New Blood (Peter Gabriel album)

New Blood
Studio album by Peter Gabriel
Released 10 October 2011
Recorded 2010
Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire
Ladbroke Temple
AIR Lyndhurst Hall, Hampstead
Studio IndieKing, Stockholm
Genre Symphonic rock
Length 1:16:09
Label Real World/Virgin
Producer Peter Gabriel
John Metcalfe
Peter Gabriel chronology

Scratch My Back
(2010)		 New Blood
(2011)		 Live Blood
(2012)
Deluxe Edition cover

New Blood is the ninth studio album by British rock musician Peter Gabriel, released on 10 October 2011. The album consists of orchestral re-recordings of various tracks from throughout Gabriel's career.

Background

The album is a continuation of the project Gabriel began with his previous album Scratch My Back, which was orchestral covers of other artists' songs. The idea for the album came about after work was done re-arranging Gabriel's songs for orchestra for the second half of shows during the Scratch My Back Tour of 2010. For this album Gabriel continues to work with arranger John Metcalfe. Gabriel originally planned on re-recording the songs with home-made instruments, however he didn't find the range and tone of expression available in existing instruments. For this project Gabriel selected the songs which he felt would make the most interesting journey, instead of simply his hits. The album also has a new Gabriel song, "A Quiet Moment", which originated in Gabriel's desire to separate "Solsbury Hill", re-made only due to huge demand, from the rest of the album. Originally there was to have been three minutes of silence separating "Solsbury Hill", but as it was thought that this would confuse people, Gabriel decided that "A Quiet Moment" would work better.

Track listing

No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "The Rhythm of the Heat"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 5:41
2. "Downside Up" (featuring Melanie Gabriel)OVO, 2000 3:52
3. "San Jacinto"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 6:58
4. "Intruder"  Peter Gabriel, 1980 5:07
5. "Wallflower"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 6:25
6. "In Your Eyes"  So, 1986 7:13
7. "Mercy Street"  So, 1986 5:59
8. "Red Rain"  So, 1986 5:16
9. "Darkness"  Up, 2002 6:10
10. "Don’t Give Up" (featuring Ane Brun)So, 1986 6:40
11. "Digging in the Dirt"  Us, 1992 4:57
12. "The Nest that Sailed the Sky"  OVO, 2000 3:54
13. "A Quiet Moment"  previously unreleased 4:48
14. "Solsbury Hill" (bonus track)Peter Gabriel, 1977 4:35

