New Blood (Peter Gabriel album)

Last updated

New Blood
Peter Gabriel - New Blood.jpg
Studio album by
Released10 October 2011
Recorded2010
Studio
Length77:41
Label Real World/Virgin
Producer
Peter Gabriel chronology
Scratch My Back
(2010)
New Blood
(2011)
Live Blood
(2012)
Deluxe edition cover
Peter Gabriel - New Blood (Deluxe Edition).jpg

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

Contents

Background

The album continues the project Gabriel began with his previous album, Scratch My Back , which comprised orchestral covers of other artists' songs. The idea came about after rearranging Gabriel's songs for orchestra for the second half of shows on the Scratch My Back tour of 2010. For this album Gabriel continued to work with arranger John Metcalfe. He originally planned to rerecord the songs with home-made instruments, but did not find the range and tone of expression available in existing instruments. [1]

"I really didn't want to make this new album all about the hits," Gabriel explained to Mark Blake. "So there's no 'Sledgehammer'... I was unsure at first about 'Red Rain' and about doing 'Don't Give Up' without Kate, but then it felt like it would fit. In the end it worked." [2]

The album features a new song, "A Quiet Moment", which originated in his desire to separate "Solsbury Hill" – remade due to huge demand – from the rest of the album. Originally three minutes of silence were to separate "Solsbury Hill", but it was thought this would confuse people, and Gabriel decided that "A Quiet Moment" would work better. [3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 70/100 [4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
American Songwriter Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Consequence of Sound Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]
musicOMH Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Paste 9/10 [11]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
USA Today Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]

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." [9]

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." [14]

In The Word , David Hepworth stated 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." [15]

Track listing

New Blood track listing
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."The Rhythm of the Heat" Peter Gabriel 4 (Security) , 19825:41
2."Downside Up" (featuring Melanie Gabriel) OVO , 20003:52
3."San Jacinto"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)6:58
4."Intruder" Peter Gabriel 3 , 19805:07
5."Wallflower"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)6:25
6."In Your Eyes" So , 19867:13
7."Mercy Street"So5:59
8."Red Rain"So5:16
9."Darkness" Up , 20026:10
10."Don't Give Up" (featuring Ane Brun)So6:40
11."Digging in the Dirt" Us , 19924:57
12."The Nest That Sailed the Sky"OVO3:54
13."A Quiet Moment"Previously unreleased4:48
14."Solsbury Hill" (bonus track) Peter Gabriel 1 , 19774:35

Bonus tracks

Special Edition disc 2
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."The Rhythm of the Heat" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)5:41
2."Downside Up" (instrumental)OVO3:52
3."San Jacinto" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)7:12
4."Intruder" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel 35:06
5."Wallflower" (instrumental)Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)6:24
6."In Your Eyes" (instrumental)So7:13
7."Mercy Street" (instrumental)So, 19866:00
8."Red Rain" (instrumental)So5:16
9."Darkness" (instrumental)Up6:10
10."Don't Give Up" (instrumental)So6:40
11."Digging in the Dirt" (instrumental)Us4:58
12."The Nest That Sailed the Sky" (instrumental)OVO3:54
13."Blood of Eden" (bonus track)Us6:05
Digital download bonus track
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."Signal to Noise"Up7:46
Digital download bonus track
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."Father, Son"OVO4:10
Deluxe Edition discs 1/2 (New Blood: Live in London)
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."Intruder"Peter Gabriel 35:59
2."Wallflower"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)7:29
3."The Boy in the Bubble" (written by Paul Simon & Forere Motloheloa) Scratch My Back , 20104:35
4."Après Moi" (written by Regina Spektor)Scratch My Back5:16
5."The Drop"Up2:58
6."Washing of the Water"Us4:20
7."The Book of Love" (written by Stephin Merritt)Scratch My Back3:54
8."Darkness"Up6:34
9."The Power of the Heart" (written by Lou Reed)Scratch My Back6:36
10."Biko"Peter Gabriel 36:54
11."San Jacinto"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)7:44
12."Digging in the Dirt"Us6:01
13."Signal to Noise"Up8:46
14."Downside Up"OVO6:29
15."Mercy Street"So6:47
16."The Rhythm of the Heat"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)6:54
17."Blood of Eden"Us6:31
18."Red Rain"So7:11
19."Solsbury Hill"Peter Gabriel 16:15
20."In Your Eyes"So8:27
21."Don't Give Up"So8:32
22."The Nest That Sailed the Sky"OVO6:48
Deluxe Edition disc 4 ( Live Blood – Live Recording)
No.TitleOriginally fromLength
1."The Rhythm of the Heat"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)6:47
2."Mercy Street"So6:11
3."Digging in the Dirt"Us5:09
4."Signal to Noise"Up9:39
5."Intruder"Peter Gabriel 34:47
6."Biko"Peter Gabriel 37:31
7."San Jacinto"Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)7:43
8."Solsbury Hill"Peter Gabriel 16:34
9."In Your Eyes" (featuring Sevara Nazarkhan)So7:24
10."Don't Give Up" (featuring Ane Brun)So7:18

Personnel

Charts

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