Melt

I've heard this album called melt. Regardless of its title, this is by far one of the most well put together albums of all time! There isn't a flaw on it-right from the get go. Intruder for all those 70's lifestyles(wink) will keep your mind busy! No self control,And through the wire, Not one of us, I don't remember all are great rockers. Biko has you singing along as well as games without frontiers. The instruments on this album are very intelligently arranged to keep you wandering how many musicians are playing here. I highly recomend this album-no matter what your musical preference. By far Gabriel's finest work!

WATCH THE WIRE!!!!

It was 1980, Gabriel was going solo for the past 3 years at this point. The previous album "Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch", laid the foundation for this one except that one did suffer from the cloudy production from Robert Fripp yet benefited from it's raw beauty in the songs. The morbid yet blue/jazz influenced "Home Sweet Home" marked what was to come at the ending of the 2nd album. Even the morbidity of that song was nothing compared to the frightening darkness and the alienated, black & white mood of Peter Gabriel 3 a.k.a Melting Face. The melting photograph perfectly shows the mood of the record: DARK & TERRORIZING!

Intruder could as well get my nod as the most frightening song ever recorded to tape. The song begins with echoing Phil Collins-style drums and the sound of wires being pulled and ripped out of a wall and then distorted chords come and shrieking voice effects come in with lyrics that tell the story of a burglar breaking into someone's home. Few songs scared me in such a pleasant way like this song did when I first listened to it. Just don't play it at 3.a.m. alone in the dark. Hehe! >:D "No Self Control" is a theme that tells the story of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder patient who's about to commit something terrible due to the OCD disorder and finding it impossible to resist doing. The song begins with low-pitched xylophones before blasting into an explosive rocking track. A 1 minute 20 second instrumental called "Start" is a bizarre `interlude' with a saxophone that provides the calm between the previous track and the next on but with an unpleasant calm. The quietness is suddenely ended with the banging loud drums of "I Don't Remember"The song begins with Gabriel's chaotic howling and becomes a chaotic, chilling, tale of an amnesiac who is being persecuted by authorities. The really awesome part though is the raging, blazing guitars at the ending combined with the sounds of (I guess) an alarm buzzer and the guitars and buzzer sound effects fading out will leave you with chills running throughout you. I just love those rock guitars at the ending. A piano intro brings us to what I consider the most disturbing track that PG has ever written: Family Snapshot. Don't be fooled by the title. It's a tale of an assassin who assassinates a well-known politician or entertainer just to get attention. The song gradually builds up from the calm pianos at the beginning into a scorching rock song kind of like preparing us for the terrible event that's about to occur. The song suddenly quiets down with "And I'll let the bullet... FLY!!!, and then the calmness brings us to a flashback of a time when the assassin as a young boy, was alone & lonely after relations between his parents turns violent and the distraught of his desperations ends the song with the echoing piano. "And Through The Wire" is a more upbeat rocker with a poppier atmosphere that tells the tale of a murderer. "Games Without Frontiers" was Gabriel's first American charting single. The song is a New Wavish, song that denounces war and tells the tale of children being forced to fight in warfare. I just love the lyrical line "If looks could kill, they probably will", CLASSIC!! If you like this version, check out the Massive/DB mix of GWF available on Pure Moods III. Where the version on here is quirky, eerie, and bleak, the version on Pure Moods III is a dark, haunting, ambient version with a much more twilight mood. Overall, the Pure Moods III version almost sounds like a totally different song altogether. Both versions are awesome. "Not One Of Us" is another scorching rocker similar to "Through The Wire". The song from what I can understand, tells the tale of someone being singled out of a crowd, either because of ethnicity, religious belief, race, or simply because he or she is different. I love the wavy guitars at the ending. "Lead A Normal Life" is the only mellow track on the album. Don't think that this is a ballad. The first 40 or so seconds give the feeling of the song being the nice part of the LP until ominous keyboards and the howling buzz screams come in giving the peacefulness of the song an unpleasant odor. The song eventually turns out to portray the dreamy haze of a mentally ill patient at a dilapidated mental institution. This to me, is the scariest song after "Intruder" because of it's blissful yet burning wirey eeriness. The last track "Biko" wraps up the dark mind trip of PG 3 with recording samples of a choiring protest and becomes a chilling, and eerie song with piercing guitars and African drums. "Biko" is a song dedicated to anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko, who was murdered in 1977. The song fades back down into the protesters chanting which is ending by the sound of a drum, ending the album.

This album, as well as SO, stands as Gabriel's strongest, and most consistent of his entire catalog. Caution!: If you're looking for "Sledgehammer-like" or "In Your Eyes", PG3 is not the one to look for but for those who want to hear something different than what casual fans go for, PG3 is an absolute must. . The remastered edition is astounding, bringing out more details and higher volume in the songs, giving them even more power than they did on the older masters. When the album was finished being recorded and produced, Atlantic refused to release it out of feeling that it wasn't commercial and dropped Gabriel from their label. After Peter Gabriel signed up to Geffen, had PG3 released, well, let's just say that Atlantic have regretted it ever since then.