Peter Gabriel (1980 album)

Peter Gabriel
Studio album by Peter Gabriel
Released	30 May 1980 (1980-05-30)
Recorded	1976–1980 in Bath and at the Townhouse, London
Genre	Experimental rock, new wave, progressive rock, hard rock
Length	45:32
Label	Charisma (United Kingdom), Mercury (Original US LP pressing), Geffen (United States, Canada)
Producer	Steve Lillywhite
Peter Gabriel chronology
Peter Gabriel (1978) Peter Gabriel (1980) Ein deutsches album (1980)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
PopMatters	(very favorable)[2]
John McFerrin	(10/10)[3]
George Starostin	(10/10)[4]
Robert Christgau	(B-)[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Piero Scaruffi	(7/10)[7]

Peter Gabriel is Peter Gabriel's third album. The album contains two of Gabriel's most famous songs, the U.K. Top 10 hit "Games Without Frontiers" and the political song "Biko", about the late anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. The album was remastered, along with most of Gabriel's catalogue, in 2002.

This album is often referred to as Melt due to its cover photograph by Hipgnosis. The photo was taken with a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera, and subsequently modified by Storm Thorgerson or Gabriel. (Thorgerson does not recall whether he or Gabriel manipulated the image.)

Details

Gabriel's ex-Genesis band mate Phil Collins, who succeeded Gabriel as Genesis' lead vocalist, plays drums and provides backing vocals on several of the album's tracks. In particular, Collins played drums on "Intruder", which has been cited as the first use of Collins' "gated drum" sound. This effect, as created by Lillywhite, Collins and Hugh Padgham,^[8] was featured on Collins' and Genesis's recordings throughout the 1980s. The distinctive sound was identified via experiments by Lillywhite, Collins and Padgham, in response to Gabriel's request that Collins and Jerry Marotta not use cymbals on the album's sessions. The sound was significant enough and influential enough that it has been claimed by Gabriel, Padgham, Collins, and Lillywhite. The drum sound on this album has been noted by Public Image Ltd as influencing the sound on their album Flowers of Romance,^[9] whose engineer, Nick Launay, was in turn employed by Collins to assist him with his first solo album, Face Value.^[9] Paul Weller, who was recording with his band The Jam in a nearby studio, was asked to contribute guitar to "And Through The Wire". Gabriel believed Weller's intense guitar style was ideal for the track.

The album, produced by Gabriel and Steve Lillywhite, was Gabriel's first and only release for Mercury Records in the U.S., after being rejected by Atlantic Records, who handled U.S. distribution for Gabriel's first two solo albums and his last two albums with Genesis. Upon hearing mixes of the album's session tapes in early 1980, Atlantic A&R executive John Kalodner deemed the album not commercial enough for release, and recommended that Atlantic drop Gabriel from their artist roster. By the time the album was released by Mercury several months later, Kalodner, now working for the newly-formed Geffen Records label and having realized his mistake, arranged for Geffen to pursue Gabriel as one of their first artist signings.^[10] Geffen (at the time distributed by Atlantic sister label Warner Bros. Records) re-issued the album in 1983 after Mercury's distribution rights to the album lapsed, and has marketed it in the U.S. since (coincidentally, Mercury is now sister label to Geffen after Mercury's parent PolyGram merged with Geffen's parent Universal Music Group in 1999).

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Gabriel.

Side one

1. "Intruder" – 4:54
2. "No Self Control" – 3:55
3. "Start" – 1:21
4. "I Don't Remember" – 4:41
5. "Family Snapshot" – 4:28
6. "And Through the Wire" – 5:00

Side two

1. "Games Without Frontiers" – 4:06
2. "Not One of Us" – 5:22
3. "Lead a Normal Life" – 4:14
4. "Biko" – 7:32

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel – vocals, piano, synthesizer, bass synthesizer, percussion
• Kate Bush – backing vocals on "No Self Control" & "Games Without Frontiers", (uncredited on "I Don't Remember" and "Not One Of Us")
• Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion
• Larry Fast – synthesizer, bass synthesizer
• Robert Fripp – guitar on "No self control", "I Don't Remember" & "Not One of Us"
• John Giblin – bass
• Dave Gregory – guitar
• Tony Levin – Chapman stick on "I Don't Remember"
• Phil Collins – drums on "Intruder" & "No Self Control"; snare drum on "Family Snapshot"; surdo on "Biko"
• Dick Morrissey – saxophone
• Morris Pert – percussion
• David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
• Paul Weller – guitar on "And Through the Wire"
• Dave Ferguson - screeches on "Biko"
• Steve Lillywhite - Producer

Critical praise

In 1989, the album was ranked #45 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 80's".

In 2000, Q magazine placed the album at #53 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

In 2006, Q placed the album at #29 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s", the only Gabriel album to make the top 40.^[11]

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1980	Billboard Pop Albums	22
1980	UK Album Chart	1[12]

Single

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1980	"Games Without Frontiers"	Billboard Pop Singles	48

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
BPI – UK	Gold	2 June 1980

References

1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen T. (2011 [last update]). "Peter Gabriel [3] - Peter Gabriel | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r7912. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
2. ^ James, B. (2011 [last update]). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel [3] (SACD) < PopMatters". popmatters.com. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/gabrielpeter-st-3. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
3. ^ McFerrin, J. (2011 [last update]). "Peter Gabriel". johnmcferrinmusicreviews.org. http://www.johnmcferrinmusicreviews.org/gabriel.htm#pg3. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
4. ^ Starostin, G. (2006 [last update]). "Peter Gabriel". starling.rinet.ru. http://starling.rinet.ru/music/gabriel.htm#%28III%29. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
5. ^ Christgau, R. (2011 [last update]). "Robert Christgau: CG: peter gabriel". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=peter+gabriel. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
6. ^ Marsh, D. (2011 [last update]). "Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel [3] : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20090202154917/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/petergabriel/albums/album/208846/review/6211544. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
7. ^ Scaruffi, P. (2010 [last update]). "The History of Rock Music. Peter Gabriel: biography, discography, reviews, links". scaruffi.com. http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/gabriel.html. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
8. ^ Robyn Flans (1 May 2005). "Classic Tracks: Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight"". Mix. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_phil_collins_air/index.html. 
9. ^ ^{a b} M, Scott (February 2003). "Nick Launay interview". Fodderstompf.com. F&F Publishing. http://www.fodderstompf.com/INTERVIEWS/nick.html. Retrieved 2007-02-24. 
10. ^ Wade, Dorothy and Justine Picardie (1990). Music Man: Ahmet Ertegun, Atlantic Records, and the Triumph of Rock 'n' Roll, Norton, ISBN 0-393-02635-3, pp. 247-249.
11. ^ Q August 2006, Issue 241
12. ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1980s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080209095724/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/all_the_no1_albums.php?show=4. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 

External links

• Peter Gabriel (Melt) at MusicBrainz

Preceded by McCartney II by Paul McCartney

UK Albums Chart number one album 14 June 1980 – 27 June 1980

Succeeded by Flesh and Blood by Roxy Music