BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1987
“Red Rain” is the first track on Peter Gabriel’s 1986 solo album So. In the USA, it reached #3 on Billboard magazine’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Stewart Copeland from The Police played the hi-hat for the rain-like background sound; the rest of the drumming was handled by Jerry Marotta.
The song is a combination of several inspirations. The lyrics directly reference a recurring dream Gabriel was having where he swam in his pool drinking cold red wine. Another version of the dream had bottles falling from a cliff, and the bottles were in the shape of people. When they were smashed on the ground, the people-shaped bottles had red liquid coming out, and then it began to rain the same red liquid.
Earlier in his solo career, Gabriel had an idea for a movie, Mozo. In it, villagers were punished for their sins with a blood red rain. “Red Rain” was to be the theme song. This idea was eventually scrapped, although there was a mention of Mozo in the song “On the Air” in Peter Gabriel (II). “Down The Dolce Vita”, “Here Comes The Flood”, “Exposure”, and “Big Blue Ball” are also reference the Mozo story, as well.
According to the sleeve notes from the remastered version of So, it is also a reference to acid rain. Based on one interpretation of some of the lyrics it is also thought to refer to nuclear fallout.
SIDE A:
Red Rain 5:35
Producer – Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel
Written-By – Peter Gabriel
SIDE B:
Ga-Ga (I Go Swimming Instrumental) 4:28
Producer – Steve Lillywhite
Written-By – Peter Gabriel
Walk Through The Fire 3:31
Producer – Nile Rodgers, Peter Gabriel
Written-By – Peter Gabriel
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHARTS:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Red Rain | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | #3 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin – 609 240
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: Europe
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Classic Rock
Credits: Painting, Design – Peter Saville Associates
Photography By – Trevor Key
NOTES:
Printed in Western Germany
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
In September 2019 these remixes (and whole slew of other B-sides, such as the “Special Mix” of In Your Eyes) were finally given an official digital release, on Peter Gabriel’s “Flotsam and Jetsam” compilation album.
Good to see you’re up and runnin’ again! Cheers!
Thank you Georg 🙂
Loved grabbing the rips of Ga Ga and special mix of In Your Eyes. I did have a rip of In Your Eyes, but yours was much cleaner. Quick question, will you be doing other 12″ from SO? I have a couple that I would love to hear, would be willing to send if you can rip. Looking for Sledgehammer with the remixes and the Biko extended version. Also for the In Your Eyes mix that is 6:15 in length. Again, bang up job. What a great site. I shared your link on my Facebook and a couple of my… Read more »
Hi Robb yes I do plan to post more from Mr. Gabriel just keep checking back 🙂
You do amazing work. I love the richness and warmth of these rips. I love comparing the rips I have done to your work, and all I can say is AMAZING!!!
I listened to my 45 of Ga Ga to yours and of course yours sounds much much cleaner. Were there different mixes of this from the 12″ and the 45? My 45 starts with a rythmic drum machine sound for about 3 seconds before the other instruments kick in, and your 12″ version kicks in where all the instruments start together
Will, it’s funny you mention the Left/Right Flop. I noticed it on the Sledgehammer Remix. On some mixes the lead guitar is on the right, in others it’s on the left on the same 12″ maxi single!
As mentioned before, it is very disappointing that the 25th Anniversary 8 disc SO re-issue (or any of the other configurations for that matter) lacks any of the non-album material.
Walk Through The Fire is flopped L-R compared to what I had before, but, since what I had before was muddy (and with an unknown providence) and this, in contrast, is rather more defined (and I trust is faithful to the vinyl, as it always is here!), I’ll go with this. Thanks! It seems like Walk Through the Fire was always a fairly muddy recording.
Good God, Paul. You’re a miracle worker. At the mere mention of Red Rain, you pluck it out of the ether. 🙂
Thanks, as always for these aural treats!
Many thanks for this very interesting maxi-single.
In my opinion Red Rain is the best track off So, and Walk Through The Fire (a remixed version of the song included in the Against All Odds soundtrack) is one of my favourite PG songs.
I really hope you have more Gabriel material to offer!!
Love every tracks in SO album, thank you for this!!!
My pleasure Victor!
You are THE man! Thanks for this, so so much.
You’re welcome JestaCat!
Wow! Great, great, great!!!! Thanks a lot, Paul! 🙂
You’re very welcome Spring 🙂