As I sit here listening to Peter Gabriel’s latest release, New Blood, I can’t help but think that either Peter or his record label got it right.  In this age of digital downloads and disappearing CDs, it is nice to have alternatives.  New Blood was released on standard CD, but was also released in a very nice two-LP gatefold package, with a 7″ bonus picture disc containing “Solsbury Hill”. The part that “gets it right” for me is that the album not only comes with a download–that download is for a choice of MP3 file or high-resolution digital, which you can then burn to an audio DVD that will play back in any standard DVD player in high resolution, or store on a music server to play back on something like a Squeezebox.

This is how music should be released today.  CDs and downloads may still be today’s standard, but for those of us who want a more deluxe package and prefer vinyl, offering a high-resolution download is a very nice bonus.

Now, for a quick look at the album itself.  The concept was to give a new lease on life to Peter’s back catalog of music.  This is not a new idea: even a hack like Sting attempted to set music to strings, only Sting’s project (Symphonicities) was such an epic failure due to both the source material (you can’t “symphonize” something like “Next To You”, one of the best tracks from the first Police album, without it becoming an embarassment to listen to), and due to overall poor string arrangements.

Gabriel’s album actually works, and works quite well.  His music is not your ordinary pop music.  If one had noticed the broad hints of cinematic sweep in his original recordings, they become even more obvious in this project.  These renditions could serve as a soundtrack to some as-yet unfilmed picture, with the originals sitting in nicely beside them at dramatic points in the film.  As “San Jacinto” spins right now, slowly uncoiling at the end, you can almost visualize some vast landscape receding in the distance at the end of a scene in a movie.

That quality is present through the best songs on this album, such as “Intruder,” “Darkness” and “The Rhythm Of The Heat” (which is as dynamic in its own way as the original from his fourth album).  Others, like “Solsbury Hill,” don’t quite work as well, but are still converted quite nicely to a symphonic presentation.  This is where New Blood succeeds where something like Symphonicities fails: the latter merely sets exiting music to string arrangements (sometimes clumsily), whereas New Blood almost re-composes the songs into something new while still retaining the feel of the originals.  “Wallflower” is a good example of how well Gabriel’s concept works: the emotion and cinematic scope of the original is preserved, even accentuated, thanks to the new presentation.

For a digital recording, it has transferred well to vinyl.  The mastering is quite nice, and the sound is full bodied and dynamic, the vinyl adding some subtle warmth to the proceedings.  There is almost no background noise from the vinyl, although there are some clicks and crackle throughout that sound like a bit of dirt remaining in the grooves.  The 7″ picture disc does not fare as well–it has the same sound, but has a constant “shhh” background noise thanks to the vinyl.  It’s a clever disc for sure, but I would have preferred to keep it on quieter black vinyl.

This one is a winner if you can find it on vinyl…and be sure to “cash in” the enclosed card to download the high-resolution version of the album online, as it’s only good for a year.