Peter Gabriel‘s highly anticipated album ‘Scratch my Back‘, a collection of cult favorites and classic tracks, has been slated for release on January 25th 2010 on Virgin Records (UK)
Peter enlisted former Durutti Column member John Metcalfe as composer/arranger and the expertise of producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’, Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin’) and engineer, mixer and producer Tchad Blake (Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits).
On Peter’s official homepage he describes this as a very personal record with twelve songs performed only with orchestral instruments and voice. The album’s richly diverse sounds include the sparse romance of Lou Reed’s ‘The Power of the Heart‘, the powerful musical journey of Elbow’s ‘Mirrorbal‘ and an epic arrangement of Arcade Fire’s ‘My Body Is A Cage.‘
The public first got to hear a track off the album when Peter opened his set at last summer’s WOMAD Charlton Park festival with a performance of Paul Simon’s ‘The Boy In The Bubble.’
Gabriel has also announced a pair of O2 Arena shows which will be launching the album. They take place on March 27 and 28, with tickets available through Womad NOW and are selling for a rather steep £40 and £50 quid.
The tracklisting for ‘Scratch my Back’:
1. ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie
2. ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ by Radiohead
3. ‘The Book Of Love’ by Magnetic Fields
4. ‘Flume’ by Bon Iver
5. ‘My Body Is A Cage’ by Arcade Fire
6. ‘Listening Wind’ by Talking Heads
7. ‘I Think It’s Going to Rain Today’ by Randy Newman
8. ‘Après Moi’
9. ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by The Kinks
10. ‘The Boy In The Bubble’ by Paul Simon
11. ‘The Power Of The Heart’ by Lou Reed
12. ‘Philadelphia’ by Neil Young
13. ‘Mirrorball’ by Elbow
You can listen to Peter Gabriel talking about the new album on his podcast here :