So

1	Red Rain 5:39
2	Sledgehammer 5:12
3	Don't Give Up 6:33
4	That Voice Again 4:53
5	In Your Eyes 5:27
6	Mercy Street 6:22
7	Big Time 4:28
8	We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) 3:22
9	This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) 4:25

Barnes & Noble

With So, his fifth studio album as a solo artist, former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel made the transition from progressive-rock visionary to pop luminary. As uncompromising as it is accessible, So offers beautifully moody, stringent, evocative songs, coproduced with atmospheric grace by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. The muscular, funk-laced first single, "Sledgehammer," was Gabriel's commercial breakthrough, topping the pop chart for weeks, and its accompanying video broke new ground on the live-action-animation front. The bracing "Big Time," with its slamming hip-hop beat and sarcastic view of fame, was also a Top Ten hit. The kinder, gentler "In Your Eyes" only reached No. 26, but remains one of adult Top 40 radio's most enduring and haunting staples. Other highlights include "Don't Give Up," a pining duet (with Kate Bush); "Red Rain," a grandly ambient AOR hit; and the buoyantly bittersweet "That Voice Again." Elysa Gardner

All Music Guide

Peter Gabriel introduced his fifth studio album So with "Sledgehammer," an Otis Redding-inspired soul-pop raver that was easily his catchiest, happiest single to date. Needless to say, it was also his most accessible, and, in that sense it was a good introduction to So, the catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. "Sledgehammer" propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and Gabriel had enough songs with single potential to keep it there. There was "Big Time," another colorful dance number; "Don't Give Up," a moving duet with Kate Bush; "Red Rain," a stately anthem popular on album rock radio; and "In Your Eyes," Gabriel's greatest love song which achieved genuine classic status after being featured in Cameron Crowe's classic, Say Anything. These all illustrated the strengths of the album: Gabriel's increased melodicism and ability to blend African music, jangly pop, and soul into his moody art rock. Apart from these singles, plus the urgent "That Voice Again," the rest of the record is as quiet as the album tracks of Security. The difference is, the singles on that record were part of the overall fabric; here, the singles are the fabric, which can make the album seem top-heavy (a fault of many blockbuster albums, particularly those of the mid-'80s). Even so, those songs are so strong, finding Gabriel in a newfound confidence and accessibility, that it's hard not to be won over by them, even if So doesn't develop the unity of its two predecessors. Stephen Thomas Erlewine