Peter Gabriel 3 (Melt) | Extended Play Lounge Ep. 71
Added 2024-07-09 21:44:09 +0000 UTCI am pleased to present our latest episode of the Extended Play Lounge...it's Peter Gabriel's 3rd album, known as Melt. I must say, I was a bit overwhelmed by the raw nature of these sounds. Peter truly is a pioneer of recorded song, and now I understand why y'all picked this album for me to begin my Peter Gabriel solo journey. I hope you enjoy!
Comments
Games without frontiers has a few more things going on than were discussed. Fripp’s guitar part is unique, and PG3 brought Fripp sounds to a wider audience. Hearing this in the background Muzak while grocery shopping is surreal. The original TV show was called It’s a Knockout and ran in the UK with different teams competing from around the country. They then made a European version kind of like the Eurovision Song Contest as Games Without Frontiers, or in French Jeux Sans Frontieres. PG uses all three names in the lyrics and the rhyme of frontiers with tears is neat. I think the song is more about substituting wars with sports and games than adults acting like kids.
Adrian Cockcroft
2025-02-06 08:18:55 +0000 UTCPG3 is an amazing album - it's radical with some very thought provoking lyrics. Family Snapshot and Biko always bring a tear to my eye. PG4 would be the logical progression....
Andrew Mellor
2024-07-31 12:02:28 +0000 UTCThe fretless bass is John Giblin, who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. Levin also used a Music Man Stingray bass through pedalswhich gave it that squelchy sound.
Ralph Darvill
2024-07-24 10:24:22 +0000 UTCI ain't mad that 3 won this poll. it's an amazing work. hope you don't skip over 4... it's my fave, I think. more innovation, and plenty of weirdness. PG's best when he's weird. btw, that's Levin on Stick on "I don't remember". I own one... a 10-string chapman grand stick. Family Snapshot, that's fretless bass.
ax o'lotl
2024-07-21 06:18:35 +0000 UTCpretty sure the synth bass is Levin's Chapman Stick
grnmntl
2024-07-20 02:15:00 +0000 UTCPhil once said they put drums where cymbals normally would be
Pat Bourque
2024-07-19 02:03:02 +0000 UTCPeople forget that Peter Gabriel started out as a drummer and always carried that ear for rhythm throughout his solo work.
Rolling Ronnie
2024-07-16 09:43:36 +0000 UTCI agree that Security PG4) should be the next extended Play Lounge you do of Peters albums. I also recommend the Birdy soundtrack.
Alan Wheeler
2024-07-15 03:17:12 +0000 UTCAlso, about the gated reverb and the drum track in "Intruder", please have a look at this funny interview with Phil behind the drums, on French TV back in 1998: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O643qPlQEIo
Salvador Montoro Goethe
2024-07-14 10:11:52 +0000 UTCI keep on coming back to this album since I was in my teens, just realized that means over 35 years now...Wow! I was on my Genesis trip, exploring all the side branches of the family tree, and this album really blew me off my feet!! I love your comment about hearing it as a big koda, never thought of it that way!! I would like to draw your attention to the two first Phil Collins solo albums. For me, the hidden treasures in "Face Value! are way more interesting than "in the air tonight", despite me being a hobbyist drummer. "Hello, I must be going!" is a really big album as well. Also, from "No jacket required", the track "Long long way to go" is another big one for me, too. Thank you for your analysis, I loved this one!
Salvador Montoro Goethe
2024-07-14 10:08:48 +0000 UTCBiko continues the theme of a meltdown, in this case the meltdown of a society. At the very end we hear the people singing Zenseni Na, meaning "What have we done". A beautiful rendition by the Cape Town Youth Choir: https://youtu.be/SJP79Zon3Ek?si=IZTuSWt2zd0J3Yi1
Guðsteinn Bjarnason
2024-07-14 09:16:47 +0000 UTCWhat an experimental album!!! WOW! Peter Gabriel is so underestimated as a musician as most just listen to albums such as 'So' and label him as a 'pop artist' and not look any further...what a collection of masterpieces are they avoiding! Thank You Doug, this channel, and others who have given me a chance to explore Peter's entire discography!
Rebecca Walsh
2024-07-12 21:42:31 +0000 UTCI did find myself thinking, given the thematics of the record, how "Biko" fit. Except, of course, the disordered mind surely is present in the cops, and in the state enforcing apartheid. The other interesting aspect of "Lead a Normal Life" is that, yes, for the most part its mood and sound is contrasting...but notice near the end that, beneath that calming surface (the repeating open fifths in the marimba), a strange squalling guitar starts rising in the mix, along with a distorted drum part roiling beneath the surface. On that surface, the song presents sort of a happy ending...but of course, its protagonist's life is severely confined and restrictive. Still, if we focus on Biko, and the activists that ultimately overthrew apartheid, of course the album can be read concluding on a positive note...
Jeff Norman
2024-07-11 04:38:16 +0000 UTCYou should continue with PG4 (Security), his most accomplished rhythm album. San Jacinto and Lay Your Hands On Me are practically mystical musical works. Excellent episode 71, Dr. Doug.
