That Voice Again

"That Voice Again" is a song by English rock musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album So. The song was released as a promotional single and reached No. 14 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. Gabriel identified "That Voice Again" as one of his favorite songs on the album.

Background
In 1983, Gabriel was approached by Martin Scorsese to develop the soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ, although the release date of the film was ultimately pushed back to 1988. Under the working title "The First Stone", Gabriel originally incorporated biblical themes from the Old Testament into the lyrics, specifically referencing the line "let him first cast a stone" from John 8:7. He later altered the lyrics to be less religious and more introspective to reflect his attempts at being less judgemental. These lyrics pertained to judgment on a personal and global scale, but Gabriel remained dissatisfied with some of the words.

After attempting three different sets of lyrics, Gabriel solicited the assistance of guitarist David Rhodes, who helped him "loosen a few syllables here and there." He ultimately settled on lyrics that examined "the parental voice in our heads that either helps or defeats us".

"'That Voice Again' is about judgmental attitudes being a barrier between people. The voice is the voice of judgment. A haunting internal voice that instead of accepting experience is always analyzing, moralizing and evaluating it."

"That Voice Again" is Gabriel's final song to be associated with his aborted story surrounding the fictional character of Mozo, a "mercurial stranger" loosely based on Moses and the alchemical treatise Aurora consurgens. Gabriel dispersed several songs related to Mozo on his albums up through So in 1986, with "Here Comes the Flood" and "Down the Dolce Vita" first referencing the character on Gabriel's 1977 debut solo album. He intended for his Mozo songs to comprise a complete story when assembled together. Within the context of the Mozo story, "That Voice Again" represented the attribute of judgment. In 1987, Gabriel considered developing a one-hour video revolving around Mozo, but he ultimately never brought this idea to fruition.

Recording
Gabriel gravitated toward the 12-string guitar during the recording sessions; the instrument had not appeared on any of his compositions since the 1974 release of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which was his final album with Genesis. After his departure from Genesis, Gabriel opted against the use of the 12-string guitar on his solo material, but he later decided that "ten years was long enough".

Gabriel took some musical inspiration from The Byrds when creating some of the song's instrumentation. The song's 12-string guitar was played by Daniel Lanois and Rhodes covered the electric guitar parts. Similar to "Red Rain", the first song on So, "That Voice Again" begins with an instrumental interlude followed by the chorus, which features multitracked vocals overdubbed by Gabriel. For the line "Only love can make love", Gabriel sustained the final syllable for over ten seconds. Following another chorus, the song concludes with a percussion figure and a "sudden chord" as described by music critic Durrell Bowman.

Critical reception
Louder identified "That Voice Again" as a "beautiful, Byrds-like pop song that often gets overlooked amid the album's plentiful highlights." The Quietus called the song "far from subdued" and highlighted the drumming of Manu Katché. Pitchfork said that apart from "Sledgehammer", "That Voice Again" had the strongest chorus on So and the "most biting lyric".

Ultimate Classic Rock thought that Gabriel demonstrated an "exquisite vocal delicacy on the yearning, piano-dazzled 'That Voice Again' — a love song torn apart by self-doubt." Uncut was more critical of the production choices, saying that some of the song's keyboard sounds detracted from the listening experience.

Personnel

 * Peter Gabriel – lead and backing vocals, Fairlight CMI, Prophet-5, piano, percussion
 * David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
 * Daniel Lanois – guitar
 * Tony Levin – bass guitar
 * Manu Katché – drums, percussion
 * L. Shankar – violin