So

One of my favorites - Red Rain, In Your Eyes, fantastic!

Wonderful Album, I love it.

Good, but I couldn't do the live sections.

Ordentlicher over the top 80er-Vibes, viel Synthesizer (Drums). Ganz interessante Stimme. Am Ende war es aber nichts so richtig für mich. Wirkte ein bisschen aus der Zeit gefallen, vielleicht.

great music and compelling lyrics.

A very nostalgic album for me. We listened to it a lot. Peter Gabriel can be a bit wacky but he also writes great tunes. Another 4*

It was alright. Very middle of the road.

Honestly really enjoyed this. Very 80s - but still felt timeless.

More boring 80s trash

I love the vibes here, but the songs are too long and too repetitive for me, making it a bit boring

I actually reallt enjoyed this, i didnt think I would like it

Not for me

Forgot how much I love this album. Amazing.

very good album, justified being on the list! iconic.

Favourite tracks: big time; don't give up; in your eyes; sledgehammer

Typical synthy 80s pop.

This is the result of taking pop music to its highest level of perfection, its most sublime state as an art form

Meh

Pretty good. Not heard of the him but recognised in your eyes. Possibly something I’d choose to listen to again.

Tolles Album, das war auch für mich das einzig gute von Gabriel

2/1001 It was good

Say Anything

4 1/2

I miss some kind of humor. It’s all so serious and I don’t feel any fun. I like Peter’s Voice. Mainly in the contrast to Kate Bush. A great duet. Nice deconstructed sound. Far from everyday Pop Music. I don’t like the slap-guitar. He’s no poet. “Big Time” is the worst song. I doesn’t catch me at all. Over-ambitious, swinging with meaning where there is none. Boring.

Felt loooooong

It aight -7/10

Felt like a very 80s album, like songs that could have been in the Top Gun soundtrack. Enjoyed the vocals and the Kate Bush feature. Some songs kind of dragged, but overall great album.

I like some of the songs a lot, other were eh, I think all of the songs ran a bit long for my taste but overall good 8/10

Loved it! Reminds me of Phil Collins. Apparently they performed together in Genesis before Gabriel left the group for a solo career. Have already listened twice, 9/10

7/10 - Overall pretty good. I have heard most of these songs before. There are no songs I hate but there are not any I think I would ever be like I have to listen to it.

Nothing that interesting 6/10

Solid but not really my thing, didn’t listen to all the live versions of the songs because fuck that 6/10

Oh snap! Another from the old collection. Love this album. Ages ahead of its time. It dropped like a bomb on 80s pop music. It’s still so good. Better than most. Every note of this is flooding back from memory.

It was ok

Un 4 por Mercy Street y Don't Give Up.

Damn do I love "Sledgehammer" and also "In Your Eyes". Really great album - strong from start to finish. 8/10.

Nice

This album is really pretty good. I’ve heard a few songs but not the whole album.

Weird to hear it outside of the singles, which were so popular at the time. Pretty solid

great album, who doesn't love red rain?

Love ot

Classic 80s

I don't know, I guess I'm the one who's missing something but save for 3-4 tracks, I thought this was rather uneventful art pop.

A great Art pop classic, hit after hit. Peter's response to Genesis's evolution into pop music.

The definition of how to craft very well a 80s pop album. Peter Gabriel interpretation is always pure genius.

What a great album, very unique

Brilliant

Disco não pegou, talvez não esteja pronto para os discos pop dos anos 80. Acho que umas 3 músicas me soaram interessantes, de resto, tive um pouco de tédio. De fato, da pra perceber as influências até da música brasileira nesse disco, mas nada que tenha me chamado muito a minha atenção. 2/5

You know, I said this would probably be a 2 in my review of his first album, but it’s better than I remembered. I always like ‘Sledgehammer’ and ‘Big Time’ and thought all the other songs were too slow, but those actually turned out to be great, too. An album my stance has actually positively changed on.

So much synth! So much emotion! Was he the Shawn Mendes of his generation? It’s so dancey and 80s…also maybe too much whispering and chanting especially in the essential birds song, also who was the random gal that came in? Some lingering questions but also with this album I totally get why he is a mega star

This album starts off strong with two great tracks. I still have a fondness for “Sledgehammer” because of the music video. The rest of the album has some great production value. The drums and synths really do it for me. But I doubt I’d ever want to listen to the full album again. “This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” is aggressively awful. 2.5/5

Sting/Phil Collins vibes

He’s on my list.

First listen Saved 6/9 Top track: Sledgehammer

As wild and crazy the 80s were there was still a lot of good pop music that really changed the way music was made. Peter Gabriel was one of those guys that could make music and while you listen you think this guy knows more about music than me. So many songs on this album are just straight up good. This is an album people should listen to you don’t have to like it but understand that sometimes 80s music was pretty solid. 7.1/10

A nice little "art pop" album with some tunes that immediately conjure 80s movie vibes.

An iconic album with some amazing songs.

The voice reminds me of Blue October sometimes

A little strident for my taste

Had to go back and listen to this one and was pleasantly surprised. I actually had favorited one of the songs before "In Your Eyes", so I was familar with Peter Gabriel a little before but the whole album was actually a fantastic listen. Got that classic 80s sound.

