Peter Gabriel III - Happy 35th Anniversary !!!

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/peter-gabriel-melt-third-album/

Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, bowing out at the band’s creative zenith to pursue the stylistic and personal freedom of a solo career. But it took the art-rock legend three albums to figure out his musical identity.

His self-titled 1977 debut (best known as Car) found the songwriter dabbling in everything from blues-rock (“Waiting for the Big One”) to barbershop quartet (“Excuse Me”), and his second LP (commonly labeled Scratch) embraced a darker, more textured aesthetic with production from King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp. Rewarding albums, no doubt – but in retrospect, they sound like a man so emboldened with ideas, he couldn’t focus on any particular one long enough to refine it. That problem ceased with his first true masterpiece, known as Melt, which was released on May 23, 1980.

The clarity of purpose is evident from the very first cracking snare of “Intruder,” wherein Gabriel embodies a stalker over dissonant keyboards and the menacing thud of former bandmate Phil Collins. Like Scratch before it, Melt is built on brooding atmosphere – but its balance of off-kilter experimentation and melodic focus offers an edge over its predecessor.

There’s no quirkiness for the sake of quirkiness here, not a single wasted second. Singles like the Kate Bush-boosted synth sing-along “Games Without Frontiers” and throbbing rocker “I Don’t Remember” form a brilliant intersection between art-rock and modern pop, mostly because the songs are so tight and carefully constructed. Producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham (most famous for his “gated reverb” drum sound) bring a sonic sparkle — a striking sense of space and vibrancy – with tones as pleasing through a pair of hi-fi headphones as they are through sedan speakers.

“‘Modern’ was good,” Gabriel told Uncut of the production in 2012. “But ‘different’, really. Particularly with the third album, I was trying to find my own path. I worked with these young guys, Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham, who’d done new-wave-y, punky, XTC-type stuff. It was this tougher, more skeletal, edgier music, and it seemed very exciting. I liked XTC a lot. In fact, I heard ‘Making Plans For Nigel’ this morning, and thought, ah, yeah!”

Atlantic Records, who distributed Gabriel’s first two albums in the U.S., were famously displeased with Melt upon first blush, calling the songs “commercial suicide.” The label came crawling back after the LP then hit No. 1 in the U.K., begging for the release rights, but Gabriel moved forward with American label Mercury.

“We made two terrific solo albums with Peter, but then he delivered an album which some people were not so crazy about,” Atlantic executive Ahmet Ertegun wrote in 2001. “So Jerry Greenberg decided to let him go, and we released him from his contract. In retrospect, that was a big mistake. Peter is a great, visionary artist.”

“I gather Ahmet Ertegun, the chairman, thought it was quite arty, but the A&R department told him it was undesirable, too esoteric,” Gabriel told Sounds in 1980. “An Atlantic guy who came over to hear us in the studio asked me to make one song ["And Through the Wire"] sound more like the Doobie Brothers. I said, ‘No.’”

Melt is not only Gabriel’s finest front-to-back album – it also marks his first foray into political writing, with closer “Biko.” The sparse, meditative track – built primarily around the frontman’s bold yelps, Larry Fast’s bagpipes and Collins’ powerful drumming – was written in honor of slain South African anti-Apartheid activist Steven Biko. It’s one of the singer’s most resilient anthems – a rainbow after an album-long thunderstorm.

Melt is the crucial pivot point in Gabriel’s discography, his first – but not final – brush with perfection. He never made another album like it, and neither has anybody else.

 

For my money, III is PG's supreme masterpiece. Just a classic album from start to finish. IV (Security) comes close as well. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Ponkine.

 

My all-time favorite by PG. I saw him at the Greek Theatre in LA in 1980 when he toured to support the release. Great show, there was a very good sounding audience recording on cassette from the show that I bought at a record swap meet. Sadly I no longer have it.

 

I still prefer "Car" but this one has some great songs on it.

