Of all the art rockers I kinda admire but don’t listen to much, Peter Gabriel I really do kinda admire and don’t really listen to much. When was the last time you put on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway? i thought so.
Plus, as a solo artist there is So and then what, right?
But still, as 80s icons go I do like him kinda. I don’t hate him.
Though I wasn’t too keen on the entire back stratching stuff: “Rather than make a traditional covers record, I thought it would be much more fun to create a new type of project in which artists communicated with each other and swapped a song for a song, i.e. you do one of mine and I’ll do one of yours, hence the title – Scratch My Back – And I’ll Scratch Yours”
Fair enough, but have you heard the first half? 2010’s Scratch My back was such a drag, I blew off seeing him at radio City that year. And here is the second half, where other artists cover Peter’s song… “The reciprocating artists opted for differing approaches to Peter’s songs. A few chose to radically reinterpret the original material, in the process leaving it barely recognisable – Lou Reed’s snarling Solsbury Hill or the frighteningly futuristic version of Mother Of Violence by Brian Eno, co-writer of David Bowie’s Heroes covered by Gabriel on ‘Scratch My Back’. Other contributors include Arcade Fire (Games Without Frontiers), Elbow (Mercy Street) and Regina Spektor (Blood Of Eden).”
Two of these sound like fun, Lou Reed and Regna Spektor. Otherwise not so much.
Here is the track list:
| I Don’t Remember | David Byrne |
| Come Talk to Me | Bon Iver |
| Blood of Eden | Regina Spektor |
| Not One of Us | Stephin Merritt |
| Shock the Monkey | Joseph Arthur |
| Big Time | Randy Newman |
| Games Without Frontiers | Arcade Fire |
| Mercy Street | Elbow |
| Mother of Violence | Brian Eno |
| Don’t Give Up | Feist feat. Timber Timbre |
| Solsbury Hill | Lou Reed |
| Biko | Paul Simon |