Originally published by L.S. Media. October 11th 2011.

L.S. Media Rating: ****

If you are going re-imagine your own songs and much loved tracks then do it with an abundance of style that will confuse the critics who were ready to reward any hard work with derision and scorn.

That’s exactly the result that Peter Gabriel has achieved with his latest look at music from his colourful andwide ranging past, the phenomenal New Blood. From the off, it has a dramatic new edge to it that will make you think of his music in a completely new way and with no qualms about his decision to use an orchestra to remake such classics as Red Rain, Digging in the Dirt and the ever popular Solsbury Hill.

New Blood took form after Peter’s brave and exciting reading ofother artists’ work in Scratch My Back. Inspired by the reaction to the album and the subsequent critical success and finding favour in audiences, Peter has re-written his past so effectively thatit will be hard for people to ignore this new stage of his career.  Rather than bowing out at the very top of his game after the brilliant So and one of the defining moments of his career, Up, Peter has gone out of his more than many of his Progressive Rock cohorts to adapt and change with the times and give a more honest, elder statesman perspective of his music.

There are songs on the album that just scream out to be listened to, to be placed into a new frame of mind. The Rhythm of the Heat is one of thosesongs that in original style was a fan favourite, but with the added dimension of conducting by Ben Foster and surrounded by some of the most instruments becomes a mini epic that stands out as a genuine new classic.

There will be the usual clamour from sections of Peter’s fan base that will demand he returns to making new songs and albums, after all in solo career that has lasted since 1977 and to stop so dramatically with the release of 2002’s Up, you can see they may have a justified point but whilst there is talent in the man’s hand and an imagination to create such work of artistic endeavour then it hardly matters.

Forget what you know of Peter Gabriel, New Blood sets a newpersonal high of creativity and will leave you breathless.

Ian D. Hall