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After the first two timid and uncertain attempts to take flight from the warm and safe Genesis nest, and after a third album that was already more mature and personal, on the fourth attempt Peter Gabriel finally finds the friendly current that allows him to reach very high altitudes, with a dizzying peak in the masterpiece "Passion", a true model to highlight to those who too easily hand out the label of "ethnic music". His restless hunger for musical exploration begins to be satisfied thanks to the discovery of the primitive charm of African tribal sounds, adapted to Western taste through meticulous electronic elaborations, which Peter masterfully achieves in his personal recording studio, which is also his home. The sound of this album goes in the opposite direction to the trends of the '80s: instead of a blend of soft bass and clean drums, here a dry and powerful rhythmic base prevails, which at times seems to overshadow the other instruments and even the voice. This is particularly evident in the African-inspired tracks, such as the frenzied "Kiss Of Life", a true drum festival, and above all the overwhelming "The Rhythm Of The Heat", with its subdued start and magical build-up of tension, created both by the increasingly assertive drums and by P.G.'s increasingly dramatic voice, with the cherry on top being the thunderous entry of a section of real African percussion in the pyrotechnic finale. Another masterpiece conceived in crescendo is "San Jacinto": here, the task of creating a climate of anticipation is entrusted to an oriental-sounding motif played by keyboards, which seems to coil upon itself until it hypnotizes the listener, preparing them to fully appreciate the majestic and engaging finale. After all, even though it's structured in a more complex way, the evocative "Lay Your Hands On Me" also bases much of its charm on the crescendo that leads from the almost whispered verses to the piercing despair of the main motif, also emphasized by nervous bursts of drums. Even the more elementary tracks highlight the percussion sounds: this is true for "Shock The Monkey", the big hit of the album, and for the equally brilliant "I Have The Touch". Powerful drum interventions are also present in what might seem like a slow song, "The Family And The Fishing Net", the darkest and most mysterious moment of the album and the only example of continuity with the prevailing atmosphere of the third album. Amidst so much movement, there is only one example of a melodic song, just one but of rare beauty: with "Wallflower," Peter Gabriel shows that if his interest is currently directed at primitive rhythms, it doesn't mean that his Genesis origins have been forgotten: from the velvety beginning, with piano notes emerging from a fog of electronic sounds, to the sumptuous finale, decidedly tear-jerking, it is pure emotion. It makes an excellent album more varied and complete.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 The Rhythm Of The Heat (05:15)
Looking out the window
I see the red dust clear
High up on the red rock
Stands the shadow with the spear
The land here is strong
Strong beneath my feet
it feeds on the blood
it feeds on the heat
The rhythm is below me
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my soul
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
Drawn across the plainland
To the place that is higher
Drawn into the circle
That dances round the fire
We spit into out hands
And breathe across the palms
Raising them up high
Help open to the sun
Self-conscious, uncertain
I'm showered with the dust
The spirit enter into me
And I submit to trust
Smash the radio
No outside voices here
Smash the watch
Cannot tear the day to shreds
Smash the camera
Cannot steal away the spirits
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my soul
02 San Jacinto (06:22)
Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life
Medicine man lead me up though town - Indian ground -
so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water
wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scout and Guides make
pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white
men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top -
keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through
the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing
it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun -
from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
03 I Have The Touch (04:33)
The time I like is the rush hour, cos I like the rush
The pushing of the people - I like it all so much
Such a mass of motion - do not know where it goes
I move with the movement and ... I have the touch
I'm waiting for ignition, I'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and I light up in the dark
There you stand before me, all that fur and all that hair
Oh, do I dare ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Any social occasion, it's hello, how do you do
All those introductions, I never miss my cue
So before a question, so before a doubt
My hand moves out and ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Pull my chin, stroke my hair, scratch my nose, hug my knees
Try drink, food, cigarette, tension will not ease
I tap my fingers, fold my arms, breathe in deep, cross my legs
Shrug my shoulders, stretch my back - but nothing seems
to please
I need contact
I need contact
Nothing seems to please
I need contact
05 Shock The Monkey (05:25)
Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out' the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey
Fox the fox
Rat on the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life
07 Wallflower (06:29)
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with the bullets, bars and stone.
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone
They take you out - the light burns your eyes
To tha taking room - it's no surprise
Loaded questions from clean white coats
Their eyes are all as hidden as their Hippocratico Oath
They tell you how to behave, behave as their guest
You want to resist them, you do your best
They take you to your limits, they take you beyond
For all that they are doing there's no way to respond.
Hold on, hold on
They put you in a box so you can't get hurt
Let you spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred.
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone,
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone.
Though you may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do.
You may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do
08 Kiss Of Life (04:19)
See me a big woman, big woman look how you dance
See me a big woman, big woman caught in a trance
Dancing on the tabletop, covered up with the Easter feast
You're dancing for the fishermen, from the very large right
to the least
Dancing for the slow release, first the boy and then the beast
Then the beast
Burning, buring with the kiss of life
Burning, buring with the kiss of life
See me, a big woman, big woman so full of life
See me, a big woman, big woman going to be my wife
Watching for the different eyes - they change your face -
they come inside
Watch the spirits laugh and cry, watch them find a place
to hide
Watch the spirits talk in tongues, watch them take you for
a ride
Down at the ocean lies a body in the sand
Big woman sits beside, head in hand
With heat from her skin, and fire from her breath
She blows hard, she slows deep in the mouth of death
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
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Other reviews
By paolofreddie
"I would need to feel the chills down my back and head when 'The Rhythm of the Heat' starts, with that primal scream and Gabriel’s voice crescendo."
"Would you like to be on a deserted island, sitting on the beach with your feet in the cool water, ready to dirty them and set them in motion to the sound of your music?"
By R13569920
A shocking listen, an innovative and extremely bold album, another reason to accept Gabriel’s long-past and completed defection from the Book of Genesis.
Peter Gabriel’s fourth album remains the most extreme and incisive work ever recorded by this artist and one of the most personal and courageous ever made.
