PETER GABRIEL 3 [AKA: MELT]

The album opens with the eerie ominous brooding of Intruder. No Self Control flips between manic episodes and tempered reasoned passages backed by the constant rainfall of percussion. I don't remember continues with the intense almost manic feel. Family Snapshot stops the listener in his tracks. You are forced to sit up and visualise the scene. The media, the cavalcade, the police outriders coming round the corner ... you see it through the sniper's (Arthur Bremmer's? ) eyes. A scintillating and gripping track. Through the wire at the end of the side provides a decent catchy rocky number about a long distance relationship.

The Eurpoean version of 1970s "It's a Knockout" (jeux sans frontieres) with not a hint of Stuart Hall: but with a nod to the tv series. And there's sharon who's a legal secretary from hemel hempstead ... oh no she's fallen in the drink ... time for arthur to get his dipstick out. What ever happened to Genaro and Guido? Joking aside was such a successful single that I doubt anyone has not heard it. Excellent, dark satirical and successfully commercial ... just like the game show.

Not one of us is another track in a more commerical format. I alwys like this track but at the time I much preferred The Jam if I was in the mood for that type of track. Lead a Normal Life is once again a superbly crafted song. Percussion dominates the delicate melody.

Biko: a moving and inspiring track about the famous activst murdered by the South Arican police whilst in custody.

The music is firmly and typically 80s to the modern listener. Odd, when you think that this album is from 1980, pre-dating most of what we would term as the classic "80s" sound. There is also a great deal more experimentation, challenging passages and excellent musicianship. Morris Pert on percussion and Tony Levin on the Chapman stick are superb.