Peter Gabriel (1980 album)

Peter Gabrielis the third solostudio albumby the English rock musicianPeter Gabriel, released on 30 May 1980byCharisma Records. The album, produced bySteve Lillywhite, has been acclaimed as Gabriel's artistic breakthrough as a solo artist.AllMusicwrote that it established him as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians".
Building on theexperimentalsound of hisprevious self-titled studio album, it saw Gabriel embracingpost-punkandnew wavewith anart rocksensibility. Gabriel also explored more overtly political material with theanti-war song"Games Without Frontiers" (which became a No. 4 hit and remains his joint highest-charting single in the UK) and the anti-apartheidprotest song"Biko", which remembered the murdered activistSteve Biko.
The album is also often referred to asMelt, owing to its cover photograph byHipgnosis.Some music streaming services refer to it asPeter Gabriel 3: Melt.
When writing the album, Gabriel developed a "rhythm first" approach when writing and demoing songs for the album on an8-tracksystem. Synthesizer playerLarry Fastintroduced him to thePAiA"Programmable Drum Set", which offered full programmability, allowing Gabriel to program his own drum rhythms to build songs around during the writing process.He later bought aRoland CR-78drum machine as well for use on the album: he felt the CR-78 sounded better but was less programmable than the PAiA drum machine.
Peter Gabriel hired his former bandmate inGenesisdrummerPhil Collinsfor the recording sessions along with another drummer,Jerry Marotta. He gave them one specific demand. "Artists given complete freedom die a horrible death", he explained toMark Blake. "So, when you tell them what they can't do, they get creative and say, 'Oh yes I can,' which is why I banned cymbals. Phil was cool about it. [Marotta] did object and it took him a while to settle in. It's like being right-handed and having to learn to write with your left."
Collins played on several of the album's tracks. "Intruder" has been cited as the first prominent use of agated reverbsound.The distinctive sound was identified via experiments by producerSteve Lillywhite, Collins and staff engineerHugh Padgham, in response to Gabriel's request that Collins and Marotta not use cymbals during the album's sessions.
Lillywhite explained: Gabriel "didn't want to use cymbals and I had been really experimenting with this ambience thing which actually started with [drummer]Kenny Morriswith the first[Siouxsie and the] Banshees'album. When you listen, you can hear elements of this gated room sound, big compressed room sound that I did on the Banshees". "Padgham was my engineer when we did the Peter Gabriel album [...] but I had been pushing and experimenting before with, likethe Psychedelic Furs", on "Sister Europe", [...] "all done before the Peter Gabriel album".So significant and influential was the sound that it has been claimed by Gabriel, Padgham, Collins, and Lillywhite. It was cited byPublic Image Ltdas an influence on the sound of their third studio albumThe Flowers of Romance(1981),whose engineer,Nick Launay, was in turn employed by Collins to assist with his debut studio album,Face Value(1981).The album was also one of the first to use theFairlight CMIsampling synthesizer: it provides subtle sampled sounds on the album, such as those audible on "Start".
"I Don't Remember" had been performed on Gabriel's 1978 tour for his second studio album.An earlier studio version was to be the A-side of the first 7" single released in advance of the album by Charisma in Europe and Japan, but a Charisma executive thoughtRobert Fripp's guitar solos were not radio-friendly. This earlier version wound up as the B-side of the advance "Games Without Frontiers" single instead in those territories. It was included on the B-sides-and-rarities compilationFlotsam And Jetsam, released in 2019. The album version of this song appeared as the A-side of a 12" single in the United States and Canada.Paul Weller, who was recording with his bandthe Jamin a nearby studio, contributed guitar to "And Through the Wire". Gabriel had previously said of the Jam, "I like them a lot. They're one of the new groups who have written the best songs. They're really very good."He believed Weller's intense guitar style was ideal for the track.
Commenting on his lyrics, Gabriel jokingly summarised the album's themes as "the history of a decaying mind". He added: "State of mind was definitely an area of interest at the time of writing it, but I never really set out with a concept. It was merely different songs, which perhaps have fitted into one particular slant." Of "No Self Control", he said: "That's something which I've observed in myself and in other people… In a state of depression, you have to turn on the radio, or switch on the television, go to the fridge and eat, and sleeping is difficult."
