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

This is an astonishing album where impeccable song writing, a passionate performance and undisputed originality merge together seamlessly. I've always thought it the pinnacle of Gabriel's career but look, that's not what PA says, strange.

I fail to see how this could be called mainstream in any possible way. Except for the preceding Gabriel album there is next to nothing that sounded even remotely like this album. Certainly not in what came before, but often in what came after, as in the dark and sparse atmospheres of the Massive Attack album Mezzanine, which comes close to the unique atmosphere that is created here with the minimal percussion and unique keyboard effects.

Such an amount of originality is what I call the opposite of mainstream.

The songs are sure accessible and bound to appeal to a wide audience but again they are nothing like your standard 3-chord driven verse chorus rock song. Every track takes an entirely different approach, sometimes it's done by the tribal percussion, sometimes it's due to the cymbal-free drum kit, at other times it's by the intense emotionality of Gabriel's voice. Whatever the reason, every track had something that did not belong in pop music. Or have we forgotten that this album was from 1982?

The Rhythm of the Heat and San Jacinto are my favourites here. The first for its raw power, the second for its eerie beauty and sweeping melancholy. I Have the Touch and Shock the Monkey come closest to what might be called pop music. Not because they were intended as such but just because they somehow struck a chord with the tastes of the times, when originality, intensity and integrity were preferred over soulless technical swagger.

Yep, don't come nitpicking to me about the 80's. It was a wonderful era for music and this is one of its essential masterpieces.