The Philippine Online Chronicles

I was about thirteen when I first saw the "boom box" scene in Say Anything, and what got me was the song it used: "In Your Eyes," arguably Peter Gabriel's most famous tune.

That song is a love ballad with a very good beat, but it was not quite meant to be that way. On one message board on song meanings I encountered more than ten years ago, some fans of the song told us that Youssou N'Dour, who was chanting something as the song faded, was chanting a prayer. My suspicions were confirmed when Gabriel admitted that "In Your Eyes" was his way of addressing how songs outside the West managed to deal both with love for a person and for the Divine at the same time.

Gabriel mentioned this in an interview to promote his latest album, New Blood (Real World/Virgin). New Blood is also the name of the orchestral tour he started to promote his Scratch My Back album, and to fill up the two hours of the concert, he and conductor/arranger John Metcalfe decided to rearrange selections from his catalog. The result is an album for both longtime fans and those who, like me, have only recently discovered (or rediscovered) him.

In an interview for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Q show, Gabriel said that the song choices were based on a desire to fit them into a pattern, a story. Far from being a greatest hits album, I sense it is a journey of self-discovery, both of light and dark. This sense is reinforced by the first song, "The Rhythm of the Heat," a song about a mystical experience whilst taking part in a Native American dance--an experience which changes the persona's life. The second, one of my favorite tracks here, is one of the two tunes from his lesser-known Millennium Dome show OVO soundtrack. "Downside Up" is an apt description of this sudden change we encounter at this first stage of the story.

Following this comes "San Jacinto," which shows how a world has indeed been turned upside down for the worse--and then the inward journey continues with "Wallflower," a poignant song about mental institutionalization. The struggle to assert oneself is most starkly shown here.

"In Your Eyes" takes on a new meaning in the album as the turning point in the narrative. It is love for the other that ultimately sustains the journey as it enters darker realms. "Mercy Street" and "Red Rain" speak of the search for a renewed innocence, but such innocence cannot last. The last three vocal songs, "Darkness," "Don't Give Up," and "Digging in the Dirt" are about the inner demons that one must overcome. The result lies in contemplation: "The Nest That Sailed the Sky," another OVO tune, ends the "story."

The hors-texte here, and indeed not part of Gabriel's original selection, is actually the epilogue to this tale--"Solsbury Hill," his first big hit, is a poignant and poetic song about walking away.

New Blood is an album that revisits Gabriel's catalog to tell a profoundly human, all too human, story. I spoke last time of the arrangements in Scratch My Back--indeed the same epic characteristics turn up here. Those familiar with Gabriel's catalog will find old chestnuts in arrangements that improve upon them: "Downside Up" is a very good example, though I wonder why he left out the "Ovo" section that was included in the live version. For those unfamiliar, it is a way of rediscovering one of those songwriters I have admired both for having a good lyrical and musical sense, and for translating aspects of progressive music into a more popular mode. In fact, this album is where the progressive fascination with orchestral music is reawakened in Gabriel's work.

I have a word about two of the songs. "Don't Give Up" here has noted Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun on board, and he is keen on the Kate Bush type of vocal on this song. However, I have heard Paula Cole, who was unknown at the time, do this song with him and arguably I find her vocal style more appropriate.

As for "In Your Eyes," I am of two minds about the song's arrangement here. I miss the hard rhythm of the original and that is what made it great. More importantly, it just isn't the same without an African on board--Youssou N'Dour sang this live with Gabriel on the Paris leg of the New Blood Tour and I found it still moving. However, Metcalfe's string rearrangement approximates the rhythm well enough that it still evokes the original, and I think it can stand the test of time alongside his rousing rendition on Secret World Live.

I anticipate that the version coming to record stores in the country won't include the second bonus CD. It features all the instrumental settings (except for "Solsbury Hill") and a bonus track, "Blood of Eden," which is another favorite of mine. (Again, Paula Cole did the best duet with him on that one.) So if readers are lucky to obtain one, they can appreciate the lush arrangements of John Metcalfe and unleash their inner progressive-world music star. Yes, they can, as with all stories, make this one their own.

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Album cover used here for purposes of review. Copyright is believed to belong to the graphic artist or distributor.