| Scratch My Back (Dlx Ed) |  | Artist: Peter Gabriel
Category: Music
Buy New: CDN$ 16.09
as of 3/12/2010 07:49 CST details
New (2) from CDN$ 16.09
Seller: DIRECTENTPLUS
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 23
Format: Deluxe Edition
Media: Audio CD
UPC: 180030000208
EAN: 0180030000208
ASIN: B0035FBBCI
Release Date: February 16, 2010 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 sucks the life out February 26, 2010
W. Peters (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
I don't own and I have not heard anything from it, but I did read a review in my local newspaper.
It is all cover material, including songs by Neil Young and David Bowie.
My favorite quote: "I don't know why he chose to suck the life out of these songs"
 August and Austere, the Most Deeply Personal Peter Gabriel Album Yet. February 18, 2010
Richard S. Warner (Toronto, Canada)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Peter Gabriel: the erstwhile 'man in the flower', 'the fox in the dress', 'the watcher of the skies', 'Mozo', Gurdjieffian shock administrator, world music pioneer, animal communicator, stage and performance ground-breaker and probably one of the few public figures who truly deserves the title of "World Citizen", here, on this album has reached a point in his personal and artistic life that he is now looking at back across it all with an august mix of insight, nostalgia, a touch of whimsy, and a wryness of humour. And on an album that is so distinctly personal, it is ironic that none of the songs are his.
"Scratch My Back" is a bit of a shocker. It is a complete break from all his previous work. The instrumentation is absolutely minimal - no guitars, no drums, no keyboards or electronica of any kind and not a single breath of anything sounding even remotely african. It is an album of cover songs, an homage that PG has been wanting to do for a very long time. The point of difference is that "SMB" is the first offering in a two-part reciprocal gesture. Later, all the artists he covers here will "scratch his back" too and return versions of his songs that they have covered. The return "scratch" is slated for later release. Gabriel's covers are remarkable and in some cases, distinctly different from the originals. Most of them are extremely well done, getting right to the very heart and spirit of each of the songs. And there is, as well, a strongly directed 'down-tempo-ing' of these tributes in order that the message of each piece is heard clearly and emotively.
The subdued and somewhat melancholy first impression is only the outer court. For inside, with further listenings, there opens a calm, accepting, tip-toed and whispered acceptance of the passage of time and the accumulation of experience. The resulting richness of emotional and poetic reflection exponentially increases with each listen. It then becomes clear that only someone with a lot of life BEHIND them reflects on life in the tenor that "Scratch My Back" so beautifully achieves. PG is now 60 ... 60, and that number speaks of a life for the most part already lived.
Immediately upon hearing "Scratch My Back" I was somewhat taken aback, finding it terribly sad, almost depressing. I actually doubted whether I wanted to listen to the whole thing. I almost stopped it in the middle of its first spin. Now THAT urge made me PAY ATTENTION. I was deeply, deeply intrigued by those feelings and a bit disturbed by them. Why such a strong reaction? ... There is nothing to be distracted by here ... The starkly direct staring right into the face of mortality eloquently given voice here is so entirely honest it's unnerving. At first one fears an endless recital of sombre moods and spartan production as featureless as an unlit night ... until your eyes start to adjust and an entire previously unseen world develops out of the seeming dark. And what a noble and austere world it is. Now I can't stop listening to it.
PG has done it again. He's lept way ahead of the game and his audience and taken us by suprise once more. The very first concert ads for Gabriel's premiere solo tour, post Genesis, warned "Expect the Unexpected". How apropos that's been of his entire career. "Scratch My Back" is just as radical as any of the other major quantum leaps Gabriel has executed in past. Only this time he hasn't gone "outward" and "forward" ... but "inward". Now that "Scratch My Back' has been realized you can clearly see it's been on it's way since "Us'.
Gabriel's choice of material is telling in itself and his treatment of each piece is tasteful and often radical. Bowie's "Heroes" is almost unrecognizable and is, for me, perhaps not as successful an interpretation as his covering of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble", Talking Heads' "Listening Wind", and Lou Reed's "The Power of the Heart" ( the outstanding emotional highpoint for me ). The 'trilogy' of Arcade Fire's "My Body is a Cage", The Magnetic Fields' "The Book of Love" and Randy Newman's "I Think it's Going to Rain Today" is breathtaking. John Metcalfe's orchestral arrangements are extremely skillful and never more than they should be. Only piano, a choir and a small orchestra accompany Gabriel's vocals and they couldn't be more perfectly suited to the singer's impeccable interpretations.
Just when we might've been looking to one of popular music's most consistently innovative figures to wow us once again with wonders to see and hear in front of us, he speaks to us with extreme eloquence where we least expected him ... from within.
STUNNING. STUNNING. STUNNING.
Beautiful and haunting February 17, 2010
Derek Barber (Vancouver, Canada)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have to confess that as a fan of minimalist composers Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki I welcome their influence in the orchestration on this album. This is definitely not a pop album. Gabriel clearly is making music for music's sake here, not to top any sales charts but to fulfill his artistic integrity. I believe he accomplished that with this album and has really made these well known songs his known and has given me a greater appreciation for them.
If all you know of Gabriel is some of his bigger pop hits, this may not be the album for you as it is a large departure from that. However, for fans of deep artistic expression, this is a real treat.
Slow motion... February 16, 2010
Marc (montreal)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
well, we were inticipating a lot from this album but...
the production by Bob Ezrin is flawless...the voice of
Peter is wonderful as usual, the orchestra as a back
ground is rich in sound even whitout guitars or drums...
but, It's so boring...like a movie in slow motion...sorry
Peter...I won't go see your concert tour with this album...
snoozing! Marc, Montreal.
(if you don't believe me...wasted a $20.00 on it to be shure!)
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