I bought Plays Live when I was 13 and was blown away. I then bought 4, and at first, it scared the shit out of me. So dark and brooding and yet so beautiful and clear. This was a big album for my formative years and I am so glad about that. It has created a high bench mark in the music I listen to and what I enjoy playing. ( Although I do love my entire Cymbal collection )
Absolutely love this album and consider it Prog. Gentle Giant didn't have a song longer than 10 minutes and they're Prog geniuses. The atmosphere that this album starts with draws you in and takes you on a great journey that doesn't end until the album is over. 3, Security, So, Passion and US is an awesome album run. Great choice for an album study Ken.
I watched this episode in its entirety and thank you @Ken Golden for picking this album from a great musician. I have a strange love-hate relationship with Peter Gabriel. I love his work with Genesis, but his solo work requires a specific mood, which I don’t always have. Peter Gabriel’s fourth studio album, “Peter Gabriel” (1982) or “Security” in the US, explored world rhythms and sparser earth tones. The album had a few popular songs like “Shock The Monkey” and “I Have The Touch,” but his solo career took off worldwide with “So”. Like Ken, this is my all-time favorite Peter Gabriel album. It features six of my all-time favorite Gabriel songs, with the other two being among the Top 15. I still have my vinyl, cassette, and CD versions of this album. My favorite Peter Gabriel song is “Lay Your Hands On Me”.
"Wallflower" is one of those songs where you don't ever forget the first time you heard it from start to finish. I was speechless when I first heard this song. You can truly feel how heartbroken he was for the people of Chile. Great production!!! I also came to respect "The Family and the Fishing Net" a lot more after hearing him do it live in 2012.
Yep, saw this tour in San Jose. He opened that show just like Ken mentioned, they all came in from the back of the auditorium, each band member playing a drum. They made their way through the crowd and up onto the stage and went into the Rhythm of the Heat. It was amazing!
Great pick from Ken. Also: that bit about PG falling backwards into the crowd, who catch him and pass him around. That happened when I saw this tour. Simply amazing.
First time to listening to this album. My only frame of reference to his solo work is So. I really like the non conventional approach to these songs, as well as the unique sounds created. There’s not really any synthesized sounds that would be considered cheesy at our present time (except maybe that flute sound). I was surprised that San Jacinto sounds very heavily inspired by the compositions of Steve Reich, like almost exactly. But the album makes me think of the artists at the time also making unconventional music in a similar cinematic style with new sounds like Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, and even Tom Waits to a certain extent. Then in the near future (mid to late 80s) other similar musical concepts were coming from artists like Scott Walker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and Talk Talk. As someone who ignored music from the 80s for a long time, it’s really great to hear more amazing art pulled from that period of time. And speaking of Luis hugging people…when I went to SOT Fest, I went to give Luis a fist bump. Instead he came at me and gave me an arm around the shoulder side hug with great gusto and enthusiasm. So I can speak to the power of his hugs.
I just listened to this album for the first time the other day, and it instantly became one of my favourites in recent times! So the timing of this video is just perfect.
Thanks gents!!! Hey Ken, I think you're underestimating the quality of "I/O." The first 6 or 7 tracks are some of the best since "So." The interesting arrangements decline towards the end like so many "too-long" albums, but there is some very tasty playing by Tony Levin and friends to be found on "I/O."
My favorite is his first Album. Then again, all his Albums are great. I was fan of Genesis from P G years & on so when his first solo Album came out it just it was just so different that it just blew me away & made me a bigger fan. Great show by the way guys.
I think his first one is underrated. Like Ken was saying, he’s showing you everything he can do and it’s sort of all over the place. Thats what I like about it. The only track I don’t like is Excuse Me.
Great episode my friends. I love the textures, atmosphere and rhythms on this album and it is my own personal favorite. I heard PG solo before I became familiar with his Genesis albums, but I love both. He is a genius and one of the greatest voices in music, regardless of genre.
Securiy is my personal favorite PG studio album. I was at the "Plays Live" concert shortly after the release of the album, and it sounded like the live record. Top-5 of my life concert. They came in from the back in darknes with lights on headbands, PG stagedived, the whole works. Just fantastic. He had the audience in the palm of his hands and the room was electric. My other PG highwater marks are actually Passion and Birdy.
