Peter Gabriel • So
Classic Records/Real World Records PG 7-45
Four single-sided 45-RPM 200 g LPs
Originally released in 1986, So is Peter Gabriel’s fifth studio album, and the first to officially have a title (all of his previous studio albums were simply titled Peter Gabriel). The album is most famous for the single, Sledgehammer, which was Gabriel’s biggest North American hit (it ties with that distinction in his native UK with Games Without Frontiers, from his third studio album).
One of the advantages of being released in this four-sided format is that all of the tracks that Gabriel had intended to put on the album are present, in their intended order. The original vinyl release was absent the duet with Laurie Anderson, This is the Picture (Excellent Birds), and In Your Eyes was moved from the end of side two to the beginning of that side.
The sound quality is as good as one would expect, and is a clear step up from my original Canadian pressing. Pressed on Classic Records’ Clarity vinyl, the single-sided records are flat with silent surfaces. The music is great too, and the bass solo near the end of the duet with Kate Bush, Don’t Give Up, is a good test of a system’s bass resolving capability.
Packaged in the usual Clarity style, a heavy duty box with the contents protected by bubble wrap, this is another record that you should try to get your hands on. Doubly so if you’re a Peter Gabriel fan!