I've been on a Gabriel binge during the last week, and the album that keeps staying with me as a complete piece of work is number 4.
I sometimes feel it gets overlooked, given the acclaim that album 3 got for its innovative sound, ad the runaway commercial success of So.
I thought I'd post a few blog thoughts to stimulate the discussion:
https://momentstransition.wordpress....abriel-4-1982/
My fave Album from him by far...
WordOriginally Posted by TheH
I have both the English and the German version. A Dutch DJ (radio-presentor) did a version where he combined the English and the German version of Wallflower, which I remember fondly.
IMO, "Mask" is the last really great studio album by Peter Gabriel.
Oh and yes, it is a "quietly respected" album now.
I go back to all of the four eponymous records almost equally, but this was the tour I saw him on, and it still ranks among my favorite concerts of all time, so Security will always be special to me. I do think it's the album where he finally became the solo artist he had been striving to be.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
I've always liked this album a lot, and I guess it came out at a time where to me, it didn't seem overlooked. It was during my first year of college, the Shock the Monkey video got played a lot on MTV (wasn't there another one too? I Have the Touch maybe?). I saw Gabriel on this tour (great seats, great show), and also on the Plays Live tour, so I saw a lot of this material live. Your comments on the album itself, though, Valen, are all correct. Rather experimental, but also accessible.
I used to have a version of Here comes the flood in German that Peter released.. Sad to say I let that go some time ago. I forget what was on side two..
That would be PG3, but he took things even further on PG4. Being all digital and heavily based on the Fairlight, the album sounds a bit cold to me. The only weak spot is Kiss of Life which tellingly isn't even mentioned in Valen's notes.
I also have a soft spot for the remix of I Have theTouch which appeared on the Sledgehammer single and the Shaking the Tree compilation: with extra drums by Simon Phillips, it sounds more organic and less robotic than the original.
Last edited by LeFrog; 04-03-2019 at 10:16 AM.
Not just a Genesis fanboy.
PG4 was huge when it came out. Hardly overlooked.
The one that gets overlooked imho is 1 (Car).
BTW the album titles in order are. 1 (Car), 2 (Scratch), 3 (Melt). After that they had titles although at the time 4 had a sticker on the plastic wrap calling it Security. Because it was such a huge album the record company insisted it having a title, so PG allowed the sticker. Like I said, hardly overlooked.
I've got that on 12", I think. Did it have a white label with just a big '1' and '2' on either side? It's either got 'Shosholoza' or 'Spiel Ohne Grenzen' on the other side.
PG4 was only labelled as 'Security' in the US, AFAIK.
Great LP.
The Prog Corner
Best Gabriel solo album to my ears.
This is the PG album that caused a sonic leap in my head and heart as a then 21 year old. And it is one that has aged well.
My favorite as well. Listen to it loud in a dark room! Creepy.
I saw the band during the 1983-tour.
The making-of documentary from the South Bank Show should get an official release.
I've got Here Comes the Flood in German...it's the b-side of Biko 12"
As for PG4 (and yes, never heard it called "Security" back in the day)...it's kind of PG3 part 2, great songs but the sound is a bit muddy to my ears. I prefer the crisper sounding PG3 (and indeed So)
Just played it a few days ago. And they did 3 songs from it the last time I saw him (with Sting-a-ling-a-ding-dong). Don't think it's overlooked.
Loudly respected, Loudly revered!
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
The tour for this album also afforded Gabriel a lot of opportunity for interesting stagecraft - entering with the band from the back of the theater, crowd surfing, the mirror that he held up reflecting a light into the crowd, swinging from bars like an ape. It was a pretty cool show.
Probably my favorite PG. Like several of you I saw the tour, and it was my first PG tour. That only made it better by driving those tunes deeper into the psyche.
But such originality, creativity and vision. No one, at least in the musical world I was living in at the time, was doing anything anything like this. I still dust it off every year for a few plays and just marvel. This one has never grown old for me.
One funny thing: yes the vinyl with the "digital" production and the Fairlight always sounded cold, but this is one case where the CD actually sounds "warmer".
A favorite. I saw this tour (the last in the unbroken string from '77) and his band was on fire. "Family and the Fishing Net" and "San Jacinto" were the big numbers for me.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
My fave, yes, but not by that much, really
For years, I didn't really dig solo Gabe stuff, and I had WTF at a few of his early hits and didn't find much to love... And "Security" was amongst that ...
Then came So with Sledgehammer, Red Rain and Big Time, which I really dug (well lack of other pop/rock stuff to like in those years did jelp a bit)... and within weeks, I'd revisited all of his first four albums... and his fourth became my fave
Sercurity has aged rather well, though I only own nowadays Plays Live, which is not fully satisfactory as to the tracks selection (a few of my faves are missing, like Moribund, for ex)
I was thinking of buying Secret World Live to have most of the later tracks , but how does it sound (sonic-wise)?
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
It's mentioned as many people's fave so I don't think it's underrated. I like III a lot more, but IV is great.
IV (Security) is my fave too: was "So" disappointed when I heard the follow-up four years later!
"Wouldn't it be odd, if there really was a God, and he looked down on Earth and saw what we've done to her?" -- Adrian Belew ('Men In Helicopters')
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