PETER GABRIEL - JEUX SANS FRONTIERS

singles bought when they came out . . . . . . .another from Jeff Harris' wonderful music blog 

On this day in music history: May 30, 1980 - “Peter Gabriel 3” (aka “Melt”), the third studio album by Peter Gabriel is released. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, it is recorded in Bath, UK with the Manor Mobile Studio, and The Town House in London from Summer and Autumn 1979 - Winter 1980. With his first two albums receiving critical acclaim, but only garnering modest sales in the US, Atlantic Records drops Peter Gabriel from their roster at the suggestion of A&R man John Kolodner. Kolodner hears Gabriel’s third album, believing that it “isn’t commercial enough”. Mercury Records acquires the rights to release the album in the US. It features guest appearances from musicians such as Kate Bush, Paul Weller, and Gabriel’s former Genesis band mate Phil Collins who plays drums and sing background vocals on several tracks. Like his previous two albums, it is issued without an official title. It becomes known as “Melt” because of the cover photo by Hipgnosis which features a Polaroid snapshot of Gabriel that has been rubbed with a pencil eraser while developing, smearing the emulsion. It spins off three singles including “I Don’t Remember” (#107 US Pop) and “Games Without Frontiers” (#4 UK, #48 US Pop). With the album becoming Gabriel’s biggest seller to date, John Kolodner realizes his error in having the musician dropped from Atlantic, and signs him to Geffen Records in 1981 after he becomes the head of A&R for the label. Reissued several times since making its CD debut in 1987, it is most recently remastered and reissued in 2011. Both the original English and German language versions of “Melt” are remastered and reissued in 2015 as double vinyl 45 RPM 180 gram pressings, and are half-speed mastered. Both are individually numbered with the German version limited to 3,000 copies and the English version limited to 10,000 copies worldwide. “Peter Gabriel 3” hits number one on the UK album chart, peaking number twenty two on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

I should come clean and confess that as I sound as middle class as it gets buying albums and singles from about the age of 13 onward, often I found the singles mentioned here in jukebox clearance sales for a matter of pence and some were almost unplayable. The more unpopular the single the better the condition. This single which I adored not least for seeing it on The Old Grey Whistle Test with Whispering Bob 'Bomber' Harris, the condition revealed that it was probably hardly played on the jukebox from whence mine came. under 50p for sure . . . I wasn't made of money!