SO

Whilst Genesis' art pop efforts of the mid-1980s had a soulless cynicism to them - the band simply cranking out simplistic material for the sake of the lucrative album sales they were able to wrangle - Peter Gabriel's So is a pop album with heart. Taking the world music textures developed on his fourth self-titled album and applying a little clarity to proceedings - not for nothing is this the first of Gabriel's solo releases in which his image on the cover is not distorted in some fashion - he is able both to produce haunting and deep meditations and gloriously soulful pop. Sledgehammer might not be the most progressive thing he's ever done, but claim it doesn't get your foot tapping and I'll call you a bloody liar.