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

"Peter Gabriel" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK rock artist Peter Gabriel. The album was released in September 1982 through Charisma Records in the UK and Geffen Records in the US/Canada. The Geffen Records version features the title "Security". The album is also often refered to as "Mask" because of the mask on the front cover artwork and also as a way to distinguish between the first four Peter Gabriel albums which all just bear the title "Peter Gabriel". A Deutch language version of the album was also recorded and released under the title "Deutsches Album".

The music on the album are for the most part mainstream vers/chorus build pop/rock tracks featuring Peter Gabriel´s distinct vocals as the primary focal point. Highlights to my ears are the opener "The Rhythm Of The Heat" with it´s tribal percussion and Peter Gabriel´s intense vocal delivery and the ballad type track "Wallflower". Deeply emotional singing by Peter Gabriel on that one. Besides the the rather silly pop song "Shock The Monkey" the rest of the tracks are decent too. The world music influence that was initiated on the previous album on the "Biko" track is even more dominant on this album.

The musicianship are generally on a high level, but I wouldn´t expect anything else with session musicians like Tony Levin (bass), Jerry Marotta (drums, percussion) and Larry Fast (Moog, Prophet, Moog brass, electric percussion), playing on the album in addition to the mainman himself, who should also be mentioned for this strong performance. The sound production is among the strongest on the first four albums by Peter Gabriel. The eighties were sneaking into the sound with reverb and synthetic synths claiming a more dominant role in the soundscape, but it´s still organic enough to not sound cold. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.