The 500 - #187 - So - Peter Gabriel

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #187
Album Title: So
Artist: Peter Gabriel

Genre: Art Rock, Progressive Pop, World Beat
Recorded: Ashcombe House, Swainswick, Somerset, U.K.; Power Station Studios, New York, U.S.A.

Released: May, 1986
My age at release: 20
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #297, dropping 110 places.
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Mercy Street

In the summer of 1980, shortly after moving to London, Ontario, I visited the local library on a quest to borrow records. I returned home with two under my arm, both from English solo artists -- David Bowie and Peter Gabriel. The first was Heroes, Bowie's twelfth studio release, and the other was the third, and most recent, record from Gabriel. Like Gabriel’s two previous albums, it was untitled. However, fans dubbed it Melt because of the picture on the jacket -- which depicts Gabriel with half his face distorted as if made of candle wax.

Melt album cover - the effect achieved by smearing
portrait pictures of Gabriel taken with a Polaroid SX-70 
instant camera as they developed.

The album contained the song Games Without Frontiers, released six months earlier and a Top Ten hit in the spring of 1980. However, it was the opening track, Intruder, that immediately captured my attention. The combination of a dark narrative about a home invasion coupled with this powerful, punch-to-the-chest drumbeat was captivating. I would later learn it was played by Gabriel's former Genesis bandmate, Phil Collins. It also marked origin of the gated-reverb sound -- an audio processing technique that would dominate the 80s (and is making a comeback in the 2020s).

The final track, Biko, was an anti-apartheid protest song about South African activist Steven Biko, who died while in police custody. Infused with Soweto-inspired rhythms and traditional mbube singing style, Biko introduced me to a wider world of music, as well as amplifying the impact protest songs can have on social change.

News article following the death of Steven Biko in police custody.

This was the beginning of a Peter Gabriel fandom that continues for me to this day. He is, without a doubt, my favourite solo artist and among my top five groups of all time. His first band, Genesis, had also massive commercial success after his 1975 departure.

The classic line-up of Genesis (1975), (l-r) Tony Banks, Phil Collins,
Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel.

Deciding what to write about for this blog post was a challenge because of the many choices between what to include and what to leave out. Much like determining what to watch on television in the age of multiple streaming channels, I am somewhat paralyzed by the tyranny of choice. When promoting this record on social media earlier this week, I joked that I could write five different posts about Gabriel.  He was a  rare artist who not only entertained but  made me a more thoughtful, socially informed and kinder person. His body of work and socially conscious, humanist philosophy and fearless creative spirit influenced me toward better, kinder and braver choices in my teens and early-twenties.

Gabriel (right) on The Human Rights Now
Tour in 1988 with (l-r) Sting, Tracy Chapman
Bruce Springsteen and Youssou N'Dour.

I have seen Peter Gabriel perform six times in four cities and each concert was memorable.

In 1987, on my 22nd birthday, I saw him at the Canadian National Exhibit Stadium (CNE) in Toronto. Over a pre-show beer I chatted with an "old" guy (he was probably 35) wearing a vintage Genesis concert shirt who had seen Gabriel with Genesis at Massey Hall, also in Toronto, in 1973. In a time before the internet, the “geezer” provided a first-hand account of the group’s storied performances.

Peter Gabriel on the 1986-87 This Way Up Tour, supporting So.

In December, 2002, after a lengthy hiatus, Gabriel released the album Up and brought his tour to Toronto's Air Canada Centre for a spectacular show on a round stage in the middle of the arena. The event included a performance of the song Sky Blue with The Blind Boys of Alabama -- a gospel group with changing members who have been active since 1939.

Sky Blue performance. The Blind Boys of Alabama at the centre
or a round stage, surrounded by Gabriel and his band.

In July, 2003, he brought a stripped down version of the Growing Up Tour to my hometown of London, Ontario. I convinced 10 friends to join my wife and me, and we had a terrific night that began and ended (in the wee hours of the morning) at our downtown apartment.

A polaroid snapshot taken of my wife and me taken by our  friend Reeny
on the night of the London Gabriel concert - July 5, 2003.

In 2010, Gabriel released Scratch My Back. Accompanied by the New Blood Orchestra, Gabriel recorded versions of 12 of his favourite songs, including the aforementioned Heroes by David Bowie, which was a bit of a "full-circle moment" for me.

Scratch My Back album cover.

A few years later, many of the same artists whose songs Gabriel had covered contributed to an accompanying record, called And I'll Scratch Yours. It featured their interpretations of songs from Gabriel's catalogue. It was a wonderful collaboration with contributions from amazing groups and artists, including Manchester's Elbow, Montreal's Arcade Fire, and New York's The Magnetic Fields.

And I'll Scratch Yours album cover.

The project culminated with a three-year, 44-city world tour by Gabriel and a 54-piece New Blood orchestra.  As a surprise for my wife, we travelled to New York City to see it at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in May, 2010.

A photo I snapped outside Radio City Music Hall prior to 
the New Blood Orchestra concert with Peter Gabriel.

I purchased the tickets through StubHub, an online ticket resale broker. They cost a pretty penny (about double the $130 U.S. face value) but secured us seats in the front row of the lowest balcony for a perfect view of the stage.

My concert ticket from the Radio City Music Hall performance
by Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra.

In September, 2023, Gabriel embarked on the North American leg of his most recent tour to promote his upcoming record I/O (initials for Input/Output). The Toronto show was on a weeknight, but we caught his Saturday night show in Ottawa which gave us the opportunity of making a weekend of it with my dad who lives in nearby Manotick.

Gabriel worked, for the second time, with Canadian stage director Robert LePage and each song was built around projected set pieces that celebrated visual artists. It was stunning and, as my wife commented on the drive home, "it had a level of sophisticated maturity that few artists would dare to attempt".

Indeed it had. Gabriel, now in his early 70s, was inviting us to connect with the fragile beauty and, sometimes, terrifying perils of life that have been an artistic preoccupation of his for more than 50 years.

A shot from the Ottawa performance of Gabriel's September 9th show from our
seats at the back of the Canadian Tire Centre.

It was on that drive home that it struck me. Peter Gabriel and his music have been part of my life for more than 40 years. He “melted” into my attitudes, memories, emotions and experiences throughout my teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. I have seen him perform in five consecutive decades. He was 37 at that CNE concert in 1987 and 73 when we last shared a common space in Ottawa.

When I hear his music, I still feel the same excitement I had when listening to the Melt record in my bedroom at 14 years of age. He continues to make me think, reflect and want to be a better person.

You may have noticed that I said I saw Gabriel six times and I've only shared memories of five shows. There is one more concert I have not mentioned. In 1993, I saw The Secret World Tour at Toronto's Skydome (now Rogers Centre). I’ve decided to make that a separate post for publication later this week. It's one of my favourite concert stories of all time. Thanks for that indulgence.