Gabriel's work with Genesis and his early solo albums garnered tons of accolades from the music press and prog aficionados but the general public had no idea who he was until he broke massively big with 1986's So album and its hit singles "Red Rain" and "Sledgehammer." This film offers a cut-by-cut analysis of So with commentary coming from the likes of producer Daniel Lanois and musicians Laurie Anderson, Tony Levin and others and most importantly from Gabriel himself.
Gabriel discusses his inspiration for the songs, revealing things like how the album's emotional standout "Don't Give Up" was inspired by the Great Depression. The song is performed on So as a duet with Kate Bush but Gabriel says that he initially envisioned the song as a country tune and originally wanted Dolly Parton to sing the female part.
Other topics covered include how videos helped break the album, symbolism of songs, Gabriel's choice of backing musicians and a lot more, all aided by a generous helping of video and performance snippets.
Bonus material includes "The Making of Sledgehammer."
