PETER GABRIEL 3 [AKA: MELT]

Peter Gabriel's Melt is certainly the strongest in his series of four untitled albums. The first glimpse of World Music shines through here and while this is still clearly the work of the man behind the mic on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway there is an increasing willingness to move further away from that. Games Without Frontiers, And Through The Wire, No Self Control and I Don't Remember are all unforgettable doses of Prog-Pop maintaining their experimental elements particularly in the percussion area. There are weaker pieces here, most obviously Lead A Normal Life but with the likes of anthem-for-peace Biko or the dark and brooding Family Snapsnot keeping the quality levels up they do little to pull the album as a whole down. While Melt is not ultimately a masterpiece it is a praiseworthy effort from an artist constantly pushing his own boat into uncharted waters.