Wednesday, January 6, 2010

PETER GABRIEL'S SCRATCH MY BACK DUE 2/15


A running joke among Peter Gabriel and his fans is that, when people ask when his new album is coming out, he says "By Christmas," adding that he won't the year that that Christmas is that he's referring to. So I was suprised that, after writing about his upcoming album Scratch My Back, and that it was coming out in the spring of 2010, it is actually coming out earlier.  His website says that it is due out on February 15, and they are taking pre-orders. The album is all orchestral (meaning no guitar or drums) covers. The album features David Bowie's "Heroes," Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble," Talking Heads' "Listening Wind," Lou Reed's "The Power Of The Heart," Arcade Fire's "My Body Is A Cage," Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today," Neil Young's "Philadelphia," Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out,)" as well as songs by Elbow, Bon Iver, The Magnetic Fields and Regina Spektor.

It looks like Peter is doing some European orchestra shows for the album, but no U.S. dates yet. I've also heard that he wants to produce an album called I'll Scratch Yours, where all the artists who he covers return the favor. I doubt Neil Young would do that, and I don't imagine Talking Heads will reunite to record a Peter Gabriel cover, but you never know!

One month after Scratch My Back comes out, Peter and his former bandmates of Genesis will be getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15. I doubt Peter will perform, and keyboardist Tony Banks has said he'll be happy just to be there and enjoy the night, (plus Phil Collins is injured and probably can't play drums), but I hope he shows up.

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