Ben,
Listening to this again this afternoon, I wondered what it is about Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush singing their dust bowl depression duet that has always stuck in my craw. Obviously they're not singing from 'authentic' experience: I grew up in the same parts of Surrey and Kent that they did and as far as mass unemployment goes, well, it's a no-go-zone. I don't normally care much about authenticity, so that's not it (though it is a bit odd to sing about losing the shirt off your back when it's obvious that the cost of getting just the bass solo sounding so pristine would probably have paid the mortgage on a small farm for a year). I think maybe if the song were a truly depressing blues, I might be able to stomach it. The consoling, uplifting response to the depression is what gives it away, I think. The message is really, "Don't give up, keep getting on your bike". It's Norman Tebbit with extra empathy and organic muesli.
The other possibility is that the song suffers from an inverse 'halo effect' because I was really looking forward to this album when it was released in 1986, and it turned out to be such an anti-climax all round. It was around the time of our final exams, remember? You had a TV in your room in Old Lodge, and I vaguely remember watching the famous video for Sledgehammer with you, but I may be imagining it. I do remember you making some askance comment that the song sounded like Peter Gabriel was "doing a Phil Collins".
The third and fourth solo albums were alive with innovation and good songwriting, but there's nothing on this album to lay a glove on San Jacinto or No Self Control. And there are all those guest musicians on each track, which is probably intended to come across as 'inclusive' and eclectic, but just sounds like the same slippery slope of musical tourism that led Paul Simon to Graceland the same year.
Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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