Peter Gabriel reveals the secrets of "So" in a documentary airing on Rai5

On Thursday 30 July, at 11:45pm, Rai5 will air a documentary directed by George Scott in which Peter Gabriel recounts the genesis of the album “So”, released in 1986. Widely regarded as his most successful work, as well as his most musically accessible, “So” transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into an international superstar. The album received unanimous critical acclaim, praised for its sound and fusion of different genres, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Who knows whether it was also the “Collinsmania” raging in the mid-Eighties that pushed Peter Gabriel towards pop. What is certain is that none of the former Genesis members could ever have expected the overwhelming success the drummer-singer from Chiswick was achieving at the time, churning out an endless stream of hits (“In The Air Tonight”, “You Can't Hurry Love”, “Easy Lover”, “One More Night”, “Against All Odds”, to name but a few). “Who would have ever imagined it,” bassist Mike Rutherford would later wryly remark. In short, the success of the tireless drummer — with whom, as we've seen, Gabriel had also collaborated as a solo artist — threatened to overshadow the former leader of the very band Collins himself was steering, in those years, towards unexpected pop-rock territory. And so the British press and public enjoyed stoking a rivalry between the two, never imagining that, knowingly or not, Gabriel would eventually step into that ring for real — landing a technical knockout.
Having weathered a difficult family period — including an intense relationship with actress Rosanna Arquette and marriage counselling to put the pieces of his relationship with wife Jill back together — the English artist set about launching his fifth album, which would also be the first to have an actual title, albeit not an especially wordy one. Just two letters: “So”. “An anti-title... if you like, it could be more a piece of graphic design than something with meaning and intention. And that's what I did from then on,” Gabriel would explain, reiterating his aversion to record titles which, in his view, distract attention from the cover artwork. An apparently unassuming title, then, yet one that reflected the particular intensity the English composer had poured into this new project, after doing everything he could to resolve his personal troubles.

That's how things went, then, in 1986, for the English musician. Which is to say, as ever, proving once again how an artist's depth and originality aren't measured solely within their chosen field, but are a gift that can be precious even when applied beyond the most unpredictable frontiers.
Credited as a prophet of political rock and uncompromising world music, Gabriel thus set about flirting with mainstream pop, backed in the production booth by Chris Hughes and Daniel Lanois. "'Birdy' was a work essentially built on textures and sounds, and this time I wanted to focus more on the songs, to be more cheerful and less mysterious," the English musician would recall. "I was coming out of a dark period and I had to try to open myself up to the world." And he would pull it off, crowning yet another of his spectacular transformations. Tackling catchy, melodic, obsessively appealing pop songs, Gabriel would once again prove incapable of turning out anything banal or predictable.
What's more, the album's aura of respectability was already guaranteed by the roster of guests and musicians involved, tangible proof of Gabriel's credibility and clout within the music scene of the time: the usual Jerry Marotta, Tony Levin, David Rhodes, the extraordinary French drummer Manu Katché, a horn section led by Wayne Jackson, and also L. Shankar, Richard Tee, Stewart Copeland (drummer of Police), Kate Bush (who had already appeared, as we've seen, on "III"), Jim Kerr of Simple Minds and Michael Been of the Call (with whom he had already sung on "Everywhere I Go"). A prestigious lineup that would help make "So" an album comparable, in depth of pacing and richness of language, to Sting's contemporary Sting album "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles".

Meanwhile, Peter Gabriel continues releasing tracks that will make up his forthcoming album “o/i”, expected in full by the end of the year. Gabriel places the song within a broader project tied to a parallel show he has been working on for some time: a narrative centred on the brain as its conceptual core. “Put The Bucket Down” marks a passage in which the boundary between independent thought and outside influence becomes blurred, calling into question the very origin of ideas and consciousness. Musically, the track was built around what the artist calls an “unbalanced loop”, an irregular rhythmic structure that found its full expression through work with the band. During the orchestral sessions, Gabriel brought in John Metcalfe for an essential, minimal part, while horns take on a central role thanks in part to contributions from Paolo Fresu in the studio and Josh Shpak in live performances.

The English musician's new record project arrives as a direct follow-up to “i/o” (2023) and picks up its conceptual framework: once again, Gabriel will release a song with every full moon, building towards the release of the complete album by the end of the year.
Presenting the album, Gabriel stated: “I'm happy to say that tonight, with the full moon, we begin a new year of monthly releases under the name 'o/i'. The songs are a collection of thoughts and feelings. I've been thinking a lot about the future and how we might respond: we're entering an unprecedented period of transition, probably triggered by three main waves — artificial intelligence, quantum computing and the brain-computer interface. Artists have the job of peering into the fog and, when they glimpse something, holding up a mirror. We are not, and never have been, fully self-determined, independent beings given free rein over the world. We are something else, we're part of nature, part of everything, and feeling some kind of connection, shaking our booty and giving and receiving a bit of love can help us find our place, and put a nice smile on our face,” Gabriel added.

The English composer went on to sum up the relationship between the two albums as a kind of complementary diptych: “i/o” represents “the inside finding a new way out”, while “o/i” is “the outside discovering a new way in”. A reflection that broadens into a less individualistic vision of human beings, understood as an integral part of nature and of a larger whole, in which emotional and physical connection becomes a means of finding one's place.
Some of the new songs, he added, will feed into the “brain project” Gabriel has been developing for years, while others simply spring from a desire to convey joy. “I hope you like them,” he concluded.
In a separate context, Gabriel also recently thanked director Josh Safdie for featuring his track “I Have The Touch” in the film “Marty Supreme”, starring Timothée Chalamet.

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