Gabriel's newest album, New Blood, was released this year. Its consists mainly of songs from his "traditional" albums (as opposed to his soundtracks, projects and shared-credit productions). It is far from a greatest hits collection, though, in that many of the songs are lesser known tracks, especially to those unfamiliar with Gabriel's albums. All of the tracks are performed with a symphony orchestra.
Before you start choking on your tongue, this is not what you think. Most aging Prog rockers have attempted to orchestrate their music at some point, bowing to pressure from their record labels or because they were pompous enough to believe their music deserved the same treatment as Mozart's and Beethoven's. Efforts like "Symphonic Yes" are unmitigated disasters, perhaps because the production wasn't given enough thought or that the music was too weak to deal with the scrutiny orchestration invites. Gabriel, however, is different (surprised?- I hope not).
New Blood's tracks were specially selected based on how well they would translate to the orchestration. The arrangements are careful to mirror the sounds of the original recordings, but not mimic or mock them. The orchestra, along with Gabriel's new, experienced take on his songs, bring new life to the tunes, some of which are over thirty years old.
Most symphonic re-dos of rock collapse under their own weight. Gabriel's music on New Blood soars.
