Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel

Scratch My Back, Peter Gabriel's eighth studio album and his first in eight years, arrived in February 2010, and it's a cover record with a twist that borders on the perverse: no guitars, no drums, only orchestral instruments and that weathered voice. Gabriel produced it with Bob Ezrin, recording through 2009 at AIR Lyndhurst and his own Real World Studios, and he picked twelve songs by other artists to strip down and rebuild.

The effect is hushed, cinematic and often haunting, with strings swelling and falling away so the melodies can breathe. "Flume" drifts along like a lullaby in a cathedral. The same artists later returned the favor by covering his songs on the companion album And I'll Scratch Yours in 2013. Critics mostly liked it, and it went to number one in Belgium.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.