C Red Rain 3 Sledgehammer 2 Don't Give Up 2 That Voice Again 2 Mercy Street 2 Big Time 3 We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) 3 This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) 3 In Your Eyes 3 This was so meh. I expected much more from a supposed 80s classic.

Sone tracks were really good but I don’t see this record to be beneath the best records of the 80s.

Meh

Not sure why this one is included here. Sledgehammer is a good song though.

I can go either way on this type of thing. Some of it I didn’t mind, but most of it I was ambivalent about. I think I liked “Big Time” the best. There is a very distinct 80s sound to this album, for better or for worse.

I don't think I ever actually owned this but I sure heard a lot of it in its day (not all though, given I had no idea there was a version on it of the song I knew as Excellent Birds from Laurie Anderson's Mister Heartbreak). The clever video for Sledgehammer was ubiquitous back when my only access to music videos was Friday Night Videos on NBC. And of course In Your Eyes as featured in Say Anything. There are some flat points but overall a great album.

Some good stuff here I like how big it sounds.

Gutes Album

There are only 4 songs I haven’t heard yet from this album, and of those 4 “Mercy Street” was the most welcome surprise, followed by the opener “Red Rain” and the spacey interlude “We Do What We’re Told”. If I have to say “That Voice Again” and the hyper-80’s-pop of “Big Time” are the weakest cuts, that’s another way of saying that there are no weak cuts to be found here. HL: “Don’t Give Up”, “Mercy Street”, “Sledgehammer”, “In Your Eyes”, “This is the Picture” December 3rd, 2023

6/10. So so

It was decent, I like Sledgehammer and the Kate Bush duet. Clearly a little more poppy than the earlier Peter Gabriel albums. 7/10

The songs are too long for what they are. Initially I didn't like it one bit, but then Mercy Street and We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) happened, the latter is especially good

The kind of music you would hear in a sappy Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks movie about anthropomorphic animals that overcome great tribulations with the power of friendship

Zet dit op en je ziet cassettebandjes, Engelse-drop-achtige interieurs, schoudervullingen en opgeblazen kapsels. De jaren tachtig in al hun opgepoetstheid, na de over-the-top jaren zeventig. Keyboards, strakke percussie, blazerssectie. Genesis-collega Phil Collins kon er ook wat van. En toch klinkt dit bij lange na niet zo gedateerd als bijvoorbeeld Prince. Iets voor de lange autorit over de Franse snelweg, op de achterbank met een overdosis Fruitella en een stapel Suske en Wiskes.

Er staat veel te veel 80's in de lijst. Maar als je een selectie gaat maken, dan hoort deze plaat er zeker bij. Dit toont dat het kenmerkende '80's geluid ook prima muziek kan opleveren. Het helpt dat Peter gewoon als Peter zingt. Weinig rare bokkesprongen daarin. In totaal staan er teveel softe nummers op. Er zakt teveel weg naar de achtergrond. 3+ sterren.

Het is ontzettend jaren '80, bombastisch, drumcomputers, synthesizers. Maar de stem van Peter Gabriel is op zijn best en de nummers zijn echt goed, zelfs als Kate Bush er door heen loopt te heksen. De sterkste nummers zitten wel aan het begin, als het allemaal wat meer toegankelijk is. In het tweede deel wordt er wat meer geexperimenteerd, wat niet per se slecht is in dit geval, maar de vaart gaat er wel een beetje uit. Als geheel vind ik het wel redelijk in balans, zeker een goede albumervaring. En dus ook absoluut een notering waard in de 1001 albums die je ooit gehoord moet hebben lijst.

I liked that Kate Bush track and the intro. So far 6/10. Maybe I’m not into it right now but I’ll return eventually.

I've heard this one many times, it is quite good in some ways, although it's definitely not my favorite Peter Gabriel album, as I kind of like the earlier ones that are a little less over-produced. I don't know which of Gabriel's albums I like best (maybe "Melt"?) but this one feels like a bit of Daniel Lanois doing a dress rehearsal with this sonic palette for U2 albums, which have greatly soured for me in my old age (but that's another story). Basically, this album feels a bit artificial to me, and that's a lot to do with the production, of turning live instruments into that very '80s sound, of mixing them into sounding like synthesizers. That bass, especially, sounds really synthy. I miss Robert Fripp from some of Gabriel's earlier stuff. I think they worked really well together. It's no coincidence that this album is the one that really launched Peter Gabriel into the stratosphere, as it's WAY more pop that his previous albums. And even though this has an appearance from Kate Bush, quite frankly it's a bit of a cheesy ballad. Not their best, either of them - of the three "duets" on this album, I think the one with Laurie Anderson. And even though Gabriel did it better than people like Sting (ugh) after him, and maybe even Paul Simon before him, I still have quite a lot of feelings about this whole "worldbeat" subgenre that was rippling through rock and roll at the time, largely through white men having midlife crises, using African people as props in their own music. It's a little gross, isn't it? "In Your Eyes" is a really great, although Youssou N'Dour is just kind of an ornament hung on it. The douchebag from Rusted Root said this album "gave everyone [white people] the go-ahead" to swipe the music of colonized people and turn into pure cheese-pop. Ugh. What's the opposite of an endorsement? That's what that quote is for this album. I guess that kind of points at my issue here - Gabriel is doing a lot of the same things his peers were doing at the time, like the worldbeat thing, and the Fauxtown ("faux" + "Motown" = the sound of middle-aged white guys like Gabriel, Billy Joel and Phil Collins trying to emulate R&B like Motown and Stax-Volt... yes, I made that word up, so what), which we see in "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time." And the U2 sound is hard to avoid for me, even though this is before those albums. Gabriel is doing all of these things BETTER because he has more ideas and better songs, but those are things I'm really not into, so that kind of stains this album for me. It's probably my least favorite Gabriel album because I have to kind of suppress my gag reflex throughout. 5/10