 

A very nice write up. Peters fallen off my radar! I only have IV (which i love) and the double greatest hits but will now search Melt out.

Thankyou!

 

Yes, this is a landmark record. I too was fortunate enough to see the Melt tour, at the Boston Orpheum. That was a very intense show.

1980 gave us Melt, Remain in Light and Fourth World: Possible Musics. A life-changing musical year for me.

 

A great album, but I felt a lot of the songs were overly produced. I really liked the corresponding version of the songs found on Plays Live better. I think it was Steve Lillywhite...it seems like he has a knack at working with wonderful artists, getting the most out of them, and then over producing the final result. Just my opinion of course and still enjoy the album, just feel it could have been even better.

 

A brilliant and sometimes terrifying album. Gabriel confronts darkness in many forms: technology, oppression, deviance, war. Biko ends the album with a catharsis, a powerful climax to a stunning album. SO may be his commercial peak, but III for me is his creative zenith.

 

Also my fave PG album. I find the songs and production to be just right...1st was way overdone and 2nd a little undercooked.

 

Indeed - III is the one that really grabbed me. From start to finish, simply arresting music.

To this day I despise the term "Melt" proffered as the name for this landmark album. What is wrong with calling it Peter Gabriel III? To be honest, I had never heard this "Car", "Melt" stuff until I came to the US.

 

There's no real difference between calling it Melt or III since neither one is its title.

 

I like the first one, as well, but all his early stuff is great.

 

It's Jerry Marotta's powerful drumming on Biko, though Phil does play the hypnotic surdo. Although the most powerful drumming on that album for me is Phil, on No Self Control. One of my all time favourite records. Just freaking timeless. But, I'd say that about PG's first four. Just flawless.

 

without a doubt his best album. also one of my top five favorite albums of all time. a real masterpiece.

 

And you are correct with the last part of your statement. But I stand by my disdain for calling it "Melt".

 

I prefer Car (I), because the production/arrangements are much warmer. The production/arrangements for Melt (III) are fairly brittle--of the time, for sure. But Melt (III) and Car (I) are his two best collections of songs.

This quote:

is amazing, since Melt (III) is assuredly more terrific by ANY criterion that Scratch (II).

 

My favorite album by PG. Purchaed it day one of release. Still remember hearing Games Without Frontiers in the radio nothing quite like it then or now.

 

My favorite PG album... And arguably one of the best albums of the Eighties, period.

I was fortunate to snag the Classic 200g pressing for a reasonable price, and that's my go-to when I really want to immerse in the music.

 

I hate it too.

I'm going to respectfully decline to offer my opinion on why people need to give the albums "names" instead of numbers.

To me, the third Peter Gabriel album is simply the third Peter Gabriel album, etc.

 

Overall his most consistent album although I like the songwriting on Scratch a bit more.

 

When this album came out it was a big assault
I found the cover fascinating as I also dabbled in Polaroid manipulation
The sound was gritty and in places anthematic

Family snapshot is such a gripping song.
You can feel the protagonist curling up in a ball at the end

Lead a Normal Life is a very underated moody piece

You can feel the tension on Intruder

I also love the album but prefer the warmth and more natural instrumentation on the first album more.

With this album his cult following grew but Shock the Monkey on iv in heavy mtv rotation really blew his status forward

 

Great album, therefore a happy anniversary from me.

 

Because Melt, sometimes also 3 or III, is quicker to type than "the third Peter Gabriel album". That's why. Just like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway's is usually called The Lamb or TLLDOB. People naturally abbreviate things to make it simpler.

 

No different than calling
"The Beatles" The White Album

 

Thanks for bringing up this thread. I think the above post captures my views better than I could have said - fully agree. A strange but haunting album, even so today, all those years on.
Intruder has a great drum sound courtesy of Phil Collins, Games without Frontiers is part of pop's lexicon, and Biko remains haunting even in the post Mandela era.