know, hyper focused on learning ab everything about playing the bass and you know who played on what and and just watching y my YouTube algorithm slowly was all videos about bass. But but uh the um the the one thing that I saw was about the bass player on this album, and he's a relatively well-known session player, and he toured with Peter Peter Gabriel as well. Uh his name is Tony Levin. And uh they were talking about how he recorded the bass on Sledgehammer, and if you listen to that album, or listen to that song, the bass tone, it has this cool um I don't know if it's like it's not a phaser, but it's like a flange chorusy effect on it.
SPEAKER_02And it sort of modulates a little bit in its tone. I know it's a little bit it's like it feels like it's underwater or something like that. It's really interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah. And uh they were talking about how he played that part, and it's done it was done on a fretless bass with um with uh flat wound strings, and but also he didn't use his fingers or a pick. He had these like plastic finger extensions that he plucked the bass with these like it was it's it sounds like a pick, but it's played with like finger style, so it's um these like just these things that he puts attaches to his fingers are like these plastic, like long fingernails or something. Uh and that's how he played the bass on that uh on that song, um, which is really weird, but it's it's things like that that he's like I know uh um uh Daniel Lanois is producing, but Peter Gabriel helped produce as well, and and it's is like little things like that that you know that song, that same part probably would have been fine to just play either with fingers or a pick, but getting that specific sound, and you know that that bass line always stood out to me even before I knew anything about music. I remember hearing that's the song on the radio and listening to that sound. I'm like, what is going on there? And it's just that little attention to detail is is really and that little experimentation is really what sets him apart from just a typical like pop singer.
SPEAKER_02No, it's true. Um yeah, as much as Daniel Lanois, I think, was sort of like a co-producer because I think Peter Gabriel's always sort of took in a a front seat to his own projects quite uh well, I don't want to say aggressively, but uh indefinitely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's definitely like he's not a con control freak, but I mean it's his album, his name is on it, so he wants to, you know, make it the best that that it can be. It's generally his vision. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, he's gonna hire people like Daniel and Daniel and was no slouch as a producer. I mean he's he's definitely he's very artist friendly and he he's gonna help the artist realize their vision uh really well. He's really good at that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just sort of navigate the technology and and uh and you know, studio studio trickery and stuff like that. It helps to have someone like that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. So I did manage to find find a few uh pretty interesting facts about the album. So number one, so was the turning point that made Peter Gabriel a bona fide pop star, and it has the sales to prove it. Uh released in on uh 19th of May 1986, So became Gabriel's best-selling solo album. It hit number one in the UK, number two on the US Billboard 200, and was certified multi-platinum uh by the RA RIAA. The record's commercial success transformed him from an art rock cult figure into a mainstream international star. And yeah, I mean if you I I think he's I think m Phil Collins is probably more is associated with Genesis than Peter Gabriel is. If you ask an average person who doesn't really know much about music, you would say, well who who's in Genesis? And they'll probably they're probably not gonna say Peter Gabriel. They'd probably say Phil Collins.
SPEAKER_02It's it's quite possible. It's sort of different it sort of depends on who you ask, but yeah, the average person I feel like they could kind of go either way, kind of depending on how old they are. But uh yeah, I think peop uh Phil Collins has sort of like filled that role for so long he's sort of become synonymous with it. Um even to this day, although I don't think Genesis has done much. They've released the odd thing here and there over the past, I don't know, I want to say forty years or something like that, but but Phil Collins is he's basically gone off and done his own solo work as well. But he was initially uh hired into Genesis as d to be a drummer. And they he didn't really start singing until they realized his voice sounded just like Peter Gabriel's, or very close to it. And when Peter Gabriel decided, you know what, I want a solo career, you know, Phil Collins sort of filled the gap rather seamlessly. I think the average person didn't even notice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it's not like Van Halen, where you know, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar have have two very distinct voices. Uh it's like the Phil Collins could sing Peter Gabriel's songs, and it it sounded pretty natural. And so the next one is uh Daniel Lanois's production shaped So's warm rhythmic sheen, but the sessions were unusually patient and collaborative. Uh Gabriel brought in Daniel Lanois, fresh uh from work with U2 and Brian Eno, to co-produce. Lanois and Gabriel deliberately moved away from colder, more expensive experimental textures and focused on groove atmosphere and getting a soulful play, getting to a soulful place. Multiple accounts of the sessions describe long exploratory exploratory jams, careful layering of percussion, and the search for emotional space rather than instant hooks. A big reason so sounds uh both polished and human. That's what I was saying before. It's it's like a s it's a slick production, but it's it feels like musicians playing. It's got an organic soul to it.
