Security

by

Peter Gabriel
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Release type:

studio album

First released:

1982

Overview Edit

Peter Gabriel (1982) is the fourth album released by the British progressive rock musician Peter Gabriel. This album was originally released as Gabriel’s fourth eponymous album, but was released in the United States as Security, Gabriel's first album with Geffen Records in the US and Canada.

This album is an early full digital recording. Its instrumentation is mostly electronic with extensive sampling (through use of the then-new Fairlight CMI) and percussion. It was recorded at Gabriel's then-home, Ashcombe House in Somerset, England in 1981. It was remastered with most of Gabriel's catalogue in 2002.

The songs on the album cover a wide variety of subject matter. "The Rhythm of the Heat" is based on Carl Jung’s experience while observing a group of African drummers. "San Jacinto" reflects on the fear and pain experienced by a Native American man who sees his culture overwhelmed by modern white society. "Shock the Monkey", a meditation on jealousy, uses imagery of a primate to describe personal anxieties. "Lay Your Hands on Me" deals with a theme of healing, through trust, which is further explored on later albums. "The Family and the Fishing Net" is a song comparing a modern day wedding to a voodoo sacrifice. "Wallflower" is about the treatment of political prisoners in Latin America during the 1980s.

"Shock the Monkey" was featured on the 1987 film, Project X, starring Matthew Broderick. "I Have The Touch" featured in the 1988 film, The Chocolate War; an alternate version of "I Have the Touch" was featured on the 1996 film, Phenomenon, starring John Travolta, and a cover version by Heather Nova was featured in The Craft.

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This particular version Edit

Record label:

Geffen Records

Catalog number:

493266

Release dates:

1982 in United States

1 other version of this release

Genres

Classic Rock, Ethnic Fusion, Experimental Rock, New Wave, Progressive Rock. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

Believe the hype...

Here's the simplest way to "get" this record:

1) Buy it.

2) Turn off the lights (candles would be fine)

3) Crank it up.

4) Beginning to end.

5) And you'll be SO glad you did.

Here's the simplest way to "get" this record:

1) Buy it.

2) Turn off the lights (candles would be fine)

3) Crank it up.

4) Beginning to end.

5) And you'll be SO glad you did.

Security is eight tracks of the most lush and thunderous perfection ever recorded, a momentous journey of rhythm, sound and passion likely unparalleled in the history of music. I simply cannot imagine any human being with taste not being blown away by this album. (And, in fact, I've never encountered one - people who were initially annoyed have then thanked me profusely for forcing them to shut up and LISTEN to this. And then raced out and bought their own copies.)

If lyrics are your thing, there's plenty to enjoy here - it's actually a very political record, but think "human" politics rather than "government" politics. Perhaps "existential" would be a better word? And yet, rather amazingly, the album actually provides a wonderful "happy ending" that entirely works.

But it's the music that makes this. It's thick and lush, tribal and primal, and esquisitely percussive. It's more about the bottom end, down in the bass range, than the thinner top above (left largely to his voice), a record you will FEEL as it alternately thunders and crawls and soars. The detail in the remaster does this recording fine justice - the bells in "San Jacinto" are utterly heavenly.

My favorite music, personally, is music rife with tension that builds to fabulous crescendo. Some other reviewers below have pointed out that some tracks are "too long." I'd earnestly disagree. Each of the eight tracks is a perfectly-paced escalation of tension into release, and their length should be savored as exactly that. ("Family and the Fishing Net" would perhaps be THE standout, but you've got to LISTEN to it, as a process of brilliant congealing, to "get it.")

So are their any caveats? Yeah, it's not nearly so practical for "casual" listening (though great for nighttime driving). And definitely do NOT settle for a used copy of the pre-remastered version. The previous master had grown really long-in-the-tooth, almost to an unlistenable extent, and the remaster brings it back up to speed with the recording quality you're used to, and that this record deserves.

Ultimately, if you take the plunge, you will find this truly an unforgettable and irreplacable experience. Eight tracks of flawlessness, and one of the most visionary and utterly perfect albums ever made.

Read the full review

Written by Careful Critic

Not his best stuff

Uneven album which features some good songs (like Shock the Monkey - what is that song about ?), but some poor ones, and which for some strange reason, features several of the songs recorded at a very low volume. Not as good as his others.

Written by Michael Dyckman

Track listing Edit

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The Rhythm of the Heat