Sledgehammer and Your Eyes were good, the other song were forgettable.

Beautiful album, especially the slower songs. I recognised Sledgehammer and Don't Give Up. Unfortunately the second half of the album was a bit worse. Stand-out: Red Rain

The first album of Peter Gabriel that I truly appreciated. It's been a while since I've listened to the whole album and it hit me way differently - In Your Eyes, Sledgehammer, and Big Time are the top songs and I love them, but I am reminded of how powerful his lyrics are, particularly with That Voice Again and Don't Give Up - So heart wrenching for me. Mercy Street is so brooding. Wonderful album to hear again.

Outstanding art rock/ pop album in every aspect except for some of the lyrics perhaps but here i do not care, my rating in 1986: 10/10 and in 2023: 10/10.

Slick, solid, 80s pop. Some great songs like Sledgehammer, Don't Give Up, and In Your Eyes, but hard to really connect with most of the other tracks.

Great album with several excellent songs, in particular 'Don't give up', although I don't get that superb exxperience over the full record.

In Your Eyes and Sledgehammer good, the rest was pretty forgettable to me.

It's Genesis, but it's not Genesis. It's Mr. Gabriel. I was never a particular fan, not ever really paid much attention to his music. So, it was good to hear tracks I'd never heard before. Red Rain was a good opener. (Sledgehammer and don't give up - skipped - too over played). I liked That Voice Again. Mercy Street - not so good. Big Time - meh. And that's about it really. It hovered towards a 4 but the needle fell back to its resting place of 3

This album is so unabashedly 80s. The production is filled with its sound. It’s ok. The songs are fun and catchy, but they’re mostly rather monotonous and longer than needed. Still cool.

There isn't a bad track on this album, right from the moment I heard it I loved it. One of the best songs to woo a woman - in your eyes One of the most inspirational songs - don't give up. Nothing less than 5/5

Not a huge 80s fan, I like certain songs in this album Top tracks: In Your Eyes, Sledgehammer, Don’t Give Up

Wasn’t expecting to be jump scared by the Wrestlemania 22 theme today but there you go The first three tracks are fantastic and the album does lose a bit of steam afterwards, but the more experimental couple of tracks towards the end brings it back

Sledgehammer reminds me of early MTV and getting to watch it on my grandmother’s cable tv if she didn’t catch me. lol. I saw this weird video in my early teens. Not a big fan of his sound in general, but Your Eyes has a special place in my heart from the boombox scene in the movie Say Anything.

I also disagree with the ‘1982’ person. Maybe there’s a contingent of people who don’t like the 80s sound because their parents listened to it. I thought it was a really interesting, varied and fun album. I’ve always loved the bass on sledgehammer and I was happy to hear Kate Bush pop up.

Almost a 4. Not always my musical taste, but there's some really cool parts in here. Sledgehammer has kind of been a meme in other friend groups I've been in (watch the music video for a ridiculous good time), but it's a good song.

A fun Phil collins-y time ! Sledgehammer is an all timer

Wow. I love Peter Gabriel but. This album fell off hard as it went on.

It was pretty good, nothing bothered me but nothing wowed me either.

I’ve always enjoyed Peter Gabriel’s music, so of course I enjoyed this as well. He has a unique voice and good instrumentals that makes for an eclectic combo of songs.

Featuring up front production, some decent songs and Gabriel's powerful slightly raspy vocals, this is a solid album. The tracks are a bit overlong though.

Yeah had the hits reminds me of beong a kid kinda nostaligic background music

Very 80s. I have a degree of nostalgia for this, but 16 year old me liked it more than i do now. Better than any of Phil Collins' solo efforts though.

Nice. A lot of recognisable songs. Nothing really objectionable.

I have much love for this album, instant 5. (Yes, I was born before 1982, and sure, I'll listen with headphones on!)

Red Rain - 6/10 Sledgehammer - 10/10 Don't Give Up - 7/10 That Voice Again - 8/10 Mercy Street - 9/10 Big Time - 8/10 We Do What We're Told - 7/10 This is The Picture - 7/10 In Your Eyes - 10/10 TOTAL - 62/90

comically 80s. goes between disney movie soundtrack and musical 'Sledgehammer' is the least boring song on the album and it's kinda dull too.

