SCRATCH MY BACK

Oh dear....Scratch My Back is Gabriels version of cover songs and with the exception of two or maybe three, he manages to totally ruin them. First off he has this tendency to sing in a monotone voice with minimal instrumentation, and some strings ( synthesized strings?). Secondly the monotone dirge and vocal noodling barely changes from one song to the next. It sounds like he is reading to a child but can't wait to get to the end of the chapter so he can close the book and say goodnight! Get me out of here! Whilst some of these artists will be impressed, I am sure others will say thanks but no thanks. The positive spin to this release is that the follow up album " I'll Scratch Yours" will feature the same artists doing Gabriel work. I am sure they will do a much better job.

Don't get me wrong I am a huge Gabriel fan but this offering is largely an insult to most listener's ears. Songs worthy of redemption are the wonderful Bon Iver's " Flume" ( Gabriels best cover) and The Magnetic Fields's " The Book Of Love". In terms of Bowie, Talking Heads, Neil Young, Paul Simon & Elbow etc, do us all a favour and do some real cover songs on the return leg. This is a legitimate one star release and is very poor indeed.