StefNewtown
2024-07-11 01:38:02 +0000 UTCShe is absolutely so funky, yeah. A friend of mine misheard it that way as well. 😁
Martin Broten
2024-07-10 22:14:52 +0000 UTCPeter recycled a couple of these pieces (in instrumental form) for his soundtrack of the film "Birdy" in 1985. A piano theme in "Family Snapshot" appears as a short track called "Close Up." And a portion of "Not One Of Us" becomes "Birdy's Flight."
Fort-Man
2024-07-10 21:04:03 +0000 UTCI actually saw PG while he was touring this album. The concert started with all band members walking down the isles waving search lights while the opening drum riff for "Intruder" was playing. A great/creepy start to a show. His American record company (Atlantic) refused to release the album because it wasn't commercial enough (it was eventually released on Mercury IIRC). I always associate this album with Kate Bush's "The Dreaming", which she said was inspired by "Melt". "The Dreaming" is a remarkable, very experimental album which many will name as Kate's best (although I prefer "Hounds of Love"). It is probably one of the most "out there" albums ever released by an established artist. Brilliant.
Martin Broten
2024-07-10 17:25:23 +0000 UTCAnother awesome album. Very emotional. I think the first time I finished with Family Snapshot, I shed a few tears. And I absolutely love the rhythm guitar line from Paul Weller in And Through The Wire . A lighter note - Games Without Frontiers - when Kate sings Jeux Sans Frontiers it sounds to some people like She's so funky, yeah 🤣
Ford H. Cotton III
2024-07-10 15:25:04 +0000 UTCPhil's drum roll at 13:14 of No Self Control is insane.
Ian
2024-07-10 13:59:30 +0000 UTCOne of the most unique works in the history of rock. So groundbreaking, so singular. Nothing sounded like this. This album defied classification. Vivid visual images created with the lyrics. Some of the production techniques set the foundation for Phil Collins' blast off. Peter was a pioneer of "world music" and "Biko" was a powerful statement. Personally, this is a top 5 all-time album for me. Seeing this tour at the Tower Theatre in Philly was one of the great moments for me at the legendary venue. The other key thing here - in retrospect, we know where Peter Gabriel's mucisal arc evolved to... but upon the release of this masterwork, we didn't have that knowledge and this was such a jarring release, without the future context, you absoultely could not put your finger on where he was going and it was fresh and exciting. The liberal application of dissonance throughout gave this a sonic canvas all of its own. Not to mention "I Don't Remember", which introduced the world at large to the Chapman Stick. Even the use of effects processing on the vocals is elaborate and creates a surreal aspect that was unconventional and a major statement.
Christopher Arters (relative timeworx - Mr.A)
2024-07-10 12:27:09 +0000 UTCI remember this coming out. Sitting in the 6th Form Common Room at school with all the other uncool Prog kids. We got to put LPs and tapes on during break times and this one certainly caused a stir! Having Paul Weller playing guitar (from The Jam, who were just about the biggest singles band in the country along with The Police) made it instantly cool. I've always loved Peter's adventurousness with sound, and the empathy in his lyrics. Bike still has the power to bring me to tears when I hear it live. Peter brought the Apartheid issue to far wider notice in the UK with this song, and is duly credited by the others involved in the movement with making things happen faster. He really had detached the "Prog" label by this album, although it is definitely progressive in its nature. Kate Bush was treading a similar sonic path at the time too. Thanks for the analysis Doug.
Ralph Darvill
2024-07-10 10:37:34 +0000 UTCHi Doug ! Michael here. I was fortunate to see this Tour Live, in 1980, while at Chicago's then Uptown Theater. (On YouTube, there are two Uptown Gabriel Concerts, Featured with Photographs from Gabriel"s 78' (Scratch), and 80' (Melt) Concerts. View them. The Energy being emitted, is very evident within Both Presentations.) The 80' Tour, was the best and most profound Tour, I had ever Witnessed. (All Jaws were dropped. Such a Bodily Reaction happens around the Sublime). Intruder - the Sound you heard, was of a Glass Cutter cutting Glass. The Whistling within Intruder, harkens to me, to the whistling, Peter Lorre, the Main Character, in Fritz Lang's movie, 'M', whistled, before he murdered a Child.
Michael Hernandez
2024-07-10 04:46:48 +0000 UTCThank you for your reaction to this album. I'm a big fan of his work.
Joseph Pasteris
2024-07-10 01:45:04 +0000 UTCEnjoyed this thoroughly! This album is a huge fave. Thanks Doug
Boring Postcards
2024-07-10 00:46:30 +0000 UTCSenzeni na? means What have we done? Love Peter G but this album is a tough listen for me. It’s on the sadder than usual side. His groundbreaking brilliance is unmatched of course. But the subject matter is a little bit of a downer for me personally. Enjoyed the review though 💕
The Nanny named Fran
2024-07-09 23:23:27 +0000 UTCI Loved it. I Hope that Security (or Peter Gabriel IV) goes next. I think it’s still better than this one.
Carlos Regidor Iglesias
2024-07-09 22:48:44 +0000 UTCI am so glad that it wasn't SO. Peter's first 4 albums are groundbreakingly innovative and progressive w/o sounding like progressive rock at all.
Frank H
2024-07-09 22:20:11 +0000 UTCIMGoodness. I absolutely love this album. Passionate vocals and lyrics. Arrangements like no other. It's a drummers paradise. Avant garde is an understatement.
Robert Thornton
2024-07-09 21:49:02 +0000 UTC
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