Peter Gabriel was my gateway into the punk, post-punk, and new wave. this is largely due to the 3rd record”s eclectic guests. when I began buying his music, I was already aware of his tenure with Genesis, and I was willing to follow his musical journey wherever it went. I love 4 (Security), but 3 is still my fav. all of the 1st 4 solo records are great imo. over time I’ve become lukewarm on So and have been unable to connect with Up and onward
Kind of my Peter Gabriel solo entry point - love the whole thing, great sequence of songs. I too saw Shock The Monkey when it was JUST new on MTV - and I was like WTF! in a good way - song wise/video wise.
I'm lookin' at two promotional posters from this album as I watch this-the front cover on my livin' room wall 'n Shock The Monkey above my fridge.Love 'em both. The perks o' workin' in a record store. Peter 'n his then girlfriend Rosanna Arquette were customers. They bought lots o' music. I asked Peter to sign an lp o' The Last Temptation O' Christ soundtrack. He stared intently at the cover, then explained it was his first time to see the finished artwork.
This was my first Peter Gabriel album. I had heard of Genesis, but never bought any of their albums. From this, I went backwards in his discography, and enjoyed all of it. I then started into the Genesis stuff, and was completely underwhelmed, except for the early live album.
Without question, Peter Gabriel/4/Security is my favorite from a catalogue of many great albums belonging to a guy who used to be the lead singer of Genesis (ever heard of 'em?) Great pick, Ken.
In a radio interview, around the time of his third album, Gabriel said he liked the idea of his albums having no titles. Just like a magazine, you have a familiar logo in a certain position, then a new cover for each edition/album.
among all things gabriel did on iii and iv i was totally impressed with lack of cymbals, crash and hi hats (just several processed hi hat sounds on both albums). he creates amazing sound gaps which you actually can hear and made those songs even more exciting to me. i didnt saw that anyone mentioned it.
This album was a slow grower for me. I love it now. I think I may have owned the Deutsches version of this way back when. There was a Quiex II vinyl pressing also.
His best album hands down. The combination of fairlight and heavy acoustic percussion gives the album an otherworldly quality... a quality Security shares with another favorite of mine: The Dreaming by Kate Bush.
This is a great choice for an album study. Not my favourite (that's III), saw him on this tour and all his solo tours at Glasgow Apollo and then SECC (I boycotted last year, £200+ fees). Tickets were maybe £4 or so (don't have my stub) and like others recalling, coming down the aisles from the back of the stalls to get up on stage- easier said than done as apollo stage was about 12ft high at this point. In these days Kate Bush was often seen as a female version of Gabriel as she progressed from her first two albums by Never for Ever and then Dreaming. At its time of release this had become my favourite of his (now it's about third, marginally behind the debut). As is easily heard from this album, it's very rhythmic, dense, dark lyrically, experimental with the CMI. I for one appreciated his dismissal of cymbals (as a tangent thought, lack of drums and cymbals are what make Tangerine Dream Tangerine Trees so pleasing to listen to) and no tedious guitar solos for the sake of it. I'm a big fan of Wallflower as it builds. The one I always felt cold towards is Family & Fishing Net( this is purely musical, rather than any obtuseness or lyrical allegory that I couldn't buy into). But an album with San Jacinto, Rhythm, Shock the Monkey, Lay Your Hands on Me, Wallflower is clearly a superior album. Unfortunately So (despite a couple of decent big tracks) is a major disappointment and despite a few decent tracks on each subsequent release, he has never recaptured this spirit
The Rhythm of the Heat is mostly in E minor dorian mode with an occasional flat 5 and a 6 for a passing tone to the 7. The chorus is a long suspension of an A dropped a half step to an Ab which makes the second chord an E Major and it does that only twice but fades out into percussion to the end with a low E bass by Tony. The no cymbals idea came about on III and iirc it was Robert Fripp who suggested that to Peter. Fripp said cymbals were taking away the frequencies of his guitar. I also think Mama was highly inspired by The Rhythm of the Heat.
