John Metcalfe

The release date of 25th January 2010 for 'Scratch My Back' has been announced along with the official tracklisting of the songs Peter Gabriel is singing (putting to rest a lot of speculation).

This is from the website:

"Peter will release his 'Scratch My Back' album on January 25th 2010 on Virgin Records in the U.K.

To help craft his recording of the album's eclectic array of cult favourites and classic tracks, 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).

Peter 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.'

Peter and his collaborators recorded the album at George Martin's Air Lyndhurst Studios and the Real World Temple with further editing and mixing at his own Real Worlds Studios in Wiltshire. The first public hearing of the album came 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.'

The track-list and running order as follows:

Heroes (David Bowie)
The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)
Mirrorball (Elbow)
Flume (Bon Iver)
Listening Wind (Talking Heads)
The Power of the Heart (Lou Reed)
My Body is a Cage (Arcade Fire)
The Book of Love (The Magnetic Fields)
I Think it's Going to Rain Today (Randy Newman)
Apres Moi (Regina Spektor)
Philadelphia (Neil Young)
Street Spirit (Radiohead)'

There are some bits of footage from the orchestral recording sessions on the Peter Gabriel website if you want to check them out.
petergabriel.com.
It's also a beautiful cover - you can get a look here;
petergabriel.com

Needless to say I am mightily excited about this coming out. It's been a great way to spend the year.....

Labels: Peter_Gabriel