Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back

By Morgan Marzella

Peter Gabriel, an icon and pioneer in the world of rock music will soon release his first solo record since 2002′s Up. Granted, Up was a fantastic effort which gave way to his Growing Up Tour. This tour was documented in a concert film called Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live. Many would criticize the aged artist’s new effort, entitled Scratch My Back, as it is an album full of cover tunes. On the album, he covers an array of different artists in rock music. Some artists included on the album are Talking Heads, Randy Newman, Arcade Fire and even Radiohead.

Peter Gabriel was once known as the lead singer of the band Genesis, which boasted a great lineup that included Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford. Through his time in Genesis, his songs catapulted the band to progressive rock stardom. His final record with the band, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, showcased Gabriel’s ability of songwriting as well as storytelling. In Genesis, Gabriel showed his fascination with great orchestral arrangements to compliment the rock music style of the band.

Gabriel continued his use of orchestra through the years on his solo albums to come. Scratch My Back is no different. In fact, the entire album builds on Gabriel’s finesse in arranging classic rock tunes into emotional, moody symphonies.

The album slows down the tempo of some songs by other artists. The album’s opening track, a slow, emotional version of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” is an example of this. In slowing down the tempo, Gabriel succeeds in conveying an emotion in his voice that was not accessible within the original version.

While “Heroes” was not originally a fast song to begin with, he does slow down some tunes in order to showcase his orchestral abilities. An example of this would be on his version of Paul Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble,” which originally appeared on the quintessential album Graceland. Simon’s version of the tune offered a more uplifting mood while Gabriel turns it into a slow, depressing track.

Peter Gabriel is a fantastic composer. We have witnessed this with his scores for the films The Last Temptation of Christ and Rabbit-Proof Fence. There is nothing wrong with an artist expressing his interpretation of another’s work. Local bands cover songs all the time. Much like Poison’s Poison’d and Reel Big Fish’s Fame, Fortune and Fornication , his new album leaves the listener wanting something better. It leaves the listener wanting classic Gabriel, from the days when he recorded “Solsbury Hill” and “Games without Frontiers.” We want some more Gabriel classics, not his interpretations of other bands’ works.

The album is due for release on February 16, 2010.

Recommended Tracks: “Philadelphia,” “Heroes,” “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”

Bottom Line: C-