Yep Pretty good with the experimentation and all that give it a unique feel. And I got The CD. Says Full Digital Recording in right lower corner. I would give it a 3.5 It was Got the CD for $2 at local record store as they had an area for some pick up CDs for real cheap in the store this night that I went and got other CDs also. Like The Beatles Stereo Revolver Yes The Ladder and others. Nice haul of stuff. Think it was like 6 CDs or something like that for $2 price. Thanks for fine watching and listening show. TC
I really liked "Melt" (or PG 3), but for some reason was turned off by "Security" at the time it was new, with "Shock the Monkey" all over radio. I'm going to give it a second chance now.
The song "Kiss Of Life" I thought was "Kiss A Lot" (laughs) when I first heard it back in early 1983. Also Bermuda singer Heather Nova did the remake of "I Have The Touch" (from the 1996 movie "The Craft" soundtrack) which starred Neve Campbell & Robin Tunney. (music video BUT Heather is not in the video) ua-cam.com/video/iT_n1mwdm4A/v-deo.html
I bought Plays Live when I was 13 and was blown away. I then bought 4, and at first, it scared the shit out of me. So dark and brooding and yet so beautiful and clear. This was a big album for my formative years and I am so glad about that. It has created a high bench mark in the music I listen to and what I enjoy playing. ( Although I do love my entire Cymbal collection )
Absolutely love this album and consider it Prog. Gentle Giant didn't have a song longer than 10 minutes and they're Prog geniuses. The atmosphere that this album starts with draws you in and takes you on a great journey that doesn't end until the album is over. 3, Security, So, Passion and US is an awesome album run. Great choice for an album study Ken.
I watched this episode in its entirety and thank you @Ken Golden for picking this album from a great musician.
I have a strange love-hate relationship with Peter Gabriel. I love his work with Genesis, but his solo work requires a specific mood, which I don’t always have.
Peter Gabriel’s fourth studio album, “Peter Gabriel” (1982) or “Security” in the US, explored world rhythms and sparser earth tones.
The album had a few popular songs like “Shock The Monkey” and “I Have The Touch,” but his solo career took off worldwide with “So”.
Like Ken, this is my all-time favorite Peter Gabriel album. It features six of my all-time favorite Gabriel songs, with the other two being among the Top 15.
I still have my vinyl, cassette, and CD versions of this album.
My favorite Peter Gabriel song is “Lay Your Hands On Me”.
By the way, if Avant GArde hands like Kraftwerk and Can can be considered "Progressive", so is Peter Gabriel' 1982 release.
Great discussion. This is my favorite of the first 4.
Excellent, my favourite Peter Gabriel album.
"Wallflower" is one of those songs where you don't ever forget the first time you heard it from start to finish. I was speechless when I first heard this song. You can truly feel how heartbroken he was for the people of Chile. Great production!!! I also came to respect "The Family and the Fishing Net" a lot more after hearing him do it live in 2012.
Yep, saw this tour in San Jose. He opened that show just like Ken mentioned, they all came in from the back of the auditorium, each band member playing a drum. They made their way through the crowd and up onto the stage and went into the Rhythm of the Heat. It was amazing!
I was there too- San Jose Civic, right? Great show. Biko memorable.
Great pick from Ken. Also: that bit about PG falling backwards into the crowd, who catch him and pass him around. That happened when I saw this tour. Simply amazing.
First time to listening to this album. My only frame of reference to his solo work is So. I really like the non conventional approach to these songs, as well as the unique sounds created. There’s not really any synthesized sounds that would be considered cheesy at our present time (except maybe that flute sound). I was surprised that San Jacinto sounds very heavily inspired by the compositions of Steve Reich, like almost exactly.
But the album makes me think of the artists at the time also making unconventional music in a similar cinematic style with new sounds like Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, and even Tom Waits to a certain extent. Then in the near future (mid to late 80s) other similar musical concepts were coming from artists like Scott Walker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and Talk Talk. As someone who ignored music from the 80s for a long time, it’s really great to hear more amazing art pulled from that period of time.
And speaking of Luis hugging people…when I went to SOT Fest, I went to give Luis a fist bump. Instead he came at me and gave me an arm around the shoulder side hug with great gusto and enthusiasm. So I can speak to the power of his hugs.