SPEAKER_02Um not that you know songs like Hit Sledgehammer don't have a hook, but they've definitely got a hook. Um that bass line is very, very hooky. Um I think big time's got similar sort of thing going on with it as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And and but they weren't like they weren't looking for a hit, they weren't looking for for a hook. And it's funny if you if you if you just uh a lot of the time if you let go and stop trying to trying to force a hook, a lot of the time the most poppy music will come out just naturally because it's like pleasant to listen to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and it always comes out a little bit better when you don't try to force it.
SPEAKER_01If you don't try to commercialize it, I think, if you don't try to like if you don't if your goal isn't if your goal is to make the best song that you can make and not necessarily to make a hit, I think naturally you're gonna make a hit because you're not you're maybe the pressure is off a little bit.
SPEAKER_02It's true. And if you don't make a hit that hits the radio, you'll hit you'll probably create something that's that'll be memorable down the road, and it'll be you know played on radios or whatever p medium is available at the time.
SPEAKER_01You create a classic. And uh speaking of classics, uh the Sledgehammer video was a technical and cultural landmark, and it was exhausting to make. Um the stop motion video collage clip for Sledgehammer, directed by Stephen R. Johnson with Ardman, uh and other animators, reportedly required roughly 100 hours of shooting with painstaking frame-by-frame animation and bizarre visual gags, uh including animated chickens. Uh the video won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987 and helped push Gabriel into heavy MTV rotation, a major factor in the album's mainstream breakthrough. Yeah, it is a pretty it's a pretty amazing video, and even more so when you realize that I mean they did have computers, but pretty primitive computers compared to what they have now. And oh, stop motion's been around since they invented cameras. And uh I do re like like there Is the part with the dancing chickens. And I do remember, do you remember that show pop-up video? Yes. I remember seeing that, and I remember very distinctly uh one of the bits of information that came up was about the chickens, the dancing chickens that they had. And they're not, if you've ever seen the video, they're not chickens like birds, they're chickens that have been slaughtered and plucked, and they're like chickens you would buy at a grocery store. And under the hot lights, the uh but the chickens which actually start to cook, and but they bec the because they're prop chickens, they're they're not being ready to eat. They didn't really care too much about like food safety. So they'd been sitting out for a while. So the cooking of the chickens and them sitting out for it they really didn't smell good. And I think Peter Gabriel had to have his head right beside them, so that could probably wasn't fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, having your face near some rotting chickens doesn't sound very good. Pretty sure I've probably seen the video, but it's been a long time. I don't think I saw it on pop-up video. I saw other ones pop up on pop-up video. Um but uh this one I don't think I remember seeing on that. So interesting.
SPEAKER_01Well it's it's on YouTube. I mean go take a look at it whenever you get the chance. It's pretty amazing to think about what they what they did. And yeah, yeah, you're right. Stop motion, uh you know, it's been around for a long time, but it's also like it's it's also live action um with Peter Gabriel, and he has to lip s he lip syncs the song. So they have they're doing stop motion, but they have to know his mouth position sync up to the to the vocals of the song, and it's just I I don't know how they did it.
SPEAKER_02You probably have to film him just singing the song and then go frame by frame. At least that's how I would do it.
SPEAKER_01It's one of the best, probably the best music video, technically. There's some pretty good ones, but I think it's probably it's it's up there for sure. Um and number four is uh don't give up is a p political human duet, and Kate Bush's part was a deliberate counterpart, counterpoint of comfort. Um don't give up grew out of Gabriel's respon response to images and stories of economic hardship, often compared to Great Depression imagery, and was shaped as a two-voice conversation, a man in despair and a consoling voice. Kate Bush's vocal cameo, she'd collaborated collaborated with uh Gabriel before, was chosen to provide the empathetic don't give up counterpoint. The the song became an iconic statement about unemployment, dignity, and solidarity rather than a simple pop ballad. Yeah, and I've heard lots and lots of stories about people, you know, hearing that song and having it get them through some some tough times.
SPEAKER_00We were wanting to love I was taught to fight taught to win. I never thought I could fail. I am a man whose dreams. I've changed my face. I've changed my name.
SPEAKER_01Sorry, I'm probably mispronouncing that. Yousso nur into the frame and later embedding itself in pop culture. Uh the song In Your Eyes features uh uh Senegalese singer Yusu Yusu N Dunur uh singing part of the coda in Wolof, giving the song an unmistakable global texture. Gabriel's interest in folding African and other non-Western sounds into rock and pop on Seoul helped popularize the approach in the mid-80s. The track later gained a second life and a wider cultural afterlife through its use in Cameron Crow's Say Anything, the boom box scene, which reintroduced the song to a new audience. Right. Yeah, that is that is the song they use in there. I'd forgotten that. I I like I I that reminds me of uh there's an episode of of South Park um where they the I can't remember which character it is, but one of them is trying to impress a girl. And uh one they say, Well, you gotta stand outside your house with a boombox and play Peter Gabriel, but he go goes to her house and plays Shock the Monkey. Yeah. Um yeah, so yeah, so those are some uh pretty interesting facts about the album. But I guess we'll get into the uh second side, and uh it starts with the song Mercy Street. So uh here we go.
