About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

A mass of dense rhythms and patterns, the fourth Peter Gabriel LP traveled as far from the bright pastures of its predecessor, as the second had from the first, and it paid the price among the critics. Reviews were tough, sales were patchy, and even hardcore fans confessed their disappointment. If Gabriel's all-conquering third album had any faults, it was in the sheer adventurousness that characterized its finest moments; so much so that nothing he did thereafter would ever be seen as more than a minor modification of that earlier set's precedents. In fact, any failings that Peter Gabriel may labor beneath were effortlessly balanced by the sheer strength of the songs, the commitment of the performance, and Gabriel's innate understanding that the weight of expectation can never be truly satisfied. "Shock the Monkey," a song so powerful that, two decades later, nu-metal sweethearts Coal Chamber would need to pull out all their own musical stops (and add guest star Ozzy Osbourne) simply to match the intensity of the original; "I Have the Touch," its claustrophobic atmosphere and rhythm seamlessly melding with the rush hour crush of its subject matter; "The Rhythm of the Heat," a Burundi piece de resistance as evocative as any "authentic" sampling of tribal percussives -- these are the songs that became Peter Gabriel's best-loved moments. Yet, to single them out is to disrupt the exquisite flow of the entire suite, eight songs and almost as many shifting moods that might not amount to the best Peter Gabriel album, but certainly represent the quintessential one. Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

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