This was the first of Peter Gabriel's four eponymously titled solo albums following his departure from Genesis (the 'car' label arose simply from the need to differentiate between the four). Storm describes for Hypergallery how the cover was inspired by a rainy cab journey though Trafalgar Square:

"On the bonnet of this vehicle sat myriad drops that were being shaken by the vibrating cab.....I thought, "That looks cool, can I duplicate it one day?" Which is how Peter Gabriel came to be sitting, looking furtive in the front seat of my beloved Lancia Flavia which had been heavily dowsed with a garden hose, the car not Peter, I hasten to add.

"I feel that what makes this shot distinctive is the hand colouring (the blue) and the fact that each individual highlight was scraped clean with a scalpel by a very patient Richard Manning. This low-key portrait approach was a credit to Peter Gabriel's modesty. He appeared similarly obscured in the next two albums namely Melt and Tear, in which the designs were more concerned with idea, mood, and evocation than with cosmetics and how good looking we made him. Don't get me wrong...he's not bad looking, is our Pete.

"Sanity rather than vanity."