Album of the Week - 'Peter Gabriel 4: Security'

This week, Matt in our Sales Team, shares his favourite album of the week - 'Peter Gabriel 4: Security' by Peter Gabriel.

"I have the album on early CD and original vinyl so I can listen on my Caspian CD player and on my Xerxes 20 Plus, with Monitor Audio Gold Series speakers. These ‘discs’ have been enjoyed on earlier Roksan CD players and the original Xerxes in systems I have used since the mid-80s! It’s an album (in both formats) that has been with me all my adult life where ever I have been, whatever I was doing and whoever I have been with.

It has been said that the ‘best’ art, literature and music engages the greatest number of senses as deeply as possible. For me, PG4 goes further than most. I have played Peter Gabriel four to many people and it was received sometimes guardedly, sometimes with incredulity, occasional distaste but most often positively. It had an effect; it provoked a reaction, stirring the emotions and requiring opinions to be expressed. There are many ways in to this album and many like myself have found a way in and have yet to leave.

The sound quality is not crystal clear like Pink Floyd for example but more ethereal and atmospheric almost painting pictures of colours in your head. Perhaps like his earlier works and those other musicians, PG4 is an album; not 8 – 12 tracks in a contrived order maybe four of which could be released as singles. It is best listened to beginning to end. It makes sense, the order of the tracks is ‘correct’; a journey with a staring point, events, setbacks, successes along the way; an adventure and wonderful scenery before arriving at the destination. You know how your got there, why you’re there and that the journey is complete and hasn’t just ended because LP records last about 50 minutes maximum. This is a complete work that happens to fit on an LP or a CD (of course).

In his later career, Gabriel released an album called “Passion”, have a listen. And, if I were to summarise the feelings that PG4 provokes in me (and perhaps others), it is passion. All passions, good, bad, warm and cold – all of them. This is a powerful, meaningful, important and wonderful album that I have been with since its birth and it will be with me for the rest of my life. Have a listen (again perhaps), let it wash over you. Gabriel’s earlier and later works are accomplished, sometimes commercial, often political, thought provoking, experimental and ground-breaking. Sometimes challenging and always interesting, there’s something for everybody. For me PG4 is his best work musically, vocally, lyrically and technically. Even if Peter Gabriel four is not for you, you’ll always remember it."

About the artist

Peter Brian Gabriel was born 13 February 1950 He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched a successful solo career.

Gabriel has been a champion of world music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting world music through his Real World Records label. He has also pioneered digital distribution methods for music, co-founding OD2, one of the first online music download services. He co-founded the Witness human rights organisation in 1992. Gabriel developed The Elders with Richard Branson, which was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Gabriel has won three Brit Awards, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, the Q magazine Lifetime Achievement, the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Polar Music Prize. He was made a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards. He received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 2006. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010, followed by his induction as a solo artist in 2014. In March 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia in recognition of his achievements in music.

About the album

On Peter Gabriel four, Gabriel took on greater responsibility for the production than on his previous work. It was recorded between 1981 and 1982 on digital tape, with a mobile studio parked at his home. Gabriel played a Fairlight CMI computer and incorporated electronic instrumentation with sampling world beat percussion.

"Over the course of the last two albums," he observed, "I've got back into a rhythm consciousness. And the writing – particularly with the invention of these drum machines – is fantastic. You can store in their memories rhythms that interest you and excite you. And then the groove will carry on without you, and the groove will be exactly what you want it to be, rather than what a drummer thinks is appropriate for what you're doing."

The album was released in September 1982, hit No. 6 in the UK and No. 28 in the US. The second single, "Shock the Monkey", became Gabriel's first top 40 hit in the US, reaching No. 29. To handle American distribution, Gabriel signed with Geffen Records, which – initially unbeknown to Gabriel – titled the album Security to differentiate it from the first three. Gabriel produced a version of the album with German lyrics, remixed, with several tracks extended or altered.

How to Listen

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