Bonus tracks

Special Edition Disc 2
No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "The Rhythm of the Heat" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel, 1982 5:41
2. "Downside Up" (instrumental)OVO, 2000 3:52
3. "San Jacinto" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel, 1982 7:12
4. "Intruder" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel, 1980 5:06
5. "Wallflower" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel, 1982 6:24
6. "In Your Eyes" (instrumental)So, 1986 7:13
7. "Mercy Street" (instrumental)So, 1986 6:00
8. "Red Rain" (instrumental)So, 1986 5:16
9. "Darkness" (instrumental)Up, 2002 6:10
10. "Don’t Give Up" (instrumental)So, 1986 6:40
11. "Digging in the Dirt" (instrumental)Us, 1992 4:58
12. "The Nest that Sailed the Sky" (instrumental)OVO, 2000 3:54
13. "Blood of Eden" (bonus track)Us, 1992 6:05
iTunes Store bonus track
No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "Signal to Noise"  Up, 2002 7:46
digital download bonus track
No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "Father, Son"  OVO, 2000 4:10
Deluxe Edition Discs 1/2 (New Blood: Live in London)
No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "Intruder"  Peter Gabriel, 1980 5:59
2. "Wallflower"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 7:29
3. "The Boy in the Bubble" (written by Paul Simon & Forere Motloheloa)Scratch My Back, 2010 4:35
4. "Après Moi" (written by Regina Spektor)Scratch My Back, 2010 5:16
5. "The Drop"  Up, 2002 2:58
6. "Washing of the Water"  Us, 1992 4:20
7. "The Book of Love" (written by Stephin Merritt)Scratch My Back, 2010 3:54
8. "Darkness"  Up, 2002 6:34
9. "The Power of the Heart" (written by Lou Reed)Scratch My Back, 2010 6:36
10. "Biko"  Peter Gabriel, 1980 6:54
11. "San Jacinto"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 7:44
12. "Digging in the Dirt"  Us, 1992 6:01
13. "Signal to Noise"  Up, 2002 8:46
14. "Downside Up"  OVO, 2000 6:29
15. "Mercy Street"  So, 1986 6:47
16. "The Rhythm of the Heat"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 6:54
17. "Blood of Eden"  Us, 1992 6:31
18. "Red Rain"  So, 1986 7:11
19. "Solsbury Hill"  Peter Gabriel, 1977 6:15
20. "In Your Eyes"  So, 1986 8:27
21. "Don’t Give Up"  So, 1986 8:32
22. "The Nest that Sailed the Sky"  OVO, 2000 6:48
Deluxe Edition Discs 4 (Live Blood – Live Recording)
No. TitleOriginally from Length
1. "The Rhythm of the Heat"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 6:47
2. "Mercy Street"  So, 1986 6:11
3. "Digging in the Dirt"  Us, 1992 5:09
4. "Signal to Noise"  Up, 2002 9:39
5. "Intruder"  Peter Gabriel, 1980 4:47
6. "Biko"  Peter Gabriel, 1980 7:31
7. "San Jacinto"  Peter Gabriel, 1982 7:43
8. "Solsbury Hill"  Peter Gabriel, 1977 6:34
9. "In Your Eyes" (featuring Sevara Nazarkhan)So, 1986 7:24
10. "Don’t Give Up" (featuring Ane Brun)So, 1986 7:18

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (70/100)[1]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [2]
American Songwriter [3]
Consequence of Sound [4]
The Guardian [5]
The Independent [6]
musicOMH [7]
Paste (9/10)[8]
PopMatters [9]
Uncut [1]
USA Today [10]

In The Independent, Andy Gill gave the album three stars out of five and commented, "The prevailing tones are of awed wonder – the aspirant nobility of Downside Up, the dancing woodwind of San Jacinto and In Your Eyes – or expectant tension, most notably in the emotional storm-surges of Red Rain and The Rhythm of the Heat."[6]

Writing for the Evening Standard, Pete Clark awarded the album four stars out of five and stated, "In typical Gabriel fashion obvious choices have been avoided: no Sledgehammer or Biko here. Instead, he and arranger/composer John Metcalfe have opted for songs that might best benefit from the grown-up treatment. Mostly, it is a great success."[11]

In The Word, David Hepworth claimed the album was more successful than Scratch My Back, writing "John Metcalfe's stern string arrangements frame the drama of songs like San Jacinto, In Your Eyes and Red Rain, though there is a tendency for any rhythmic strings to sound like Bernard Hermann soundtracks to Hitchcock movies. Good for an open-topped car ride across the Yorkshire Dales while you're playing hide and seek with the sun."[12]

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Polish Album Chart[13] 14
UK Album Chart[14] 22
US Billboard 200 30

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Critic Reviews for New Blood". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  2. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "New Blood – Peter Gabriel". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Gerstenzang, Peter (10 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel: New Blood". American Songwriter. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Gerber, Justin (21 October 2011). "Album Review: Peter Gabriel – New Blood". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  5. ↑ Simpson, Dave (6 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel: New Blood – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gill, Andy (7 October 2011). "Album: Peter Gabriel, New Blood (Realworld)". The Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  7. ↑ Lee, Darren (10 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel – New Blood". musicOMH. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  8. ↑ Reed, Ryan (11 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel: New Blood :: Music :: Reviews". Paste. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Ramirez, AJ (20 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel: New Blood". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  10. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (11 October 2011). "Peter Gabriel, New Blood". USA Today. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  11. ↑ Clark, Pete (7 October 2011). "CDs of the week: Björk and Peter Gabriel". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  12. ↑ David Hepworth, The Word, November 2011.
  13. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS – Official Retail Sales Chart". 10 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  14. ↑ UK Chart Stats (Peter Gabriel)

External links