Everything about Peter Gabriel 1980 Album totally explained
Peter Gabriel (1980) is
Peter Gabriel's third eponymous
album. It was his first and only release for
Mercury Records, and was re-issued in 1983 on
Geffen Records. The album was met with wide critical acclaim and contains two of Gabriel's most famous songs, "
Games Without Frontiers," which reached the
U.S. Top 50, and the UK Top Ten, and the political song "
Biko", about the late anti-apartheid activist
Steve Biko. The album was remastered, along with most of Gabriel's catalog, in 2002.
This album is often referred to as
Melt, on account of the cover photograph. This was part of a session taken by
Storm Thorgerson of
Hipgnosis, using a
Polaroid SX-70 instant camera, subsequently modified by Thorgerson and Gabriel. Thorgerson doesn't recall whether the cover image was manipulated by Gabriel, or by himself.
This album marked the fourth reunion of Gabriel with a member from
Genesis: in this case drummer
Phil Collins, who had succeeded Gabriel as Genesis' vocalist. Gabriel had joined Genesis on stage in New York during their
…And Then There Were Three… tour of 1978, and Collins also played drums for Peter during his set at the 1979 Reading Festival. Steve Hackett also played on stage with Peter sometime between 1977-1978.
Track listing
All songs written by
Peter Gabriel.
"Intruder" – 4:54
"No Self-Control" – 3:55
"Start" – 1:21
"I Don't Remember" – 4:41
"Family Snapshot" – 4:28
"And Through the Wire" – 5:00
"Games Without Frontiers" – 4:06
"Not One Of Us" – 5:22
"Lead A Normal Life" – 4:14
"Biko" – 7:32
Personnel
Peter Gabriel – vocals, piano, synthesizer, bass synthesizer, percussion
Kate Bush – backing vocals on "No Self Control" & "Games Without Frontiers"
Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion
Larry Fast – synthesizer, bass synthesizer
Robert Fripp – guitar on "I Don't Remember" & "Not One of Us"
John Giblin – bass
Dave Gregory – guitar
Tony Levin – Chapman stick on "I Don't Remember"
Additional personnel
Phil Collins – drums on "Intruder" & "No Self Control"; snare drum on "Family Snapshot"; surdo on "Biko"
Dick Morrissey – saxophone
Morris Pert – percussion
David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
Paul Weller – guitar on "And Through the Wire"
Dave Ferguson - screeches on "Biko"
Critical praise
In 1989, the album was ranked #45 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.
In 2000; Q magazine placed the album at number 53 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Miscellanea
The song "Family Snapshot" was inspired by An Assassin's Diary, published in 1973 and written by Arthur Bremer, who attempted to assassinate George Wallace. Gabriel talked about the book in an authorized biography of him written by Spencer Bright and published (ISBN 0-283-99498-3) in 1988: » An Assassin's Diary was a really nasty book, but you do get a sense of the person who is writing it. Bremer was obsessed with the idea of fame. He was aware of the news broadcasts all over the world and was trying to time the assassination to hit the early evening news in the States and the late night in Europe to get maximum coverage.
Phil Collins and Jerry Marotta's drum sound on this album (notable for its lack of cymbals) was a strong influence on Public Image Ltd's Flowers of Romance. Collins, in turn, was so impressed with Flowers of Romance that he hired that album's engineer, Nick Launay, for his first solo album Face Value.Charts
Album
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1980 |
Billboard Pop Albums |
22 |
Single
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 1980 |
"Games Without Frontiers" |
Billboard Pop Singles |
48 |
Certifications
Further Information
Get more info on 'Peter Gabriel 1980 Album'.
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