Article: The Best Version Of… Peter Gabriel’s So

[Josh Mound]

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[ted_b]

Nice article.  You make mention of the 2002 SACD, but you never use it in your sq comparisons, only the (inferior, of course) redbook layer.  Why?

[The Computer Audiophile]

This is a masterpiece Josh!

[MrUnderhill]

Interesting article, and nice to know I have the 'best' version 😉

[Superdad]

Wow!  Great piece.  WAY more in depth than I was expecting—both about the making of the record and the remasterings.  My wife and I are big PG fans, though So was never one of my favorites.

High caliber stuff for Audiophile Style!  

 

It’s a bit sad though that the clear TBVO of this record is not readily available as a purchasable download or disc. Guess I’ll have to watch and see if someone uploaded it onto one of the illegitimate sites. 

 

By by the way, for great performances and recordings of classic Gabriel tunes—with a very modern orchestra—I highly recommend his New Blood, as well as the New Blood Live records. And the DVD of the concert is spectacular.  Peak late-career PG!

[Jud]

Well, but aargh.  I love the album, but I'm not going to spend nearly $100 and email the website store to get a nice download (plus getting a lot of extra physical media for which I won't have much use).

 

So what's the best *reasonably affordable and accessible* version?  Who among the various services and download sites is offering it if it's in downloadable format, or which CD version is it if available on CD?

[DuckToller]

Congratulations, Josh!!!
Another Meisterstück made available to the readers of Audiophile Style.
I still remember our stress standing in the traffic jam 50 km before Stuttgart at the 16th of June 1987 ...  en route to see Peter Gabriel live on his first European tour after realeasing "SO"...  how my friend, who was driving the 150 miles to the venue nearly got mad about being late .... and how we finally arrived out of breath just the moment the lights went out ... and we enjoyed such a magnificent event ... !!!
Great album, indeed !!
Thank you very much for reviving my memories!
Amicalement, Tom

[barrows]

Yepper, right on.  I got the 24/48 version (must be from the B&W Society...) and it sounds great.  Although as a huge PG fan not my favorite (that would be PG3, saw that tour in Central Park, NYC).

@Superdad, yeah, I really like New Blood as well, and the concert here at Red Rocks with the orchestra was surprisingly good (I was kind of expecting poor sound quality, but it was quite moving).

I am loathe to break the law and share my file of So, perhaps petitioning PG via his FaceBook page for releasing the download to HDTracks or similar is a good idea?

[ted_b]

I've seen PG 8 or so times, the first being the Lamb tour with Genesis back in Cleveland.  I think both his tours and his albums peaked at Melt, but that's like saying the Beatles peaked at Revolver.    The remaining catalog is still a treasure.  I go back and forth between the 24/48 and the SACD rip (DSF).  I am interested to hear Josh's comments (or anyone else who has both).  I often use Tony's stick and the percussion at the last minute of Don't Give Up to set up one of my comparisons.  The dsf rip seems to have a blacker background, the 2448 a warmer tone.  Both are great IMHO, especially given that my Holo treats each format differently.

[saturdayboy]

Bravo Josh!!! Great writing

[Albrecht]

This is a great article, - thank you so much for your great work.

 

Like others who've commented, I'm a big PG fan and his work has been a great influence to me as a songwriter and music fan: sometimes to the gross annoyance of my fellow writers and instrument players.

[all300b]

Incredible - can you write one of these pieces for every classic rock album?

 

This article is almost a manifesto for a good turntable setup. Digital makes it all too easy for every engineer to just throw more spices into the soup. Who knows - that 02 master may have sounded fantastic until someone thought that dialing up the compression would be a good idea... Analog (for recordings that were recorded in analog) seems like a great strategy for keeping people with bad taste away from good recordings.

 

[arcman]

Fantastic writing. So is one of my top ten albums of all time. I need to seek out the box set

[tmtomh]

Agreed - excellent article: thorough, informative, and well-written.

 

Not to mention, the article reaches the correct conclusion, by far. 🙂

[austinpop]

Wonderful article!

 

I have the B&W Society of Sound 24/48 download of the 2012 remaster, that I haven’t listened to in years. Thanks for reminding me of this gem in my library.

[paul_riordan]

Great article.... I have never done the technical analysis as shown above but would definitely agree with the conclusion.  Most importantly it is a fantastic album...

[fas42]

Interesting that So is regarded like this - to my ears this is far less interesting than album IV; the latter is a remarkable creative triumph, that still blows me away every time I listen to it; before and after albums have nowhere near the impact, for me.

[JDoyle]

Your work is incredible...

