Peter Gabriel 3: Melt [Original recording remastered]

Edgy, innovative, moody. Gabriel was very much influenced by the punk revoloution in the UK, cleverly utilised the up and coming talents of the time (weller XTC Bush) Not forgetting old mucker phil collins brilliant drumming on no self control. Not a duff track on the album each track a joy and very different. It finishes off with the first Gabriel anthem 'Biko' Has not made a better album since.

Peter Gabriel's third self-titled album, i.e. the one with his face melting on the cover, is one of the greatest albums of all time. From start to finish it is an incredible effort, with most of the lyrics from the point of view of someone with a disturbed perspective. The album was originally released on May 30th of 1980, and it remains one of the great Progressive rock albums of all time. Featuring greats like Robert Fripp, Kate Bush, Tony Levin, Phil Collins, and a host of others, the album has a firm musical base on which to build these extraordinary songs.

The album opens with "Intruder" a song sung from the perspective of a burglar, but not just a burglar, but one who gets a thrill from scaring those he is burgling. Next up is "No Self Control", which not surprisingly is sung from the perspective of one who lacks self-control in a number of areas and to an alarming degree. "Start" is a short instrumental which leads into "I Don't Remember" sung from the perspective of someone with amnesia who is trying desperately to remember. Next up is "Family Snapshot", a song sung from the point of view of an assassin. It was inspired by "An Assassin's Diary" written by the man who tried to assassinate George Wallace, but Gabriel uses images from JFK's assassination in the song. Closing out the first half of the album is "And Through the Wire" which is a bit more difficult to figure out, but a good song nevertheless. There are a lot of possible meanings for the song, but I have never figured out exactly what it means. The singer seems to be obsessed with someone, and perhaps stalking them through various methods, or perhaps it is merely someone he is unable to be with physically due to borders.

The second half opens with "Games Without Frontiers", a wonderful song which compares the ridiculous nationalistic contests as they took place on a couple of game shows (Jeux Sans Frontières - France and It's a Knockout - UK) with more the more series and still ridiculous contests between nations in the form of war. "Not One of Us" is next and deals with prejudice. Next up is "Lead a Normal Life" which is mostly an instrumental other than a short passage which invokes the image of one living under restrictions being told to lead a normal life. Last up is the superb "Biko" which is about the killing of Steven Biko, the anti-apartheid activist who died in custody from wounds he received during the interrogation.

Peter Gabriel's first two albums were well received, but this third album took things to a much higher level, and it set the stage for his next album which is right up there with this one in terms of quality. This is an album which is strong both in music as well as in lyric. No doubt this is a 5-star effort.

Peter Gabriel is one of the most interesting artists in music. He's original, innovative and intelligent. He began his solo career with an absolutely fantastic album and then... he flopped. His second album, sometimes called Scratch, was poor. It felt more like a Phil Collins album than the stuff you would expect from Mr Gabriel. Fortunately, this album shows how he returned to form and more. Melt is heralded as one of the best he ever released and who am I to disagree?

The sound is unique. It's hard to appreciate it now but this was hugely innovative. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins managed to invent a whole new drumming sound which can be heard most prominently on the opening to the first track "Intruder". The sound quality is superior to the previous album as well. It's richer, it's grittier and it's creepier.

Intruder is a superb, if scary, opening track. The drumming has already been mentioned but the rest of the music is just as worthy of note. The song is from the perspective of a slightly perverted burglar and the singing is chilling. In this album Peter Gabriel tackles head on subjects that other artists would avoid, not because they're particularly controversial but because they probably didin't think people would want to hear songs about mental illness, crime, racism etc. Ok so he wasn't the first to do it but he was one of the best.

No Self Control is Peter Gabriel first collaboration with Kate Bush. Though it's nearly impossible to identify her as the background vocalist. It's very similar in tone to the first track with more great drumming and troubled lyrics. These are some of the finest songs Gabriel ever wrote and truly reflect the imagination he poured out into this album.

Start is a short, emotive and very enjoyable Saxaphone solo which serves as an introductin to I Don't Remember. Still running with the theme of a troubled mind we are treated to more surreal lyrics and aggresive vocals with powerful, driving drums. The chorus here is the closest this album comes to commercial but retains it's dark mood all the while.

Family Snapshot is my favourite track on here. It's sung from the perspective of an assassin. I'll admit I don't know which assassin he was reffering to but it wasn't the assassination of JFK despite him later making visual references to it on stage. Anyway, on this song the "troubled mind" theme is explored in the most raw and emotional way yet. The music build as the moment draws closer with drums building and the volume rising before Peter sings "I let the bullet fly". The song explores the emotions running through the killers head and what has driven him to kill someone. It implies a troubled childhood may be responsible. Despite what he has done, you are made to sympathise with this character. This is Peter Gabriels writing at it's best lyrically, musically and storywise.

And Through The Wire is a welcome break from madness and seems to be about technology. The lyrics are probably slightly dated now but the upbeat music is still great. The mood changes massively for Games Without Frontiers which also features Kate Bush on backing vocals. This song compares international politics to childish games and arguments. The analogy works brilliantly and the overexaggerated racism drives the point home a little harshly but very effectively. Interestingly, the video has Peter wandering around a table of children who are sat pretending to be world leaders and some channels wouldn't show the video because they thought he was a paedophile. They also thought that the jack in a box was a reference to sex. They didn't seem to mind him singing "piss on the coons" though. How Strange.

Not One Of Us continues the theme of racism. It's a tongue in cheek dig at racists which is quite witty and funny. The lyric are pure gold ("There's safety in numbers when you learn to divide") and the music is upbeat and funny without sounding too silly. Lead A Normal Life then changes the sound completely. This song is complete synthesised as far as I can tell. It's made up of random little sounds that shift between light and jolly to harsh and sinister a few times before we hear a few sung lines. Then it's right back to the bleepity bloop blops we started with. It's strange and a bit disturbing. The music is very nice but also quite unsettling. I'm not entirely sure what it's about. I've heard that its supposed to reflect the "nanny state" or something but I always thought it sounded more like someone speaking to someone with dementia or schizophrenia.

Biko closes the album. This song became an anthem in the fight against the apartheid and always formed one of the most emotional parts of Peter Gabriels shows. The drums pound throughout as Gabriel recites the story of Bikos death with a chorus of "Biko, Biko, Because Biko". The power behind this song is indescribeable. The chorus eventually gives way to repeated chanting which is undoubtedly the emotional peak of the album. The chanting continues for a few minutes before fading out to the sound of african singing. Then silence. Absolutely incredible.

Melt represents a high point of Peter Gabriels career. The following albums are brilliant and I love them but the reason this album is remembered so fondly goes beyond the music. The sound was innovative and the contents were challenging. Gabriel sang very clearly about racism and Biko is widely considered to be one of his finest songs. This album is an experience. The emotions and issues take more of a front seat than they ever had before and ever have since. Even the album cover is brilliant.

I'm always hesitant to use the word "Masterpiece" about an album because it's a word that's used so much it has very little meaning left but if ever an album deserved that label, the finely crafted Melt does.