Artist: PETER GABRIEL
Album: SCRATCH MY BACK (CD)

Year: 2010
Media type: CD

Peter's website states...

"The extra tracks come on a second disc because there was a great desire to preserve the integrity of the album. A lot of work went into the running order and the finer detail such as the gaps between tracks on 'Scratch My Back', so it was decided to keep the extra material as a separate experience."

Peter Gabriel's new studio album - featuring original arrangements of other artist's songs. The album is the first part of a series of song exchanges in which Peter and other leading artists reinterpret each others songs

Peter describes this as a very personal record with 12 songs performed only with orchestral instruments and voice. He made the choice not to include guitar or drums. The album's richly diverse sounds include the sparse romance of Lou Reed's 'The Power of the Heart', the powerful musical journey of Elbow's 'Mirrorball' and an epic arrangement of Arcade Fire's 'My Body Is A Cage'

To help craft his recording of the album's eclectic array of cult favourites and classic tracks, Peter enlisted former Durutti Column member John Metcalfe as composer/arranger and the expertise of producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', Lou Reed's 'Berlin') and engineer, mixer and producer Tchad Blake (Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits)

Peter and his collaborators recorded the album at George Martin's Air Lyndhurst Studios and the Real World Temple with further editing and mixing at his own Real Worlds Studios in Wiltshire. The first public hearing of the album came when Peter opened his set at last summer's WOMAD Charlton Park festival with a performance of Paul Simon's 'The Boy In The Bubble'

John Metcalfe wrote on his website...

“I have been busy working closely with Peter Gabriel on his 'Scratch My Back' project… My role has been to help re-interpret the music of the songs he has chosen to cover - quite a responsibility as some of the songs are among the best known in the last 40 years… We recently recorded the orchestra at Air Lyndhurst studios (George Martin's studio) in London which was an enormous thrill hearing the arrangements performed by some of the best performers in the UK… it's been a huge privilege to work with the great man”

TRACKLIST:

01 Heroes [David Bowie]
02 The Boy In The Bubble [Paul Simon]
03 Mirrorball [Elbow]
04 Flume [Bon Iver]
05 Listening Wind [Talking Heads]
06 The Power Of The Heart [Lou Reed]
07 My Body Is A Cage [Arcade Fire]
08 The Book Of Love [The Magnetic Fields]
09 I Think It's Going To Rain Today [Randy Newman]
10 Apres Moi [Regina Spektor]
11 Philadelphia [Neil Young]
12 Street Spirit (Fade Out) [Radiohead]