Transfusion Confusion, 3 Out Of 5 Stars
Like so many older artists, Pater Gabriel has ideas about his older works. For some reason, those wonderful, ingrained and intensely personal songs from your life (and his career) need to be re-imagined. "New Blood" takes 13 songs, orchestrates them (think the "Scratch My Back" CD), and submits them for our consumption. It's pretty grand sounding music, cinematic and broad. But when you think of how a song like "In Your Eyes" wove such a spell the first time you heard it, this version will leave you with a tepid feeling.
So let's look at the songs that gain from the treatment. "Mercy Street" and "San Jacinto" gain in scope, while "Intruder" becomes a whole new menace. That's three. Then there's the songs that give you a serious dose of WTF. "Solisbury Hill" was as perfect a song as Gabriel has ever written, and the new version all but made me grind my teeth. "The Rhythm Of The Heat" has the word 'rhythm' in the freaking title, so taking away the drums functionally neuters that song. Same for "Red Rain" - all the drama is sucked out.
Which leaves the rest of the album in a holding pattern, with a bonus point for not forcing us to listen to "Biko" one more time. Also, "Up" is already a ten year old album. "New Blood" is making me wonder if Gabriel, like David Bowie, has hit a dry well. Bowie is at least sitting his time out, "New Blood" is mediocre enough to make me think maybe Peter Gabriel should give consideration to a similar spell.
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