Peter Gabriel's new album, "Scratch My Back," will be relased February 15th on Virgin Records. The album consists of orchestral covers of classic rock songs from the likes of Neil Young, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Radiohead and others. Every musician whose songs Gabriel covered on the album will cover Peter Gabriel songs on a future album titled "I'll Scratch Yours.".
"I explored a few different ideas for arrangements using only homemade instruments and choral groups," Gabriel says on his Web site(PeterGabriel.com). "But in the meantime, was introduced to a wonderful arranger, John Metcalfe, who was doing some great work with Real World. I really liked his scores, which seemed original, soulful and fresh. When we met, I felt we also had enough of an overlap of taste around such composers as Steve Reich, Arvo Part, Stravinsky etc. I asked John to keep the arrangements simple, stark but always emotional, so the songs could be really heard and felt."
Gabriel's last studio effort, "Up", reached Number 9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Gabriel will perform some of "Scratch My Back" with an orchestra at four March shows: March 22 in Paris (Palais Omnisports), March 25 in Berlin (O2 World) and March 27-28 in London (The O2). Special packages with soundcheck access are available from Gabriel's Web site.