Thanks guys for another great episode. Great pick Ken. One of my favorite albums.
I just listened to this album for the first time the other day, and it instantly became one of my favourites in recent times! So the timing of this video is just perfect.
Thanks gents!!! Hey Ken, I think you're underestimating the quality of "I/O." The first 6 or 7 tracks are some of the best since "So." The interesting arrangements decline towards the end like so many "too-long" albums, but there is some very tasty playing by Tony Levin and friends to be found on "I/O."
Great show. The fourth studio album is my favourite Peter Gabriel solo album. And the 4 album run from PG3 (Melt) thru Us is fantastic.
My favorite is his first Album. Then again, all his Albums are great. I was fan of Genesis from P G years & on so when his first solo Album came out it just it was just so different that it just blew me away & made me a bigger fan. Great show by the way guys.
I think his first one is underrated. Like Ken was saying, he’s showing you everything he can do and it’s sort of all over the place. Thats what I like about it. The only track I don’t like is Excuse Me.
Should be a good one! My favorite PG album
Great episode my friends. I love the textures, atmosphere and rhythms on this album and it is my own personal favorite. I heard PG solo before I became familiar with his Genesis albums, but I love both. He is a genius and one of the greatest voices in music, regardless of genre.
Fantastic episode.
Securiy is my personal favorite PG studio album. I was at the "Plays Live" concert shortly after the release of the album, and it sounded like the live record. Top-5 of my life concert. They came in from the back in darknes with lights on headbands, PG stagedived, the whole works. Just fantastic. He had the audience in the palm of his hands and the room was electric. My other PG highwater marks are actually Passion and Birdy.
In my opinion, Peter came out of his shell when he went solo
Peter Gabriel was my gateway into the punk, post-punk, and new wave. this is largely due to the 3rd record”s eclectic guests. when I began buying his music, I was already aware of his tenure with Genesis, and I was willing to follow his musical journey wherever it went. I love 4 (Security), but 3 is still my fav. all of the 1st 4 solo records are great imo. over time I’ve become lukewarm on So and have been unable to connect with Up and onward
Kind of my Peter Gabriel solo entry point - love the whole thing, great sequence of songs. I too saw Shock The Monkey when it was JUST new on MTV - and I was like WTF! in a good way - song wise/video wise.
Wallflower is a masterpiece
so haunting, terrifying.
I'm lookin' at two promotional posters from this album as I watch this-the front cover on my livin' room wall 'n Shock The Monkey above my fridge.Love 'em both. The perks o' workin' in a record store. Peter 'n his then girlfriend Rosanna Arquette were customers. They bought lots o' music. I asked Peter to sign an lp o' The Last Temptation O' Christ soundtrack. He stared intently at the cover, then explained it was his first time to see the finished artwork.
Avant-Gabriel - Great job fellows!
This was my first Peter Gabriel album. I had heard of Genesis, but never bought any of their albums. From this, I went backwards in his discography, and enjoyed all of it. I then started into the Genesis stuff, and was completely underwhelmed, except for the early live album.
Congrats to making it to 100k Pete and the HVS, PS, MD, RC , UKC, 4FF Crew!
Thanks to the SOT crew once again. Good stuff. 👍💯
Based on what Luis said about taking different rhythms from different cultures to create the PG rhythm, you can almost call it a form of fusion.
Without question, Peter Gabriel/4/Security is my favorite from a catalogue of many great albums belonging to a guy who used to be the lead singer of Genesis (ever heard of 'em?) Great pick, Ken.
In a radio interview, around the time of his third album, Gabriel said he liked the idea of his albums having no titles. Just like a magazine, you have a familiar logo in a certain position, then a new cover for each edition/album.
among all things gabriel did on iii and iv i was totally impressed with lack of cymbals, crash and hi hats (just several processed hi hat sounds on both albums). he creates amazing sound gaps which you actually can hear and made those songs even more exciting to me. i didnt saw that anyone mentioned it.
I love the first four Gabriel solo albums. I feel what he was releasing was so much cooler than what his ex band was releasing
This album was a slow grower for me. I love it now. I think I may have owned the Deutsches version of this way back when. There was a Quiex II vinyl pressing also.
