Essential Classics
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel (aka Melt)
CHARISMA, 1980
Ending the 70s with production heavyweights Bob Ezrin and Robert Fripp working on his first two solo albums, Gabriel’s choice of Lillywhite showed that the ex-Genesis visionary was willing to take risks and wanted something both darker and more cutting-edge. The unnerving noirish Low-era-Bowie-meets-Bauhaus opener of Intruder features Phil Collins’s apocalyptic gated tribal drums, ghoulish backing-vocal harmonies and vocal menace. Gabriel embraced and encouraged Lillywhite’s ambitious innovation. Reunited with his engineer Hugh Padgham, this innovative work set an incredibly high standard.