Peter Gabriel 4: Security

For his fourth solo album, Peter somehow let his new label Geffen (soon to get a report for interfering with their artists) release it below the title Security. And so it has remained, despite still being titled simply Peter Gabriel in the pillow of the world. (Plus, German-speaking countries got their own version again, this sentence in a markedly different mix.

Oddly enough, while the album was to take him his greatest commercial success to date, it`s a really challenging listen, and the strange cover photo doesn`t help. Much of this can be put down to his cover of, for want of a better term, tribal rhythms on most of the cuts. Indeed, many of the tracks appear to hold order in pre-industrial countries. It`s not a conjunction that in the modern rock era, he`s been one of the most outspoken and active champions of the genre known collectively as "world music".
"The Beat Of The Passion" is an accurate title for a cut that fades in on a pulse, follows an eerie path, and then, as he exclaims, "The beat has my soul," explodes into a fury of furious drumming supplied by a dance troupe from Ghana. The force can alternately be felt as either unsettling or exhilarating. From there it`s a trip round the Southern Hemisphere to "San Jacinto", which takes its time building up to the dynamic choruses. "I Have The Hint" is more straightforward, a right illustration of post-punk alternative medicine for which he was considered a pioneer. But it`s back to weird territory on "The Sept And The Fishing Net", a thought-provoking song wherein such "primitive" practices as animal sacrifices are compared to Christian wedding traditions, and found to be not all that alien.
What sold the album, of course, was the otherwise impenetrable "Shock The Monkey", thanks in contribution to its striking picture in heavy rotation on MTV. To this day it`s still incredibly catchy. (The liner notes from the original Geffen CD, in gain to proclaiming it as a "Good DIGITAL RECORDING", suggested that the call was an adjustment of classic Motown rhythms. We`d love to know which ad wizard came up with that one. Another song known more for its visual result is "Lay Your Hands On Me", which became a centrepiece of his subsequent tour when Peter would do a trust fall back into the audience, who would then draw him over their heads as he sang. With its unlikely title, "Wallflower" gets past its initial flute sample (which evokes nothing more compelling as the Karate Kid franchise) to a serial of beautiful piano couplets under a language that soon reveals to be appealing to the pledge of political prisoners. At least it ends on an up note with "Kiss Of Life", jumpy meters and all.
The American tour following Security was soon captured on a double album, playfully titled Plays Live, despite the explicit recognition that various tracks had been embellished in the studio. As would be expected, the setlist is hard on the most recent albums, with a few from the beginning two (including "Solsbury Hill" and a wonderful "Humdrum"). Most of the songs are like to the studio versions, with the exclusion of a slower "No Self Control", and there`s an actual rarity in the kind of "I Go Swimming", only available here. (And not really that enticing once you`ve heard it.)

Peter Gabriel Security (1982)3
Peter Gabriel Plays Live (1983)3