His best album hands down. The combination of fairlight and heavy acoustic percussion gives the album an otherworldly quality... a quality Security shares with another favorite of mine: The Dreaming by Kate Bush.
6:54 Anthony’s face just brought everyone back to getting picked by the teacher in grade school.. 😂😂
The instrumental of Wallflower is used on the Birdy soundtrack.
This is a great choice for an album study.
Not my favourite (that's III), saw him on this tour and all his solo tours at Glasgow Apollo and then SECC (I boycotted last year, £200+ fees). Tickets were maybe £4 or so (don't have my stub) and like others recalling, coming down the aisles from the back of the stalls to get up on stage- easier said than done as apollo stage was about 12ft high at this point. In these days Kate Bush was often seen as a female version of Gabriel as she progressed from her first two albums by Never for Ever and then Dreaming.
At its time of release this had become my favourite of his (now it's about third, marginally behind the debut). As is easily heard from this album, it's very rhythmic, dense, dark lyrically, experimental with the CMI. I for one appreciated his dismissal of cymbals (as a tangent thought, lack of drums and cymbals are what make Tangerine Dream Tangerine Trees so pleasing to listen to) and no tedious guitar solos for the sake of it.
I'm a big fan of Wallflower as it builds. The one I always felt cold towards is Family & Fishing Net( this is purely musical, rather than any obtuseness or lyrical allegory that I couldn't buy into). But an album with San Jacinto, Rhythm, Shock the Monkey, Lay Your Hands on Me, Wallflower is clearly a superior album. Unfortunately So (despite a couple of decent big tracks) is a major disappointment and despite a few decent tracks on each subsequent release, he has never recaptured this spirit
Security (IV) is my favorite Peter Gabriel album. 👍
I like his live album "Plays Life" the best, the songs sounds great.
The Rhythm of the Heat is mostly in E minor dorian mode with an occasional flat 5 and a 6 for a passing tone to the 7. The chorus is a long suspension of an A dropped a half step to an Ab which makes the second chord an E Major and it does that only twice but fades out into percussion to the end with a low E bass by Tony. The no cymbals idea came about on III and iirc it was Robert Fripp who suggested that to Peter. Fripp said cymbals were taking away the frequencies of his guitar. I also think Mama was highly inspired by The Rhythm of the Heat.
Yep Pretty good with the experimentation and all that give it a unique feel. And I got The CD. Says Full Digital Recording in right lower corner. I would give it a 3.5 It was Got the CD for $2 at local record store as they had an area for some pick up CDs for real cheap in the store this night that I went and got other CDs also. Like The Beatles Stereo Revolver Yes The Ladder and others. Nice haul of stuff. Think it was like 6 CDs or something like that for $2 price. Thanks for fine watching and listening show. TC
I really liked "Melt" (or PG 3), but for some reason was turned off by "Security" at the time it was new, with "Shock the Monkey" all over radio. I'm going to give it a second chance now.
Watch the BBC Southbank show on the making of this album, it’s great.
When did Peter become Randy Newman? Randy is one of his favorite songwriters.
Also the third album has no cymbals. You got drums ont he third and percussion on the fourth
It's funny that Peter hates cymbals...then he took Manu catche who is FULL with cymbals, they are everywhere...
the versions of all these songs on "plays live" are highly superior to the studio versions. no contest
Interesting observation about Peter not wanting to use cymbals because by the next album he had a drummer that is very cymbal happy.
True! Very interesting that Stewart Copeland opens So with hi-hat!
The german language version is killer
No idea I loved his hits but never got into his music after Genesis
Ric Marotta played this yes. It's art rock I think.
Jerry Marotta
The song "Kiss Of Life" I thought was "Kiss A Lot" (laughs) when I first heard it back in early 1983. Also Bermuda singer Heather Nova did the remake of "I Have The Touch" (from the 1996 movie "The Craft" soundtrack) which starred Neve Campbell & Robin Tunney. (music video BUT Heather is not in the video) ua-cam.com/video/iT_n1mwdm4A/v-deo.html
Say what will about the fourth Peter Gabriel album. It is not a progressive rock album. 😮