 

JD

[Jud]

23 hours ago, ted_b said:

I often use Tony's stick and the percussion at the last minute of Don't Give Up to set up one of my comparisons.

 

Yep.

[Jud]

23 hours ago, barrows said:

perhaps petitioning PG via his FaceBook page for releasing the download to HDTracks or similar is a good idea?

 

Or similar - the thing I've found with HDTracks is that unlike pretty much every other download site I've ever dealt with, it's a tremendous hassle getting them to allow you to download your purchase again if something was wrong with it (including on their end) the first time.

 

PG's Real World label used to offer downloads (got some great stuff that way, including a terrific Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas album - they don't seem to be on the label now), but no more.

[tmtomh]

12 hours ago, fas42 said:

Interesting that So is regarded like this - to my ears this is far less interesting than album IV; the latter is a remarkable creative triumph, that still blows me away every time I listen to it; before and after albums have nowhere near the impact, for me.

 

I like So a lot. But yes, I agree with you 100% - IV/Security is more interesting, more impactful, and just better all around in my book. Different strokes I guess.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

On 5/28/2019 at 10:38 PM, ted_b said:

I've seen PG 8 or so times, the first being the Lamb tour with Genesis back in Cleveland.  I think both his tours and his albums peaked at Melt, but that's like saying the Beatles peaked at Revolver.    The remaining catalog is still a treasure.  I go back and forth between the 24/48 and the SACD rip (DSF).  I am interested to hear Josh's comments (or anyone else who has both).  I often use Tony's stick and the percussion at the last minute of Don't Give Up to set up one of my comparisons.  The dsf rip seems to have a blacker background, the 2448 a warmer tone.  Both are great IMHO, especially given that my Holo treats each format differently.

So do I the bass notes are gorgeous. I have both the SACD and the 24/48. 

When I did a ranking, I ranked the SACD first but will reassess with my system as is now

[arcman]

i wish I could get my hands on the 24/48. Version without buying the box set

[Josh Mound]

On 5/28/2019 at 11:39 AM, ted_b said:

Nice article.  You make mention of the 2002 SACD, but you never use it in your sq comparisons, only the (inferior, of course) redbook layer.  Why?

 

The 2002/2003 CDs and SACD share the same mastering. When I did my listening, though, I listened to the SACD layer.

[Josh Mound]

On 5/28/2019 at 12:22 PM, Superdad said:

Wow!  Great piece.  WAY more in depth than I was expecting—both about the making of the record and the remasterings.  My wife and I are big PG fans, though So was never one of my favorites.

High caliber stuff for Audiophile Style!  

 

It’s a bit sad though that the clear TBVO of this record is not readily available as a purchasable download or disc. Guess I’ll have to watch and see if someone uploaded it onto one of the illegitimate sites. 

 

By by the way, for great performances and recordings of classic Gabriel tunes—with a very modern orchestra—I highly recommend his New Blood, as well as the New Blood Live records. And the DVD of the concert is spectacular.  Peak late-career PG!

 

9 hours ago, Jud said:

 

Or similar - the thing I've found with HDTracks is that unlike pretty much every other download site I've ever dealt with, it's a tremendous hassle getting them to allow you to download your purchase again if something was wrong with it (including on their end) the first time.

 

PG's Real World label used to offer downloads (got some great stuff that way, including a terrific Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas album - they don't seem to be on the label now), but no more.

 

7 hours ago, arcman said:

i wish I could get my hands on the 24/48. Version without buying the box set

 

I wish I could say that one of the more readily available versions was a close second, but this was the easiest call since my first TBVO. The improvement of the anniversary box download over the other versions is dramatic to my ears. (The original ‘86 and ‘02/‘03 versions would be tied for second, but it’s a distant second.)

 

As far as “illegitimate” sites, I’m not the moral arbiter. The overarching moral issue, IMO, is the support of the artist. I’ve certain read and thought through arguments about whether buying used CDs or records is actually better than illegal downloading, whether the children (or grandchildren or managers/publishers/etc.) of deceased artists deserve their income, how many times it’s reasonable to expect fans to buy the same music, how much money certain superstars “need,” etc. 

 

But, to be clear, I bought the box. Gabriel is still living. He’s a tremendously generous individual, plowing his money into charities, more music, producing/promoting more obscure artists, etc. He’s also selling the box at an incredibly reasonable price considering the volume and quality of the content and the inflated prices of far inferior “deluxe” sets from other artists. (As an aside, the other stuff on his website is also very reasonably priced, and the shipping from the U.K. to the U.S. was really fast.)

 

It would be great if he were to make the download avaialable separately. I believe for a time that it was, but the Bowers & Wilkins site no longer exists. In the meantime, I think it’s worth purchasing the box.