SPEAKER_00Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are the dreams all made sun, are the dreams made real. All of the buildings, all of the cars were once just a dream in somebody's head. She pictures the broken glass, pictures the steam, she pictures the soul with all leak at the scene. Wait until darkness, let's take the boda, wait until darkness comes. Nowhere in the corridor.
SPEAKER_01Alright, and uh ending the album with In Your Eyes. Uh yeah, I really I really enjoyed this album. Um I can't really think of anything negative to say about it. Um yeah, it's really well put together, really well crafted. Uh you can tell that they really sort of labored over it, but it it feels very uh feels very natural at the same time. Um it's uh I mean his vocals are great. Um he's a great singer and uh interesting lyrics, um unusual lyrics, uh unusual song structures. Uh it's not like typical pop music, but it it's not uh it's still uh approachable and accessible at the same time. Yeah, I I think it's uh it's really it's really well done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's uh it is a pretty good album. Um yeah, uh especially for the time period it came out in. It was very uh it was hard to put out an album that was uh as organic using the technologies that they had at the time. They could very easily have uh gone a very synthetic route, but uh Peter Gabriel knew how to not do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I yeah, and and d you know, I mean and Daniel Lanois too. I mean he's it's um I think like uh we were saying like it's it's uh they're not trying to chase pop pop success. They're just making an album and making the the best album that they can. And um I mean, yeah, definitely the the the video for Sledgehammer helped for sure. It helped to get in front of audiences.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's a good thing that the song was a jam itself too.
SPEAKER_01I mean very much so. I mean it's uh it it's catchy as hell, and and um and to have that video with it to put that much effort into a video, it's gotta be a uh a good song. So yeah, so I I really I really uh can't think of much to say about it. I mean the I I feel like this album is also sort of unique in the sounds of the that they've chosen for it. Like it it definitely it definitely doesn't s like it has that eighties sound to it. Like if you were to play this and and you ask, okay, well when was that this release, you would probably say, Oh yeah, sometime in the eighties. But even within that the the sounds that they chose and the combinations it's sort of unique even within the context of like eighties pop music. It's not like I don't think anything else like it's not trying to copy anything, and I don't think anything else really tried to copy it. It's really its own thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the album it it definitely has a certain amount of an 80s sound to it, but at the same time it's it ages well. It's not entirely uh it's pretty timeless, but it's it's not completely timeless, but it ages really well. It's got this real just again, that organic soul to it that just you know helps it transcend uh a decade. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I uh yeah, it's yeah, because it's not like is they're not they're not chasing trends. They're just um and and the best music, I mean, the stuff from the 70s and and the nineties as well, that you can tell that that's when it was recorded, but it's not tracing chasing a trend, those that music's also you know stands the test of time and and and uh feels timeless as well. Um so with that being said, what would be your three highlights on the album?
SPEAKER_02Oh you gotta pick Sledgehammer, because it's just it's just a great song. Um I wanna pick Big Time too, but it's again, Sledgehammer and Big Time are like the two real bops in the album. But I also like uh I like Don't Give Up and I like In Your Eyes, I don't know, one of my three favorites. Yeah, it's it's it's I'm gonna pick Sledge Hammer, In Your Eyes, and Don't Give Up. That's what I'm gonna pick. Those are solid choices. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think I have to go Sledge Hammer as well, because it's just so I mean, I know that's kind of like the typical response, but it really is. It's it's it's a great song. I mean, um uh yeah, I would go Sledge Hammer, Red Rain, and In Your Eyes. Those yeah, those would be my picks. Um but you know, there isn't a bad song on the album. Not really, no. Um yeah, so I guess that brings us to the questions. Would you listen to this album again? Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_02I might have to be in the right mood for it, but it is it's a it's a pretty good album. So there's some songs on it that definitely would put me in the mood for it, I think.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. Yeah, same here. Yeah, like if I'm uh listening to the radio or something and and like Sledgehammer comes on, I might go, Oh yeah, let's yeah, I want to go listen to the whole album. Uh so yeah, I would I would definitely listen to this game. So yeah, so I guess we'll uh end the episode there. Uh thank you so much for listening. If you made it this far, uh we would love to hear from you. Uh you can contact us by going to the website, go to polyphonicpress.com slash contact. And uh you while you're there, you can get uh all the previous episodes and updates and things like that. And uh if you want to help us out, you can go to Patreon. You can go to patreon.com slash polyphonic press. And uh lots of cool stuff there. Like you can uh pick an album for us to review, uh, get these episodes the day before they go live, and uh even get a shout-out during these episodes. And uh if you're if this is your first time listening, uh be sure to give us a follow and leaving leave a rating and review, uh, because it really helps uh new listeners find us. And uh I think that just about does it. Uh, I'm Jeremy Boyd, and I'm John Van Dyke. Take it easy.