I love Peter Gabriel in Genesis. For me Genesis was a fantastic band up until the point that Gabriel left and then became a pale shadow, eventually devolving into cheesy 80s pop music. However, in the 1980s I only knew of the Phil Collins led Genesis and wasn't aware they were actually a great band in the 70s or even that Gabriel had been their singer/ main songwriter back then. I actually first came across Gabriel when he released Solsbury Hill, later Games Without Frontiers, both of which I loved. Then he had his smash hit with Sledgehammer, which was okay for pop music I guess and had an amazing video for the time. I didn't have much interest in listening to his album; I knew the 4-5 big hits already and I assumed the entire album would just be more of the same. It turns out I was right. It's not awful, but there's nothing here to make want to listen to this again. Probably the definition of a middle of the road pop album, deserving of a slightly reluctant 3 stars. It's a little telling that the world music influences here don't really stand out at all now. They probably were more ground breaking at the time this was released? The production is very 1980s, syrupy and a little cheesy in places. Syrup and cheese isn't a great mixture.

Try as I might, this sounded like cheese to me. Does cheese have a sound? This would be it. If I had been born a decade or so earlier, I might have said about it… uplifting, positive, energetic, all-around great vibe. Unfortunately I wasn’t, and my rating reflects that.

I just can't even rate this album. I've listened to it twice and can't remember anything about it. I give up.

So dated. Outside of the nostalgia factor on the hits you already know, this is not a good time.

Great! Standouts: In Your Eyes, Sledgehammer, Don't Give Up, Big Time, Red Rain, Others: Mercy Street, That Voice Again,

Straight bangers

I don't get it...why is this one of the top albums? Sounds like middle-of-the-road 80's pop/rock

I noticed some bass sections that felt very familiar and a lil weird (in the good way) and even some sounds that felt very familiar, like I'd heard them somewhere else in the same era. That's when the truth smacked me in the face , of course I know that bass sound and some of these other sounds, in fact they're off of King Crimson's Triple album suite "Three of a Perfect Pair" (Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair), and that has to be Tony Levin! And it was! I will say most of this album is a lil too 80's for me (I really hate the 80's nostalgia thing IDK I'm more of a 60's 70's guy), but it has some great standouts like "Sledgehammer" and "Don't Give Up", though "Mercy Street" also has some amazing sounds and I think overall, it's a good album with some great moments. I might have to give this another listen, but I enjoyed the package as a whole.

It's ok.

I really don’t get the complaints from people who say this is too commercial. They just hate fun.

Sledgehammer is an amazing song Uh…I used to own this album but I don’t remember barely any of this album except Res Rain and In Your Eyes. It’s definitely more self-serious than I recall, in kind of a silly way. Hrm.

Shweet

It could just be Sledgehammer and then an hour of pigs being slaughtered and it’d still be 5 stars

So good I listened twice

painfully 80s yet endearing, kinda dated, all the ballads, very schmaltzy, some bops tho

I know how acclaimed this one is, but just couldn’t get to more than a 3 on it. It’s a great merger of art rock and pop rock. Sledgehammer and In Your Eyes are obviously fantastic, well written pop songs that deserve their place as some of the greatest of the 80s. The other singles don’t hold up so well, particularly Big Time sounds very dated. The two “duets” are interesting tracks, although the Laurie Anderson one sounds like a second rate Talking Heads song. That Voice Again was the best non-single. But overall didn’t think this was that amazing.

Strong start, too long

Not just the best Peter Gabriel album of all time, the album So is one of the best albums, period. It is packed with some of the best hit songs of the 1980s, most of which still get airplay or end up on playlists today. Sledgehammer, Red Rain, Don't Give Up (with Kate Bush), In Your Eyes, and Mercy Street are just some of the charting songs on So. Many of these have ended up in soundtracks as well. One of the most famous uses of a pop song to move forward the plot in a movie was the boombox scene from Say Anything... which features In Your Eyes. The songs from So are used in these highly charged scenes because they are so emotional and evocative. There's sadness, longing, anger, joy, every emotion is deftly covered on So. And yet, all the songs are infinitely singable. So is packed with ear worm quality hooks. So, is the soundtrack of the 80s but also the soundtrack for so many peoples' lives. It is one of the most finely craft pop records of all time.

Sledgehammer is a bit played out but I enjoyed the rest of this album and was surprised that I had heard most of the tracks. I suppose that's a testament to the quality of the album when so many tracks got radio play. This isn't the type of thing I'd actively seek out on my own to listen to but I'd be pleased to hear it under almost any circumstance. Favorite song - In Your Eyes.

Love the variety of instrumentation here. The female vocals are hauntingly beautiful on Don't Give Up. Big Time is a banger, but it sounds so aggressively 80's. Nothing quite lives up to Sledgehammer, but overall I like the album.

very 80s pop rock.

Dit is dan eindelijk weer een jaren 80 plaatje dat wel goed te hebben is!

Dit vond ik echt een geweldig album!

