Peter Gabriel is finally releasing a new album after a seven year hiatus but it seems he has taken the old adage of sharing to new heights.  His newest effort is slotted for release this spring exciting Peter Gabriel fans everywhere (yes there are still a lot of Peter Gabriel fans out there), with a different concept.  The title Scratch My Back begins to make sense when you hear that Gabriel has decided to take songs from his favorite artist and turn them into orchestral covers.  He has reportedly covered music from classic and indie artists alike, including: Radiohead, David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Talking Heads, The Kinks, Neil Young and Randy Newman.  In turn these artist will cover his songs and there you have the old “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” way of thinking.  While this seems like a pretty interesting idea, and Gabriel is known for his original arrangements, it seems Gabriel may have lost some of his fire.  True these are orchestral covers, so they are expected to be slow but the two tracks I heard were like lullabies.  I’m certainly not panning anything yet and am still curious about what the final product will be like, but I hope Ol Pete doesn’t drain all the fun out of the music and instead gives us something fresh and original.