BBC Review
A stunningly realised pop covers collection from the musical polymath.
Will Dean 2010-02-02
"It feels so unnatural / to sing your own name," sang Peter Gabriel last year, lending his voice to Hot Chip's cover of Vampire Weekend's Gabriel name-checking Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. The point seems to have extended to singing his own songs, as he starts the new decade with a collection of beautifully recorded covers that renege on guitars and drums in favour of an orchestra arranged by The Durutti Column's John Metcalfe. Indeed, the ads for Gabriel's two nights at the 02 boast "No guitars! No drums!"
It seems he doesn't need them – the results here are stunning.
Scratch My Back is the first offering of a two-part project. The second will be released later in the year and, as you might have guessed, will be called I'll Scratch Yours. On it, the artists featured here will return the favour on Gabriel tracks. It's a pop swap shop.
The result of this is that many songs here, like Elbow's Mirrorball, are fairly modern, and Gabriel rarely dips into the obvious rock canon (Heroes aside). And the sparseness of the arrangements around the singer’s tender vocals makes this a thing of beauty. During the chorus of Bon Iver's Flume he sounds close to tears as he wrings the words out. On Paul Simon's The Boy in the Bubble – originally an upbeat song – Gabriel takes the lyrical juxtaposition of poverty/modernity and milks the sadness that Simon had hidden.
Metcalfe's arrangements are stunning, too – they mirror Gabriel's mix of whispers and howls on Arcade Fire's My Body Is a Cage and create a sense of loved-up optimism on the best track here, a woozy take on The Magnetic Fields' The Book of Love. They make everything sound movie-score epic – not too surprising given Gabriel's recent work on Wall-E and Rabbit Proof Fence. It also makes certain that's there's plenty to discover in each track even if, as is the case with songs like Street Spirit, you've heard them thousands of times in their original form.
The pop world has finally caught up with the WOMAD-founder's open-minded approach to music from near and far and, as such, it's surprising, fitting and pleasing that one of the most essential albums of early 2010 is his. Wonderful.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you choose to use this review on your site please link back to this page.
Comment number 1.
At 07:28 5th Feb 2010, Beresford wrote:I have listened to snatches of the tracks on this album. It does sound beautifully realised but each track seems very much to sound the same tone and atmosphere. As far as I could tell there was nothing that was up-tempo or had any kind of joyful feel to it. Great to see an Elbow track there "Mirrorball" and a Randy Newman "I Think Its Going to Rain Today". I reserve judgement until I have heard ot in its entirety.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 07:03 19th Feb 2010, Steve Murray wrote:Peter Gabriel's music has been a huge part of my life since I first heard 'Nursery Crymes' in the early 70s. 'Scratch My Back' is an absolute triumph. I can't remember being so overwhelmed by a piece of music for a long time. Each cover seems so much better than the original. It's as though the original composers hadn't really understood what they had written! It isn't one-paced for me. Elbow's ecstacy at finding a soul mate in the middle of the night is just as transporting and joyful. The only negative comment I have is that the tour is going to be at big venues only (O2 Arena the only date in the UK I think).
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 17:14 7th Apr 2010, Eddie wrote:This was a very disappointing gig. My two friends and I who attended this concert thought it was terrible and very morbid in parts ! I don’t know what I was expecting as I have listened to his new album enough and tried to like it but I just don’t think this style suits him. Some of the song covers he does are utter garbage, I cant believe that more people haven’t said the same. Dropping the band in favor of an orchestra has lost some of that Peter Gabriel magic. I have been a fan for many years and it’s the older material that made him famous, I’m not sure if he would have made it if he had started out like this. To top it off I bought an extra ticket for a friend who could not make it and I couldn’t even give it away in the end, probably because people didn’t know what to expect. After the appalling first half and apart from Solsbury Hill and In Your Eyes in the second which were OK at best the gig was a disaster we even thought about leaving before full time. Speaking to people out side the gig opinions where very mixed and some where confused weather they liked it or not. I wish I could have seen him live years ago I definitely would not go out of my way or pay to see him live again. I have watched hundreds of live concerts and I was looking forward to seeing this legend but it was a real let down in the end. It was a waste of time and money.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 22:50 7th Oct 2010, coggs wrote:I listened to a few snatches of each track on i tunes,and yes i did think the tracks were a bit downbeat, and very similar but I have to say after listening to the album in it's entirety that Gabriel is a 'genius' the strings and Brass accompaniments are first class along with Gabriel's tones it is a masterpiece.
10/10.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)