Peter Gabriel as backscratcher

I believe that it’s not fair to music lovers for me to write about CDs that have not yet been released locally. I might encourage piracy or merely endorse Amazon which I am not keen on doing. As some of you already know, you might be able to get CDs cheap on line but then you will have to pay an arm or maybe in the case of boxed sets, even a leg to get your package out of customs. So I say wait for the official local release of foreign albums. But then there are CDs that simply beg to be written about. Available in the stores or not.

That is why I beg your indulgence to let me do this piece on Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel. I have not seen it in the local shops but then I do not think the pirates would be interested in Gabriel. You know the guy. He has been around for quite a while. First as frontman of Genesis, when the British band had songs like The Knife and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and before Phil Collins took over with pop rock and sent Genesis soaring up the charts. Gabriel went off on his own and came up with strangely titled albums. Peter Gabriel I, II, III and I think also IV and then others called Up, So or some other word with only two letters.

Gabriel is loud, witty, flamboyant and unpredictable. Very creative in a unique sort of way. Even at this point in his life, Gabriel must be in his 60s now, one never knows what he is up to. He has not released an album in years. Though we saw him was at last year’s Academy Awards where his song Down To Earth from the movie Up, was nominated for Best Song. And then a few weeks ago, there was Scratch My Back, which is totally made up of covers of hits by other rock artists. 

 Peter Gabriel singing covers! I never thought we would see that day. That is why this is big news even during times like these when we are already drowning in cover versions. And not just simple covers, Gabriel recorded this CD of 12 solid rockers with an orchestra for which he did all the arrangements. Is age starting to mellow Gabriel? Maybe. But even so, you can count on this guy to make his turn with other people’s song vastly different and incredibly exciting.

Scratch My Back is the first of a two-part series of albums by Gabriel and other artists. The concept goes like this. Gabriel records Heroes by David Bowie. Bowie will in turn record a Gabriel song for the second CD. Then just as Gabriel recorded The Boy In The Bubble by Paul Simon, Simon will then record a Gabriel song. And so on through all the rest of the album. Only Gabriel could have thought of recording covers this way and judging from his powerful choices, CD No. 2 will boast of quite a line-up.

Aside from the Bowie and Simon songs, there are also Mirror Ball by Elbow; Flume by Bon Iver; Listening Wind by David Byrne and Talking Heads; The Power Of The Heart by Lou Reed; My Body Is A Cage by Arcade Fire; The Book Of Love by The Magnetic Fields; I Think It’s Going To Rain Today by Randy Newman; Apres Moi by Regina Spektor; Philadelphia by Neil Young and Street Spirit by Radiohead. Reading the list alone already makes you wonder what will happen with the next one.

Until that happens though, all we have is Scratch My Back. Now, Gabriel music is an acquired taste and since these songs already boast of a lot of fans, I am not sure if everybody will like what he has done with these rock classics. The stripped down Wallflower is great. He also does quite well with Heroes but what on earth is that wailing in Philadelphia? My favorite song from the Philadelpia soundtrack has gotten a banshee in the middle of the song. I think that he is at his best with the lighter stuff like The Power Of The Heart, Flume and The Book of Love. 

Scratch My Back is one of those albums that you can either like or hate but can never, never ignore. I now know that I do not like everything in it but it is Peter Gabriel’s and he has made it quite special.