- Audio CD (15 Feb 2010)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: EMI Records
- ASIN: B002XZMAJY
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 35,594 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Product details |
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Review
"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. --Will Dean
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
titoloscratch my backartistapeter gabriel etichettavirginn. dischi1data12 febbraio 2010supportocd audiogenerepop e rock internazionale----brani1.heroes 2.the boy in the bubble 3.mirrorball 4.flume 5.listening wind 6.the power of the heart 7.my body is a cage 8.the book of love 9.i think it's going to rain today 10.apre's moi 11.philadelphia 12.street spirit
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My new favourite album of all time.,
By
This review is from: Scratch My Back (Audio CD)
Bought this album on a whim, iv'e always liked Peter Gabriel's music. On first playing, I found the music a bit over orchestrated and samey and I wasn't that impressed. I was expecting to like Street Spirit (as the Bends is my Favourite album} but even that left me cold.
I played the album a few days later. "The boy in the bubble", and "Mirrorball" sounded quite nice, I then heard "The Book of Love" for the second time and my knees went weak, what a gorgeous song, it makes me feel so good. Every time I play the album it seems to get better. Flume is beautiful, "The Power of the Heart" "Philadelphia" lovely. There is not a bad song on the album. "Heroes" and "Street Spirit" are probablly my least favourites. But i'm sure i'll get to like them eventally. I have since bought "69 songs by Magnetic Fields (The book of Love) on the strengh of this Album- But thats another story. Iv'e never written a review before, but I love this album so much. Please ignore the poor reviews, If you have given the Album a poor review Listen to it again, and again. You wont be sorry.
67 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Peter Gabriel - A covers album that needs more re-imagination,
By
This review is from: Scratch My Back (Audio CD)
3.5 stars
I honestly wanted to love this album. Peter Gabriel is a national treasure and I am sadly old enough to admit to seeing Genesis at Bristol's Colston Hall in 1973 where Gabriel was mesmerizing. When I saw them next at Knebworth in 1978 he wasn't in the band and I preferred Devo (unlike the majority of the crowd!). Gabriel has always ploughed his own furrow and his development of WOMAD deserves a knighthood. He has a great sense of humour and his recent cover with Hot Chip of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend is a wicked gem. "Scratch my back" is not just a covers album it's about song exchange with the different artists covered pledging to return the favour. I had hoped that Gabriel's album could do a "Joni Mitchell". When the great lady revisited her standards the mature reading that she produced through a voice that was no longer angelic but infused with a life of experience and backed by a stirring orchestra was superb. Songs like "Both Sides Now" sounded better than the originals. Gabriel's covers are certainly well chosen and show impeccable taste (although "My Body is a cage" is a least favourite Arcade Fire song), the problem is that some work incredibly well while other fall flat. Thus Gabriel's version of Bon Iver's "Flume" for instance is workmanlike and misses the mark. His reading of Neil Young's "Philadelphia" never quite captures the quiet desperation and sheer sadness to be found on the original. When we finally get a cover like Radiohead's "Street Spirit" that is so radically reworked that it is almost unrecognizable to the original, you punch the air. The trouble is that it just does not work and is mournful and dreadfully dull. Indeed my dog gave me a dirty look when I played it! "I think its going to rain today" by Randy Newman takes a brave singer to attempt and again Gabriel's version stays so close that it is almost a reprise and as such can't really add much. Sorry when it comes to David Bowie's "Heroes" why tamper with perfection? The good news is that "The Boy in the Bubble" (Paul Simon) is excellent. Indeed for the first time ever you realise what a subversive lyric underpins the song which is sung with crystal clarity by Gabriel. The "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads) cover is I think actually better than the original. Its interesting that Gabriel is most at home here with the African related songs. Thus the Talking Heads original is slowed down to a much sadder and reflective piece. I can't comment on "Power of the Heart" the Lou Reed cover since I have never heard the original but Gabriel's take is lovely. Elbows "Mirrorball" works really well for Gabriel's voice indeed he has compared it to singing a difficult Genesis song. The orchestration works brilliantly on this as it does on the cover of Stephen Merritt's wonderful "Book of Life". Gabriel's version is a knockout. Look I'm not saying don't buy this album since it is a fascinating attempt by a major artist to deconstruct and reconstruct a set of songs which are on the whole faultlessly chosen. You just wish it was a bit more unique and that a greater exercise of re -imagination had occurred.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime.,
By
This review is from: Scratch My Back (Audio CD)
I was a huge fan of Peter Gabriel in my youth, both as part of Genesis and in his solo career, seeing him live on many occasions. As life got more complicated I lost touch with his music, coming across it with pleasure now and then in film scores and at the millenium dome. And that's rather how I came upon this, recognising his dulcet tones in the sublime 'My Body Is A Cage' as background (fore and centre ground too, overpoweringly wonderful as it was) in an episode of House. I've had the album two weeks now and it grows more of a joy at each listen, new tracks becoming favourites with familiarity. Mirrorball is particularly heavenly, The Book of Love a delight, but most tracks illicit goose bumps. So here I am at 53, a Peter Gabriel fan once again. Utterly beautiful.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
