Classic Albums: So

Peter Gabriel

Studio: Eagle Rock Entertainment

Release: October 22, 2012
Reviewed: November 4, 2012

If you’ve read many reviews and other pieces on Boomerocity.com, you already know that I believe that the only great rock music was recorded in the 60’s and 70’s and that anything since those days is garbage.  However, in my more honest and unguarded moments, I will admit that there’s been some great music produced since those days. 

One of those who has put out some great sounds is Peter Gabriel.  You would have had to have lived under a rock to not have heard his monumental production of great music.  A large chunk of that music maps back to his 1986 record breaking album, So.

Eagle Rock Entertainment has released Classic Albums: So, the next installment in their Classic Albums series on DVD and Blu-ray. This release tells the story behind the making of So. It was Gabriel’s fifth solo album and the first one to have a title (all others were self-titled). The album spawned a number of hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic including Sledgehammer, Big Time, Don’t Give Up, (a duet with Kate Bush) and In Your Eyes which drove So to multi-platinum sales, the No.1 spot in the UK and No.2 in the US.

So was very much an album of the MTV generation and the distinctive videos for tracks like Sledgehammer, Red Rain, Big Time, and Don’t Give Up were key factors in the album’s success.  A special re-mastered version of the classic album So will be released by Real World/EMI in September 2012 on CD, triple CD and a super deluxe box set.

Classic Albums: So offers a unique perspective on the motivations behind – and the actual creation of – this masterwork and contains as “Bonus Features” over 30 minutes of additional material not included in the broadcast version.  This release is a must-have addition to anyone’s video library and is not to be missed.