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Scratch My Back - Peter Gabriel
Scratch My Back Image
Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 36 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: "Scratch My Back" is Peter Gabriel's first album in eight years--and the first in a series of releases--in which Gabriel covers the works of his favorite artists in exchange for his own collection of covers by those artists in the forthcoming album, "I'll Scratch Yours." The tracklist includes Arcade Fire's "My Body Is a Cage," Bon Iver's "Flume," David Bowie's "Heroes," Lou Reed's "The Power of the Heart," Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble," and Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" to name a few.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. BBC Music
    90
    The result of this is that many songs here, like Elbow's Mirrorball, are fairly modern, and Gabriel rarely dips into the obvious rock canon (Heroes aside). And the sparseness of the arrangements around the singer's tender vocals makes this a thing of beauty.
  2. Drowned In Sound
    60
    It's a decent enough, darkly-shaded mainstream pop album, but the concept is distracting.
  3. Prefix Magazine
    30
    As with all covers records, the crucial issue is whether these renditions bring anything new to these songs. The answer is a resounding no.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 15
  3. Negative: 6 out of 15
  1. ManuelF.
    10
    Gets better and better everytime you listen to it. not just any album of covers, fantastic rendition to an eclectic selection. Masterpiece
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. JuanB
    5
    The outstanding voice of Gabriel in the center of a flat, weak and boring performance.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. TomB
    1
    There is not a single song on this album that was made better by the voice of Peter Gabriel! I always thought that the man could do no wrong...and then he released this schlock! Simply HORRIBLE!… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 15 User Reviews

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