Ook heel tof, maar ik denk dat ik 'Peter Gabriel 3' toch net wat bijzonderder vind.

Hier zitten een paar pareltjes tussen.

It's good. But it all sounds the same. It's a vibe. But not as good as Phil Collins or Morrisey.

8.5/10 Beautiful, groovy beats paired with warm vocals.

Couple great tunes but not my style.

Quite nice, wouldn't listen to it on a regular basis but could be fun from times to times. I especially liked "Sledgehammer" and the last song, "In your eyes".

I knew the hits from this one - who doesn’t really - but listening to the full album highlights some of the other gems like Don’t Give Up, the duet with Kate Bush.

A major shift toward commercial radio-friendly music here for PG. A lower mark was in the cards but it's nice to finally hear Laurie Anderson on 1001.

Initially before listening to this record again I thought this would be a 4 star album, but after playing it again I was reminded of just how good this album is. In particular, the duet with Kate Bush on Don't give up gave me goosebumps. I doubt Peter and Kate's voices have ever been better and this is from a self-professed Kate Bush fanboy. The big single on this album - Sledgehammer is actually my least favourite song here, probably a result of it being overplayed, but that's not Gabriel's fault. The rest of the album which includes Mercy Street, Red Rain, Big Time and In Your Eyes are consistently strong. Yes this was Gabriel's most commercial release so far, but as Sting once said a long time ago, "there's good pop and there's bad pop and there's nothing wrong with good pop". This great pop.

Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood all sound so similar :) Sledgehammer! So many hits on this album...

Solid

Red rain - 3.3/5 Sledgehammer - 2.9/5 Don't give up - 2/5 holy shit this has Kate Bush but like what the fuck it's not music That voice again - 3.2/5 Mercy street 2.8/5 - intro sounds like burn by juice wrld lol. Wouldn't be surprised if it sampled this Big time - 4/5 We do what we're told - 1.8/5 ? Dissonant, off timed, random atmosphere This is the picture - 2.4/5 this feels like it should somehow be in a kids cartoon, yet feels like its alluding to very not family friendly things In your eyes - 3.2/5 lion king ass love song???

Sledgehammer, a couple other good songs

Not an angel but not bad

So, it didn’t hit me like a Sledgehammer, but I did enjoy it. Kind of like Red Rain on a winter night, is what I think of when I hear That Voice Again. This is the Picture. This is the way.

Was going to give it a 2 before i heard the african singing on the last tack. 🤣🤣🤣Truly horrific. Makes this a 1.

You know what even though I prefer the Genesis Peter Gabriel where he would play crazy flute solos and sing about overthrowing the powers that be I still really like this album. It's really catchy and interesting music that sounds a lot different from his earlier stuff but in a good way. And I love the world music influence, my man L. Shankar showing up is an unexpected delight.

I always saved this one up and was so excited to listen to it, but... apart from Sledgehammer, Don't Give Up and Big, there wasn't much I was enjoying. I think I liked the self titled ones better.

Muito bom tchê, mais dançante que o álbum anterior (desta lista)

Rien de particulier.

4.25

More enjoyable than I expected feels very 80s

Not really my thing, not terrible, wouldn't listen to whole thing again. In Your Eyes the standout.

Not a fan, could not finish!

för mycket 80-tals sound men sledgehammer är ändå rätt fet.

Ok but..

album longo, mas bom, musicas boas e temas de filme/serie

3.3

Songs you wouldn't mind hearing while you get your hair cut.

Red Rain and In Your Eyes were the standouts for me. Pretty solid album. Very of-the-time sounding.

Really liked this.

Liked this which means I’m turning into my dad, probably worth a relisten

Stone cold classic.

Fun, groovy, poppy and light!

Average 80s album. I know Sledgehammer makes 80s aficionados feel tingling in their pants, but the song is just average. Always has been and always will be.

people actually liked this stuff to the point that peter gabriel and phil collins had successful solo careers?

most hits a miss or two in there. Love the story behind the album.

The good songs on this album slapped! Unfortunately that was like 1/2 of them… the others made me think of weird bad mandatory ballroom dancing lessons. But i do wanna be ur sledgehammer tho.

Nice for studying

Nope.

can't believe the first one is Peter gabriel. 007

Some head-nod-invoking songs, some slower sentimental synth rock ballads. Big Time is my favorite.

On certain days this could rate a 4. Not quite, today. It was definitely better than I expected. Turns out the most famous song on here is one of the more annoying ones.

Funk, rock, pop, indie. Melodie ritmate e accattivanti, splendidi bassi di accompagnamento che fanno da cornice a tutto. Voce non estremamente conforme ai miei gusti, dall'alto della mia ignoranza mi ricorda gli anni '80.

I had listened to this album before, but this time it really resonated with me a lot more. The album is frontloaded with some of his best material first, but the whole album is solid. Love the features as well, especially Kate Bush. Also Tony Levin's bass playing is great.

