Peter Gabriel 4: Security [Original recording remastered]

This was the last of Peter Gabriel's self-titled albums and I consider the climax of the first stage of his career before a change in direction brought us a whole new Peter Gabriel style. This is a late at night/early hours of the morning album. There's not a single weak track on here and every track plays with a different emotion than the last and tells a different story.

Rhythm of the Heat is, perhaps, the finest opening track of Peter Gabriels career. The eery mystical opening flows brilliantly into a frightening climactic ending with layers of tribal drumming increasing in volume, speed and power until it reaches its' terrifying crescendo... then stops. The silence does not last long for the spine-tingling ringing of San Jacinto has begun already. This song is, in my humble opinion, the finest on this album and one of the finest Mr Gabriel ever wrote. It tells the story of a tribal initiation in which a man is guided to the top of a mountain and bitten by a poisonous snake. Though the music rarely "takes off" in that it stays fairly consistent throughout, it has an almost spiritual and incredibly powerful feel to it that fantastically supports Mr Gabriels soaring vocals that perfectly portray a feeling of desperation and fear with a chilling, almost a cappella end to the song.

I have the touch changes the tone slightly. The music is more upbeat and a heavy drum beat (drum machine I think) guides the songs unfalteringly on. Mr Gabriels lyrics shine on this track and his manipulation of words and syllables is impressive.

The Family and the Fishing Net is a prog classic. It is apparantly about a wedding though it doesn't sound like any wedding I've been to. It's a menacing sounding song and Mr Gabriel even manages to make cutting and sharing a cake sound scary. More brilliant lyrics and a return to the extended compositions of his Genesis days. Strangely, this track is followed by the most "mainstream" and western track on the album. Shock the Monkey is a very weird but brilliant song. I have no idea what it's about but the lyrics are vintage PG and the music reflects the best of his pop music and is a brief hint of the direction his career was going to take.

Lay Your Hands On Me is the track during which PG used to fall onto the crowd and be carried around for a bit. It combines spoken word over a synthesised drum beat with haunting sung vocals. This is another song that has incredible lyrics and a very spiritual, powerful and emotional feel. The "chorus" (if it can be called that) of "I am willing. Lay Your Hands On Me. I a ready. LYHOM. I Believe. LYHOM. Over me. Is one of the most haunting (apologies for the repetition there) vocals I have ever heard. This track deserve being played again and again and again. Wallflower has a slightly more obvious point. Written about prisoners of war who are tortured, this song is also powerful but in a much more real and heart breaking way. The descriptions of the hardship people face are quite distressing and the final chant of "Though you may dissapear, you're not forgotton here! An I will say to you, I will do what I can do" is one of the most emotional points of the whole album. PG later changed the lyrics subtly to "We will do what we can do" to give the audience a philanthropic boot up the arse.

The album ends with Kiss of Life. This is a very good, quite amusing song which feels a bit out of place with the relatively heavy and emotional songs that make up the rest of the album but it's a welcome relief from the intensity of Wallflower.

This album combines all the best aspects of Peter Gabriels career. Inspired lyrics sung over incredible music. Some world music influences creep in and each song is treated as an opportunity to tell a story and deliver a message. A challenging but highly rewarding album.

I've been a PG fan since the early 80s and discovered this album a couple of years before 'So' was released - which, to me, was a great album but upsettingly commercial, after the first solo ones! This, however, is not - very tribal, visceral, amazing. To my mind, 'Lay Your Hands On Me' is one of the finest tracks ever made . . but feel free to disagree! Well worth a listen, and well worth adding to your collection.