In 1982, Peter Gabriel expanded upon the rich sound of African music which found its way unto his earlier 1980 "melting face" self-titled LP. Sure "No Self Control" had an upbeat little feel and "Biko" probed into the horrible tragedy of a dead civil rights activist, but musically there is a new vibe running through the fourth album.

Regarded as a "full digital recording" on the label, SECURITY (or PETER GABRIEL IV as it was intended to be called) is augmented by electronic instrumentation and the addition of more musicians and instruments. The Fairlight CMI synthesizer, Moog bass, and the added sounds of percussion and Ethiopian pipes bring a more futuristic yet exotic cool to these songs on the album. Below the murky sound of Shock The Monkey is a full-fledged R&B number waiting to be set free, and Peter Gabriel is still imagery-crazed and drunk on metaphor in his lyrics. Not that it's a bad thing. It's just that some will have a hard time deciphering the subject matter in the songs. It's hit single has already been interpreted many different ways.

The album kicks off on the ominous tribal sound of The Rhythm Of The Heat, where Gabriel shrieks and holds a killer note on "The rhythm has my sooouuul!" right before the wall of percussion comes in to make the equivalent of a live guitar solo burning out a song. The lyrics itself deal with percussion: it relates to Carl Jung's chance encounter with a tribe of African drummers and how he loses himself to the dances and playing of the drums. Here on the song, the Ekome Dance Company have their own Ghanian drum section, and Gabriel and drummer Jerry Marotta play Surdo drums. As an opening song, it's urgent and breathraking even if Gabriel's anthropological lyrics seem a bit heady.

The next number, San Jacinto, is unforgettable and improves upon the rough edges of the opener. Amid a hushed Fairlight melody (which gets layers of drums, stick and guitar added later), he starts to build a sense of dread as an Indian man starts to let go of life, and wakes up to a horrible aftermath of his culture trampled by the white man's surroundings, such as pools, discotheques and restaurants. Amid the end, where the instruments all fade except for an airy synth-brass melody, the poor soul must "hold the line" of instinct amid all this strange culture.

I Have The Touch is pretty simple pop wherein Gabriel embraces contact as an ultimate form of pleasure ("There you stand before me/All that fur and all that hair/Oh do I dare/I have the touch") from which the lack of which can cause deprivation and despair. The drum work is fairly electronic but rhythmic and the aural trickery amounts to a fairly decent if stiff pop song.

The Family And The Fishing Net is the album's epic-seeming centerpiece, a paean to the traditional Western family wedding ceremony with darker images and overtones. Some great guitar work from David Rhodes and John Ellis turn up as the moody, synthesized verses kick into charged uptempo choruses and down again. Gabriel uses Fairlight samples liberally throughout this number to evoke atmosphere, primarily the feeling of a party by the sea.

Shock The Monkey is better in its complete album-length format here, with its often-misconstrued intention as a love song amid the gloomy pop background which features more of Rhodes' great guitar work and a guest spot by Larry Fast (who also played on the rest of the album with moog brass and prophet).

Lay Your Hands On Me has yet another ominous feel built up by the assessment of CMI and moog instruments, and it portrays values of trust, healing and sacrifice amid the cavalcade of imagery throughout the song.

Wallflower is more powered by actual piano here than on the other songs. Finally, the digital effects aren't truly necessary, as Gabriel and David Lord (who are also the two producers of the album) offer sparkling piano notes as Gabriel probes another case: Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland, who was sent into a mental hospital. Not about sudden death as "Biko" was, this is more of a song about keeping your spirit from being broken and simply holding on.

And the closing number is the urgently uptempo Kiss Of Life, which marries percussion, Rhodes' guitar and the obvious synthesizer/piano touches in a hectic Latin-like mix as Gabriel sings of a large Brazilian dancer with the power to bring life back to the unconscious through a kiss.

For all it's sonic experimentality, Peter Gabriel has compiled an album of pure, dark, often optimistic pop songs and married them with a more supreme world beat for a mix which is absolutely impressive, seeing as how Gabriel himself discovered this a couple of years before making the album. The only true complaint I had was about the sound quality of the original CD (although the recording is digital, much of the album's sound is absolutely low and in desperate need of remodeling). I managed to pick up the digitally remastered version released May 7, 2002, and it had much clarity and sound improvements that made the earlier discs seem outdated. With that flaw fixed, SECURITY retains the impact it originally carried and then some.

And when Gabriel released So in 1986, you could still hear a spooky world beat in the songs, yet more mired in pop sensibility. But SECURITY is the other way around: the mood permeates and the pop is kept as a backdrop. Still, there's no denying it when you hear the album right from the first song's brooding chorus:
"The rhythm is below you/ The rhythm of the heat/
The rhythm is around you/The rhythm has control/
The rhythm is inside you/The rhythm has your soul."

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying