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Peter Gabriel is one of the greatest geniuses and innovators of modern music. Vocally endowed with a unique and inimitable voice, capable of delivering stage and theatrical performances that are almost unreachable, if not by a few rare gifted individuals. His creative journey led him to curiously venture into World Music, electronic music, "Springsteen-esque" rock, and even disco music, but his last two albums explore classical music and the interpretative capabilities of the prestigious accompanying orchestra, completely stripped of typical rock instruments. Just as he explored other people's songs in "Scratch my back", in "New Blood" he reanimates the blood of his old compositions, with the help of his daughter Melanie Gabriel, who I don't have an entirely positive opinion about, but I'll explain this in detail later.
The album begins with the majestic and extremely dark "The Rhythm Of The Heat", from the immense "IV", and here presented in a less claustrophobic guise. The first thing one notices is a genuine miracle: Peter's voice only improves with age! Here, it takes on dozens of different nuances, darkens and closes in on itself, launches into incredible climbs, and drowns in the nihilism of the dancing madness of African tribes. Overall, however, I find the original version better rendered.
"Downside Up" is the first song where Melanie Gabriel duets with her dad, and what can I say? Her voice is simply overshadowed by her father's, and that's a fact, but this surprised me negatively: often, she gets lost in unnecessary vocal embellishments and repetitive warbling, too whiny and lacking expressiveness. However, the piece is extremely enjoyable, and much better rendered than the original.
The immense Gabriel masterpiece of all time (in contest with "The Family and The Fishing Net") follows, the caressing, sweet, and extremely determined "San Jacinto." Here is the best gift Peter gives us, managing to make an immense masterpiece even greater. The new orchestral dimension gives the song an airiness and a nearly unique sense of extreme freedom, something the original somewhat neglected in favor of an equally incisive pounding percussive base, less airy and delicate than this, yet extraordinarily integrated among other instruments. The voice reaches the greatest emotional peak ever achieved by PG, especially in the orchestral explosion at 4 minutes. I didn't expect that without electric guitar, the power would remain unchanged, but I had to reconsider after listening to the immensity of Gabriel's singing here; there's little to be done, this man has made his voice his tool.
"Intruder" is the album's first attempt to resurface the old sensation of fear that PG knew well how to convey. Who doesn't remember the original? With those stifled drum skins, that pounding and martial rhythm, that absurd whispered singing that filled with creeping and mean terror. Well, here all that is gone (I was very disappointed by the lack of whispered singing, after what PG was capable of doing with his voice in the previous track, I expected much more) in favor of adding a new instrumental dimension to the song, which features a long orchestral tail, quite unsettling but far from harmonizing with the past. This is a new track, not even considered a cover because it is radically different!
"Wallflower" personally disappointed me, starting from the original they could have done great things like for San Jacinto, but here PG adds absolutely nothing to the initial proposal, there's only a melancholic piano and a rather forgettable performance by Melanie at the end.
"In Your Eyes" proceeds with a lively theme, without excelling, then follows the track that disappointed me most of the entire album along with "Darkness," I'm talking about "Mercy Street," where on earth has the magic of the original gone? Even the voice seems to have worsened! The ambient ending (in my opinion one of the most exciting things ever written by PG) then gets lost as nothing under the weak orchestral base, and the result is a half-disaster with PG's splendid voice in the foreground, not enough to justify any positive judgment.
"Red Rain" significantly raises the quality level, the wonderfully nervous atmosphere is practically unchanged from the original, both the voice and the melody in the chorus are spectacular, making a majestic immense storm appear as the first image in our minds, where a fearless PG sails on a ship (which should have been in Mercy Street, to be clear "Out with the father he's out in the boat, riding the water, riding the waves on the sea" there was a transfiguration) bravely facing his worst nightmares. A new vocal peak, indeed, and a clear improvement over the original.
