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Friday, October 26, 2012

Peter Gabriel’s 'So' deluxe reissue

This just came out and I can't wait to hear it. Gabriel's just-completed tour featuring the full album was one of the best shows I've seen this year and reminded me of what an '80s classic it is. Read on for more details...

Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album, So, has been digitally remastered for a special belated 25th Anniversary Edition via Real World Records/EMI in multiple physical and digital configurations. 
 
The album topped charts around the world and reached No. 2 in the USSo became the best-selling release of Gabriel’s solo career, landing an international array of multi-platinum certifications, including quintuple-platinum in the US with sales of more than five million copies.
 
Launched with the huge hit single “Sledgehammer” and its groundbreaking music video (which remains MTV’s most played video of all time), So also includes “In Your Eyes,” famously featured in Cameron Crowe’s film ‘Say Anything,’ the haunting duet “Don’t Give Up,” performed with Kate Bush, and “Big Time,” Gabriel’s bombastic, tongue-in-cheek commentary on ‘80s extravagance.  Co-produced by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois, the album also includes contributions from Laurie Anderson, Stewart Copeland, Jim Kerr, Bill Laswell, and Nile Rodgers.
 
So’s 25th Anniversary Edition is available on CD and digitally, as well as in an expanded 3CD and digital Special Edition, which adds a previously unreleased 1987 Athens concert recording from Gabriel’s ‘So’ tour, and as a 4CD/2DVD/LP/12” Deluxe, Limited Edition box set. 
 
The box set includes the remastered album on CD and on 180-gram vinyl which has been mastered at half speed to maximize the audio quality and re-sequenced so the tracklist, unlike that of the original LP, is as Peter Gabriel had originally envisioned. The set also features a bounty of previously unreleased audio and video content, including the two Athens concert CDs and a ‘So DNA’ CD of work-in-progress drafts of So’s songs, mapping the album’s evolution from concept to completion. 
 
One of the box set’s two DVDs features the fully restored Athens concert, which was filmed and recorded by director Michael Chapman and executive produced by Martin Scorsese.  Gabriel’s first concert to be filmed, the footage has been assembled for the first time from more than 150 reels of original 35mm negatives and its audio has been mixed in 5.1 surround. The box set’s second DVD features a new ‘So: Classic Album’ documentary.  The latest addition to the acclaimed and award-winning ‘Classic Album’ series tells the story behind the making of the album and its music videos, with contributions from many of those involved, including interviews with Gabriel and Lanois, among others. 
 
The box set also includes a 12-inch double A-side vinyl single with two previously unreleased tracks from the So sessions, “Courage” and “Sangrada,” plus an alternate version of “Don’t Give Up” (Piano and Bvox Mix). A 60-page case-bound book with an introduction and ‘So DNA’ summary written by Peter Gabriel, new liner notes, and an extensive collection of rare and never before seen photographs completes the set.

Peter Gabriel: So (25th Anniversary Edition) [CD, digital]
Original album, remastered:
1. Red Rain
2. Sledgehammer
3. Don’t Give Up (with Kate Bush)
4. That Voice Again
5. Mercy Street
6. Big Time
7. We Do What We’re Told (Miligram’s 37)
8. This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
9. In Your Eyes
 
Peter Gabriel: So (25th Anniversary Special Edition) [3CD, digital]
CD 1 - Original album, remastered (tracklist above)
CDs 2 & 3 – ‘Live In Athens 1987’:
This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)
San Jacinto
Shock The Monkey
Family Snapshot
Intruder
Games Without Frontiers
No Self Control
Mercy Street
The Family And The Fishing Net
Don’t Give Up
Solsbury Hill
Lay Your Hands On Me
Sledgehammer
Here Comes The Flood
In Your Eyes
Biko
 
Peter Gabriel: So (25th Anniversary Deluxe, Limited Edition) [4CD/2DVD/LP/12” box set]
CD 1 - Original album, remastered (tracklist above)
CDs 2 & 3 – ‘Live In Athens 1987’ (tracklist above)
CD 4 – ‘So DNA’ (work-in-progress song drafts; track sequence is the same as the So CD tracklist)
            
DVD 1 – ‘Live In Athens 1987’ concert film + 5.1 surround audio mix (tracklist above)
DVD 2 – ‘So: Classic Album’ documentary
LP – Original album, remastered and re-sequenced [180-gram vinyl]
12-inch AA Vinyl Single:
Courage
Sagrada
Don’t Give Up (alternative version - Piano and Bvox Mix)

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