Review: Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back

(you can stream the whole album here)

Peter Gabriel was always part of pop music, yet segregated as well. His knack for brooding melodies made him famous, but his taste for melancholy art rock always made him distant to his peers. While everyone else was living the glam rock dream in the 70s and 80s, he was off writing music about deranged war veterans and shocking monkeys.

First the vocalist of prog-era Genesis, then a moody solo rocker, Gabriel has stayed relatively quite over the last 20 years releasing only two albums in that time. Scratch My Back is his first LP since 2002 and is a collection of covers given a grand orchestral treatment. No rock stars allowed here. Just intellectuals who like their Lou Reed with a side of Chopin.

Sure 10 unoriginal songs set to violins and brass might signal that the creative well for Garbriel has dried up (it hasn't), but to him it's just another day at the office. His motto always seems to be "do the opposite of what feels natural". Why else put ambiguous lips on the cover of your record?

The artists covered by Gabriel are less extreme versions of himself. Neil Young, Paul Simon and Lou Reed reflect his individuality. Arcade Fire, Radiohead and Bon Iver share his compassion for grandiose intimacy. David Bowie, Magnetic Fields and the Talking Heads are more on the artistic side of his tastes while Randy Newman and Regina Spektor are simply content to write catchy yet meaningful tunes in the vein of Gabriel's own ambitions.

For an album of nothing but orchestral arrangements, Scratch My Back surprisingly succeeds in not becoming the bore you instantly expect it to be. All the tunes crawl by, but it serves to help Gabriel's warm raspy vocals squeeze every inch of passion out of the lyrics he's interpreting. Even though this is a cover's album, each song is linked by a common thread of insecurity, fear and wonderment (emotions he's a master of emoting).

"The Boy In The Bubble" (Paul Simon), "Flume" (Bon Iver) and "The Power of the Heart" (Lou Reed) are the stand out tracks. Whether it's ominous piano used in the most subtle way, crescendoing finales or just Gabriel flexing his well in tact 60 year old vocal chords, you can't help but feel a tingle of something authentic going on. Covers album shmovers album.

However, not all of his ideas and tributes go off without a hiccup. "My Body Is A Cage" (Arcade Fire) is given too grand of a treatment. Yes Arcade Fire themselves are not strangers of over the top indie tunes, but Gabriel tries to make the arrangement too prog. While the intro and outro hit their mark, the overly majestic middle leaves you exhausted.

"The Book of Love" (Magnetic Fields) looses it's original wit and dry humor, "Apres Moi" (Regina Spektor) is forgettable although momentarily inspired. By the last third of the record, you really start to feel Scratch My Back sinking under it's own weight - until the solid, if not re-energizing conclusion arrives.

"Philadelphia" (Neil Young) and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (Radiohead) help to further justify Gabriels thinking of a cover album, as well as his vision for contemporary art rock. These songs may not have the good natured warmth of a song like 1986's "Sledgehammer" or 2008's "Down To Earth", but who can complain when there are too many bright spots that shine over the blemishes.

Of course a covers album with an operatic atmosphere may not be the most commercially viable choice, and it certainly isn't something to pick you up from a nervous breakdown, but if you're in the mood to speculate on enlightened ideals and revolutionary thought, Scratch Your Back may be right up your alley. Besides, if you get too bored you can just press stop then go back to watching Family Guy. Giggidy.

Grade: B