PETER GABRIEL 4 [AKA: MASK, AKA: SECURITY]

This album was Peter Gabriel's fourth album in a six year period. It was also the last of his four albums to be called simply 'Peter Gabriel'. His next studio album, that was still several years away at this point, would constitute a slight change of musical direction for him. It is thus very natural to draw a line just after Peter Gabriel 4 (or rather after the live album that he released the following year) between tho phases in Peter Gabriel's solo career; "the early" and "the later" Peter Gabriel, if you like.

For those who have heard his first three albums, there are really no big surprises here. It is possible, however, to trace a development over his four first albums away from Rock and towards experimental Pop. Rhythm was clearly more important than melody for Gabriel at this point and the rhythms are not conventional Rock rhythms. There is absolutely no question about this being Prog, it isn't. This is Art Pop, at best.

Once again, Gabriel had a couple of hit songs, most notably Shock The Monkey. And once again, I am left unimpressed and wondering why Gabriel is held in such high regard among fans of progressive Rock. This is by no means bad, but also not as strong as his previous album. I'll take 80's Genesis over this any day!

I think that Gabriel made a wise decision to release a live album after this and then take a rest for several years before the release of So in 1986 (he did work on movie soundtracks in the meantime though, something he would do more often in the future), he crearly needed some time away after this.

If you are about to explore Peter Gabriel's solo output, I would recommend to start with either Peter Gabriel 3 or Peter Gabriel Plays Live. The latter features tracks from all four of Gabriel's solo albums up to this point.

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