Ei ole mun juttu... Tosiaan melkoiset Phil Collins -vibat tässä. Ei jätä pysyviä muistikuvia tämä.

okay

Any album with 'Sledgehammer' on it is fine by me! Some other good tracks on there that I don't think I've heard before.

ok

So is so so if not bad. How is every song not like Sledgehammer? May be only Peter Gabriel album I listen to

Honestly dislike it’s not my vibe It’s like the experimental 80s stuff that isn’t really experimental it just has weird instruments in it Think in your eyes has better covers

I like Gabriel’s style and voice, the record is good but 3 stars down for that horrible 80’s production. 1 star up for “in your eyes”

Fun progressive pop album of 1986. It was a pleasant mix of commercial sounding with lots of other genres to keep it fresh throughout.

Has anyone else made a synth album that sounds so cinematic? He was always so good at melody and mood. The songs on this album are of a piece with those on all of the PG albums right back to the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. What he nailed here was the production. This album is so lush and full. Particularly when you compare it to other synth-craft albums from the day. Listen to Winwood's Back in the High Life. That's how most synth albums sound. Then come back to this. It has aged remarkably well; a testament to the time he spent building the amazing sounds in the first place.

It was ok. Not my type of music. Some songs were pretty good. Others were rough.

are you kidding me?? a worldly journey through quintessential 80s pop. gabriel’s fusion of african and brazilian percussion mixed with that classic 80s electronic sound leaves me absolutely salivating. The bass section on sledgehammer had me doing something unspeakable. The quiet ardous journey of Mercy street had me like a child without a blanket. Need i even say anything about In your eyes? I mean just spit in my mouth already.

Not my usual genre. Enjoyed a few moments though it.

I did not enjoy the sound

I read that Phil Collins didn’t understand why critics hated him and loved Peter Gabriel. They were both in Genesis, they both put out monster albums in the 80’s with tons of hits. What made the critics love Peter Gabriel and hate Phil Collins? I think it’s cause Peter Gabriel is wearing a toupee on this album cover and Phil Collins just openly went bald. But who knows? This is a fine album. It’s hard to really hear the hits because of how often I’ve heard them before. I like Peter Gabriel’s Genesis stuff, and this is kind of three minute pop versions of that. It’s a good album. But “No Jacket Required” better be on this list too.

Great pop album that is the pinaccle of Peter Gabriel's work. Has the added bonus of being stuff you've heard plenty of times in movies, film, etc

Interesting piece - it definitely captures the defining sounds of the mid-80s, Phil Collins-esque pop-rock. It was enjoyable even though it didn't give me much to motivate a re-listen in the future, and I think it makes sense to include on this list as an example of a time and genre.

In Your Eyes is a triumph and masterpiece of a song all on its own, but then the rest of the album has the nerve to be incredible too! I loved it. An 80s pop + rock + new wave prog trifecta of excellence. Right on, Petey.

Don't like Peter Gabrial much, but I enjoyed this more than I thought I would

Meh, b+g

Better than expected. At times funky, moody, or even a bit trippy. Didn't feel the urge to skip a single track, and many were added to my "liked" songs.

This is a tough one for me. I don't understand, or am ignorant of the importance of this album. It's good, but nothing I haven't heard before, and done better, by the likes of Phil Collins. It is a fun album that fuses several genres of music, and does it well. The music video of "Sledgehammer" is undeniable though. Overall, it's good, but I think others do it better in the same era.

Good. Loved the singles and didn't like the rest

7/10 Creative, tense, varied Highlights: Don't Give Up Mercy Street This is the Picture

Solid album with several good songs. Sledgehammer still a favorite.

Sledgehammer is good, but all of the instrumentals are painfully from the 80's and there is a reason that style died quickly. Also his voice has always been grating.

My first album for this project. I suppose I don’t know what I’m looking for. It doesn’t seem like a cohesive album but maybe I’m not hearing it. The sound is nostalgic as I grew up with 80s music.

it's good ! the musical work displays notable strengths in production and rhythm. however, the length of the songs [in this genre] might not align with my personal preferences ig. nevertheless, i still appreciate the overall quality of the composition !

Good, not really a fan of this though

Ei ehkä albumi, johon ensimmäisenä tarttuisin, mutta sopii kyllä lenkille. Monta tuttua biisiä, mutta ei mitään megabängeriä.

Very solid album, I'm just not that into this style.

Hitto kun koko levy pitäisi Sledgehammerin tason niin olis aivan jäätävän kova setti. Muutama ohi-biisi seassa, mutta hyvällä fiiliksellä meni läpi.

Ei ollut erikoinen

Couple bangers

hey millennials you were probably conceived to this awful music. Picture your dad going at it to sledgehammer.

So what?

I won't copy and paste my other reviews of Peter Gabriel albums here, but I feel the same. It's a more mainstream release for sure. I haven't ever loved "Sledgehammer," mostly because I remember seeing the video on VH1 and found it to be stupid. Probably not a popular opinion. This is my favorite Peter Gabriel album and it is probably a must-hear album for me. Will I listen to it again? Quite possibly not, as I seem to be a greatest hits Peter Gabriel person. Some of the songs are just lengthy and tend to fade in the background.

This is not for me. The mid tempo is unrelenting and same-y, neither relaxing or exciting. The heavy use of synth accompaniment and the weirdly amelodic singing makes a lot of the songs sound like someone turned on a background song that came with their synthesizer and is improvising a song over it.

I was dreading the day I had to listen to 80s pop. This one is not for me. Mercy street was a nice suprise

3/5. I love several songs on this album but there are definitely some misses, including the hit Don't Give Up, which loses me in the positivity and feels fake. There are some other good songs but the great songs like Red Rain, Sledgehammer, and In Your Eyes make up for it. Just an EP with those three and Big Time would be amazing. There is disco, electronic, and industrial taken from previous albums but it doesn't seem to find a place here. As an album as a whole though, pretty good but not awesome.

Great musical composition. Not my flavor of music but I did find some family songs I ended up favoriting.

I don't think this sounded bad by any means, I just personally didn't care for most of the songs. I did really like the song Red Rain.

5! So many hits on this album. I always have pictured Peter Gabriel as a perfectionist. This is a perfect album. Finishing on "In Your Eyes" leaves you wanting more and hits your music feelings in the gut

It had some well known songs. It was overall an alright album. Relatively short and I did not skip any songs.

Great album but not a personal fan of the style,

Unfortunately, this was just kind of boring to me. Favorite(s): Red Rain, Mercy Street

Ich fühle mich sehr an Phil Collins erinnert. Sledgehammer absolut kult. Very feely, dreamy, aber mit banger momenten

Such a classic, well thought out album with Gabriel at his peak.

Great album.

Not my vibe at all for an album. Won’t ever listen to again.

Damn near a perfect album.

sounds like it should be Top Gun. Is this considered yacht rock or just regular 80s pop rock? Sledgehammer is a bop.

I was excited for this album, so I'll say I'm a tad disappointed by what I got. After the Genesis album I figured I had been sleeping on Peter Gabriel this whole time, but hearing this I feel like no one was above the risk of falling into the production trends of the time, and it leads to an experience that feels just as cheesy as any other adult oriented pop record from the time. Sledgehammer is obviously fantastic, but it is only so great because my mind has had the time to accept the production and see past it, but the rest of this I was completely blind to, and in turn just found it boring. The album does pick up quite a bit at the end however, with the second to last track being something that I could see jamming out to with some time, but I truly think had the rest of this album sounded like the final track, we could've had Gabriel's very own Low. Otherwise, Sledgehammer is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for this rating, I must admit.

A lot has been made about the production, and on Sledgehammer and Big Time it does rather go for it. But under all the gated drums and synths there's a clutch of very solid songs. At least half of this album is so over-exposed though it's difficult to actually rate it properly.

80's popelis, is aight

This was poppier than I expected it to be. Lots of incredible songs but a few too many that felt like some kind of 80s-style pandering.

Good stuff

About as generic as Nickleback

Peter always sounds out of breath.

Not a huge fan of his voice, and the instrumentals are SO 80s. This is the Picture was my favorite instrumental.

Its okay

Sledgehammer was fun. I didn't love the rest (those lyrics, terrible! I really don't get it). Had never even heard of Peter Gabriel before this, the mid-late 80s in general is a blind spot for me.

Great

Very 80s, mix of funk, early U2, and Paul Simon Graceland. Listened twice.

Not my favourite but not bad

Drove out to play disc golf at Pineland - Emily had the dog on old speck so hit a good course that’s not dog friendly. Beautiful October afternoon - doesn’t get any better than this (except maybe if the wife and dog were here lol)

ništa ne fali albumu samo je meni lično dosadan

Beautiful album with superb musicians. Peter Gabriel had a very strong solo output, this one was perhaps the most successful. There’s a lot of musical influences, mainly pop but also, funk on Sledgehammer, ambient, ethereal soundscapes on Red Rain and Don’t Give Up. Very strong stuff! 8,5 out of 10

Great album. A few pop hits. Definitely can tell it’s from the 80s.

Besides Sledgehammer this is all a bit too epic for epics sake. I don't really get it

Enjoyable but a bit too surface level

Very 80's but this is so so good. I count 6 great tracks out of 9 on the album. Weird to think Peter Gabriel was a 70's prog-rock concept album and then became an 80's pop diva. I can't divorce the music from the videos though - groundbreaking and addictive. But then the 80s was the beginning of the MTV phenomenom and in my head they are one. One of the best and most representative musicians from the decade or any time to be honest.

I'm just gonna say Tony F. Levin.

it was okay, cool 80s vibe

Peter har litt for raspete stemma, men don’t give up

Loved this album.

2 out of 9 songs One song was relatable, motivating The other was a chill vibe Reminded me of david bowie a little

Album was ok. Remember it coming out and was well received. Didn’t listen to the live tracks on remastered version.

Good 80s vibe

53/100

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Don’t give up, In your eyes

Sledgehammer is an all time amazing song, and I love Big Time, but honestly the slower songs were just... fine to me.

Sledgehammer slaps

So... I did in fact gave up on this album after 3 tracks.

Had a distinctive sound for the timeframe. Always well orchestrated

Mercy Street Red rain Sledghammer

Wasn't exactly my cup of tea but the first song was really good.