The following two tracks, while not repulsive, come close to it, on "Don't Give Up" I really only have bad words to say (what is that thing meowing in place of Bush? WHAT THE HELL IS IT?) but for "Darkness" I want to spend a few words. The original is one of my absolute favorite tracks, with those metallic explosions and that unsettling sweetness of the piano in moments of pause, in moments of cosmic void that preludes to a new unstoppable explosion of fury, terror, and pure rage. Well, here there is nothing. Where the voice was simply filtered as through a cellphone, here it is heavily digitally modified, and the result is really clumsily tragicomic. No sense of looming terror, no metallic sound in the background, nothing would give us the impression that madness is at the heart of the song. I only see craftsmanship here, and I don't like that. Immense disappointment!
"Digging In the Dirt" once again raises the album's standard, great vocal performance, beautiful instrumental pauses on the chorus, charged with tension that releases in the subsequent phases. And here Melanie becomes almost pleasant to the ear, as she limits herself to supporting her father, and I must say that her sweet voice well accompanies the rough and sharp one of the father.
The highest moment of the album is, in my opinion, an absolutely ignorable 3-minute instrumental song, "The Nest That Sailed the Sky." Never, and I mean never, has PG managed to move me so much, and with so little. The absolute delicacy, the total expression of freedom and openness to the external world that this track conveys, makes those previous ugliness tolerable, as you know you are in for a long journey in the open and sparkling sky of an unnatural blue, in your warm basket of wicker lined with love by some female relative's hands, or perhaps by your mother. These are the ethereal images that the song evokes for me, and there is no better way to conclude an album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 The Rhythm of the Heat (05:41)
Looking out the window
I see the red dust clear
High up on the red rock
Stands the shadow with the spear
The land here is strong
Strong beneath my feet
it feeds on the blood
it feeds on the heat
The rhythm is below me
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my soul
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the heat
Drawn across the plainland
To the place that is higher
Drawn into the circle
That dances round the fire
We spit into out hands
And breathe across the palms
Raising them up high
Help open to the sun
Self-conscious, uncertain
I'm showered with the dust
The spirit enter into me
And I submit to trust
Smash the radio
No outside voices here
Smash the watch
Cannot tear the day to shreds
Smash the camera
Cannot steal away the spirits
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my soul
03 San Jacinto (06:59)
Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life
Medicine man lead me up though town - Indian ground -
so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water
wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scout and Guides make
pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white
men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top -
keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through
the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing
it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun -
from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
04 Intruder (05:08)
I know something about opening windows and doors
I know how to move quietly to creep across creaky wooden floors
I know where to find precious things in all your cupboards and drawers
Slipping the clippers
Slipping the clippers through the telephone wires
The sense of isolation inspires
Inspires me
I like to feel the suspense when I'm certain you know I am there
I like you lying awake, your baited breath charging the air
I like the touch and the smell of all the pretty dresses you wear
Intruders happy in the dark
Intruder come
Intruder come and leave his mark, leave his mark
05 Wallflower (06:26)
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with the bullets, bars and stone.
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone
They take you out - the light burns your eyes
To tha taking room - it's no surprise
Loaded questions from clean white coats
Their eyes are all as hidden as their Hippocratico Oath
They tell you how to behave, behave as their guest
You want to resist them, you do your best
They take you to your limits, they take you beyond
For all that they are doing there's no way to respond.
Hold on, hold on
They put you in a box so you can't get hurt
Let you spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred.
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone,
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone.
Though you may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do.
