Peter Gabriel 'And I'll Scratch Yours'

In 2010, following an eight-year hiatus after his last studio album Up, Peter Gabriel released a covers compilation called Scratch My Back, featuring the former Genesis frontman’s interpretations of songs by the likes of David Bowie, Elbow, Paul Simon, Arcade Fire, Radiohead and Neil Young. The original idea was that these artists would return the favour on a second disc, making it a song-swopping double album.
Unfortunately, there were unforeseen delays (Bowie, Radiohead and Young ultimately didn’t produce the reciprocal goods) and so the album came out as a standalone affair. It’s taken three years for And I’ll Scratch Yours to finally see the light of day. Although Gabriel’s name is on the cover, he doesn’t sing on any of these tracks. Instead twelve well-known acts do their versions of some choice songs from his hugely impressive back catalogue.
By its very nature, it’s a mixed bag, but given the calibre of the artists involved, there really aren’t any duds. Elbow deliver a wonderful version of ‘Mercy Street’, Bon Iver does a masterful ‘Come Talk To Me’, and Randy Newman and Arcade Fire make ‘Big Time’ and ‘Games Without Frontiers’ their respective own. A couple of artists have radically reinterpreted the original material, leaving it barely recognisable – most notably Lou Reed’s snarled ‘Solisbury Hill’ and Brian Eno’s frighteningly futuristic ‘Mother Of Violence’. Although her work didn’t actually feature on the original album, Feist teams up with Timber Timbre on a memorable rendition of ‘Don’t Give Up’.
Good and all as it is, what this album really sparked in the listener was a strong desire to hear Gabriel’s original versions. Nobody does it better.

Key Track: Mercy Street (Elbow)