Love it.

What an album, and what a voice. I grew up on hits like Sledgehammer, and later classics like Don't Give Up (Kate Bush is my favourite artist of all time so I'm a tad biased there!) Favourite tracks: Sledgehammer, Don't Give Up, Mercy Street, Big Time.

I enjoyed this album a lot more than I thought I would. That Kate Bush feature on Don’t Give Up was heavenly. Mercy Street and Big Time were also great songs.

Some masterpieces and some filler.

Seems like a solid album if you like this kind of adult contemporary, but I really don't care for the music.

I was about to say "the hits are the hits and the rest can be left behind" but this is some sort of weird berenstein bears thing where the songs I know didn't even quite sound like the songs I knew. Maybe it's just been a very long time since I heard them. Or maybe I heard the wrong version of the album?

Peter Gabriel is one of the best artist in the pop/rock space and I stand by that opinion.

The music is expansive and unique. Some what uplifting. Sledgehammer may have the best video, but In Your Eyes is a better song

Decent 80s album. Loved “Mercy Street” and “Don’t Give Up” with Kate Bush. And of course, “In Your Eyes” is a classic.

Made it through 2 songs and got bored

My first though was "hmm, this sounds quite a lot like Phil Collins, but not as good". And sure enough, Peter Garbriel was the front man of Genesis, so I'm glad that my spider senses proved themselves working for once. But that was the most exciting thing with the album for me. Like many other albums we've had on the list, there's nothing bad about this really, it just doesn't get my blood pumping. It also sounds very 80s in a not-that-great way.

Love this. It's always 5 stars from me. Sound of trips in the car with my family. Red Rain is really hitting me today than it ever has. Might be because I'm older and have had stranger dreams and felt stranger feelings. Sonically lush. Don't Give Up feels like a friend's embrace, somewhere to let go of everything heavy for a time. That Voice Again - Feels so big and inevitable. Explosive. Giant and cavernous.

a classic but again quite dated

Four smash hits

Most of this album sounds less like Gabriel branching out into a solo career and more like Genesis with the rest of the band missing.

This was fun! The exact change of pace I was asking for, smoother, easier to listen to. Didn’t blow me away but I found it enjoyable.

The big songs are still relevant today. Such a mellow sound, even if it’s a more upbeat sound. Cool experimentation. A distinct sound. High 3

Solid 2.8

Nice

Gabriel’s So is an enjoyable affair, pushing that revolutionary synth sound to the forefront and layering up the vocals to make enjoyable, classy sophisticated pop. Sledgehammer is a smash hit (LOL), Kate Bush brings class to Don’t Give Up and there’s a bunch of other good stuff in here.

As a big Genesis fan, I knew that I was going to enjoy this. Yes, it's very '80s sounding, but the atmosphere that he invokes is wonderful and really pulls you in. There's a melancholy, particularly in the opening track, which really sets the tone well. Very enjoyable.

this is a magical album from the former voice of genesis. when most people think of genesis, they think of phil collins on vocals when the band went in a more mainstream direction. however, the band started with more of an art rock/progressive direction… and that was due to peter gabriel. this is definitely more mainstream than his previous efforts and it shows with five(!) singles that received substantial radio airplay. the album incorporates elements of pop, funk, dance, and tribal music. it is fun, quirky, and poignant. highlights: “red rain”, “sledgehammer”, “in your eyes”.

Meh

Solid.

80s synth has not aged well. Would have given this 4 stars in the 80s - "Sledgehammer", "Red Rain", "In your eyes" are all classics. The rest hasn't held up well.

not for me

The production is incredible but this has a couple legit not very good songs that stop it from being a 5 star classic imo

This album is a whole beautiful world. I saw Peter Gabriel at Red Rocks for the tour where he did So straight through. Perfect Sunday evening, with a great friend and my then boyfriend now husband. Such a happy memory.

Solid if unspectacular

Very 80s sounding album. Nothing to energizing or exciting in my opinion...

I just don't understand the appeal at all. The voice isn't particularly good or interesting, the production is typical 80s trash, the songs aren't fun to listen to, it's not really dance-able. There's nothing to like.

One of my favorite albums. Every song.

Great album. Peter Gabriel is an artist that I don't think about much, but enjoy the music when it is presented to me. Don't give up is one of my favourites.

Sledgehammer is a high point, there's a few other okay ones, nice to hear Kate Bush, otherwise it's a bit mid 80s over produced, innit

Have this album. Listened to it many times. Really good. Best track - Red Rain

Jatkoon

Really enjoyed the three listens! Lot of sampling which I enjoyed though wouldn’t know how to recreate . Good album, will listen again!

I'm not sure how to classify this but it's not great.

Une ouverture spectaculaire (Red Rain, Sledgehammer...) des moments plus faibles. Une production impressionnante mais clairement datée. Globalement très agréable à l'écoute

I struggled to stay interested in this one.

Pretty good. Had it on as background noise during a focus requiring activity so didn’t pay total attention but I liked it a lot. Favourite song definitely Big Time.

Yeah, this is just about perfect for me