You may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can do
06 In Your Eyes (07:13)
Love
I get so lost sometimes
Days pass
And this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away
I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
All my instincts
They return
The grand façade
So soon will burn
Without a noise
Without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes
The light, the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway
To a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution
In your eyes
Of all the fruitless searches
Oh, I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes
Love
I don't like to see so much pain
So much wasted
And this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired
Working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you
To keep me awake and alive
And all my instincts
They return
And the grand façade
So soon will burn
Without a noise
Without my pride
I reach out from the inside
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway
To a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution
In your eyes
Of all the fruitless searches
Oh, I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
07 Mercy Street (06:00)
looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real
all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody's head
she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness comes
nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day
there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone
dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms
pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word
confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he's the doctor
he can handle the shocks
dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary's lips
dreaming of mercy street
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy's arms
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea
08 Red Rain (05:16)
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
It can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
Hey - we touch
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Well I've seen them, buried in a sheltered place in this town
They tell you that this rain can sting and look down
There is no blood around see no sign of pain
Hey - no pain
Seeing no red at all, see no rain
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Red rain
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again (red rain)
Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin (red rain)
I come to you defences down (oh)
With the trust of a child
Red rain coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
And I can't watch anymore
No more denial
It's so hard to lay down in all of this
Red rain coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
Red rain coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm bathing in
Red rain coming down
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm begging you
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Over me in the red red sea
Over me
Over me
Red rain
09 Darkness (06:11)
i'm scared of swimming in the sea
dark shapes moving under me
every fear i swallow makes me small
inconsequential things occur
alarms are triggered
memories stir
it's not the way it has to be
i'm afraid of what i do not know
i hate being undermined
i'm afraid i can be devil man
and i'm scared to be divine
don't mess with me my fuse is short
beneath this skin these fragments caught
when i allow it to be
there's no control over me
i have my fears
but they do not have me
walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
the deeper i go, the darker it gets
i peer through the window
knock at the door
and the monster i was
so afraid of
lies curled up on the floor
is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
i cry until i laugh
i'm afraid of being mothered
with my balls shut in the pen
i'm afraid of loving women
and i'm scared of loving men
flashbacks coming in every night
don't tell me everything’s alright
when i allow it to be
it has no control over me
i own my fear
so it doesn’t own me
walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
the deeper i go, the darker it gets
i peer through the window
knock at the door
and the monster i was
so afraid of
lies curled up on the floor
is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
i cry until i laugh
Drums: Manu Katche, Dave Power
Percussion: Mahut Dominique, Ged Lynch, Richard Chappell
Bass: Tony Levin
Guitars: David Rhodes
The London Session Orchestra: Strings
String Arrangement: Peter Gabriel, Will Gregory
Orchestration: Nick Ingham
Programming: Richard Chappell
Additional Programming: Alex Swift
Bosendorfer, Mutator, Keys, JamMan, MPC Groove: Peter Gabriel
11 Digging in the Dirt (04:58)
Something in me, dark and sticky
All the time it's getting strong
No way of dealing with this feeling
Can't go on like this too long
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you
Don't talk back
Just drive the car
Shut your mouth
I know what you are
Don't say nothing
Keep your hands on the wheel
Don't turn around
This is for real
Digging in the dirt
Stay with me, I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt
The more I look, the more I find
As I close on in, I get so blind
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my sex, that's the place it goes
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
This time you've gone too far
I told you, I told you, I told you, I told you
Don't talk back
Just drive the car
Shut your mouth
I know what you are
Don't say nothing
Keep your hands on the wheel
Don't turn around
This is for real
I'm digging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt
I'm digging in the dirt
Stay with me I need support
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
To open up the places I got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
Digging in the dirt
To find the places we got hurt
14 Solsbury Hill (04:35)
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
I just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
"Son," he said "Grab your things,
I've come to take you home."
To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
'Till I thought of what I'd say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey," he said "Grab your things
I've come to take you home."
Yeah back home
When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey," I said "You can keep my things,
They've come to take me home."
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Other reviews
By SydBarrett96
The musical project, based exclusively on an orchestral foundation that includes no typical rock instruments, makes the sound dark and steeped in black.
Well done Peter, once again you’ve hit the mark.
By paolofreddie
New Blood is an example and testimony that proves Peter Gabriel is not just a great rock artist but a well-rounded artist who knows how to give new life to his pieces through an orchestra and his wonderful voice.
Listening to this version is even more moving than listening to the original.