Upon hearing mixes of session tapes in early 1980,Atlantic RecordsA&RexecutiveJohn Kalodnerdeemed the album not commercial enough for release, and recommended Atlantic drop Gabriel from its roster. "Atlantic Records didn't want to put it out at all", Gabriel told Mark Blake. "Ahmet Ertegunsaid, 'What do people in America care about this guy in South Africa?' and 'Has Peter been in a mental hospital?' because there was this very weird track called 'Lead a Normal Life'. They thought I'd had a breakdown and recorded a piece of crap ... I thought I'd really found myself on that record, and then someone just squashes it. I went through some primordial rejection issues."As a result of the rejection, the release was pushed back from its original intended February 1980 release date so a new US deal could be secured withMercury Recordsbefore releasing the album worldwide.
The album cover, inspired by the work of photographerLes Krims, shows an image of Gabriel in which the left side of his face appears to be melting. The effect was achieved by repeatedly taking his picture with aPolaroid SX-70instant camera, then using various objects to smear and distort the pictures as they developed. These photos were taken in color, and the final distorted image was re-shot in black and white. DesignerStorm Thorgersonsaid, "Peter himself joined with us at Hipgnosis in disfiguring himself by manipulating Polaroids as they 'developed' ... Peter impressed us greatly with his ability to appear in an unflattering way, preferring the theatrical or artistic to the cosmetic."
The album was Gabriel's first and only release forMercury Recordsin the United States, having been rejected by Atlantic Records, which had handled US distribution for Gabriel's first two solo studio albums and his last two studio albums with Genesis. It was a commercial success, becoming his first to top the UK charts as well as reach No. 22 on the US Billboard chart, his highest position there to date. In addition, the single "Games Without Frontiers" became his biggest hit to that point, charting at No. 4 UK. After all the trouble incurred when Atlantic dropped the album, Gabriel stated that he felt vindicated by the public's reaction.
By the time the album was released by Mercury several months later, Kalodner – now working for the newly formedGeffen Recordslabel and having realised his mistake – arranged for Geffen to pursue Gabriel as one of its first artist signings.Geffen (at the time distributed by Atlantic sister labelWarner Bros. Records) reissued the album in 1983, after Mercury's rights to it lapsed, and marketed it in the United States until 2010, when Gabriel's back catalogue was reissued independently byReal World Records. Coincidentally, Mercury is now a sister label to Geffen after Mercury's parentPolyGrammerged with Geffen's parentUniversal Music Groupin 1999.
The studio album came out as a self-titled album in the UK on 30 May 1980 onCharisma Records. AGerman-languageversion of the album, titledEin deutsches Album(A German Album), was released simultaneously.
The album was remastered, along with most of Gabriel's catalogue, in 2002.
In his review forRolling Stone,Dave MarshdescribedPeter Gabrielas "a tremendous record" that "sticks in the mind like the haunted heroes of the bestfilm noirs".
In 1989,Peter Gabrielwas ranked at No. 46 onRolling Stone's list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s.In 2000,Qplaced the album at No. 53 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever";six years later, the magazine placed it at No. 29 on its list of the 40 best albums of the 1980s.In 2018,PitchforkrankedPeter Gabrielat No. 125 on its revised and expanded list of the 200 best albums of the 1980s.In 2020,Rolling Stoneincluded this record in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising Gabriel "for a haunting LP that touches on political assassinations (“Family Snapshot”), the futility of war (“Games Without Frontiers”), and the brutal murder of South African activist Steve Biko (“Biko”). He made more popular albums after this one, but never better ones."
Ein deutsches Album(English:A German Album), released in June 1980, is a German-language version ofPeter Gabriel. Gabriel sang German vocals on top of the instrumental backing tracks. Two years later, Gabriel releasedDeutsches Album(1982), a significantly altered version of his fourth studio albumPeter Gabriel(1982).In February 1980, German-language versions of "Games Without Frontiers" and "Here Comes the Flood" were released as a single in Germany. German adaptation was done by Horst Königstein.
All songs written byPeter Gabriel. "Texte" (lyrics) by Peter Gabriel translated by Horst Königstein.
Side one
Side two
Credits are adapted fromPeter Gabrielliner notes.
Production personnel