PETER GABRIEL 3 [AKA: MELT]

"Peter Gabriel" (sometimes titled "Peter Gabriel 3 - Melt") is the 3rd full-length studio album by UK pop/rock artist Peter Gabriel. The album was released in May 1980 and features "Biko" and "Games Without Frontiers", which are two of his best known songs. The album was also released in a German language version titled "Ein deutsches Album", probably as a result of Peter Gabriel´s dedicated German audience.

As with most of Peter Gabriel´s solo albums, "Peter Gabriel 3 - Melt" features quite a few prolific session musicians. Among others Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta, Phil Collins, Robert Fripp and Kate Bush.

The music on the album is mainstream oriented pop/rock with some alternative/experimental elements, a world music influence and a tiny nod towards progressive rock. Peter Gabriel´s distinct voice is in focus most of the time on the vers/chorus structured tracks. All tracks are pretty easily accessable but few leave a lasting impression as few of them feature catchy choruses. The closing track "Biko" is the track that made most of an impression on me with it´s african percussion and african choir type singing. Not that it´s especially great, but more because it´s a very different sounding track compared to the rest. The material are generally composed in a competent manner, but as mentioned the tracks are not that catchy. "Peter Gabriel 3 - Melt" is an album I´ve listened to quite a few times, and I still can´t remember more than a couple of tracks off it.

The sound production is professional, well sounding, and suits the music well. I guess this is what you´d call clever pop/rock with it´s slight experimental touches, high level musicianship and sophisticated lyrics, but personally I prefer pop/rock which are either more experimental or more hook laden and catchy than this. To my ears "Peter Gabriel 3 - Melt" falls between two chairs and quite frankly it just doesn´t excite me one bit. It´s still a quality release in many ways though and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.