Live Blood has been released today, for the June Record Store Day drop.
An exclusive release for Record Store Day, this is the first time the album has been on vinyl. The record has been half-speed remastered, pressed at 33RPM on three blood-red LPs and is housed in a gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves featuring photographs from throughout the live show.
The release is exclusive to independent record stores participating in Record Store Day.
Recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo, London, 23 & 24 March 2011 Live Blood is the live incarnation of Peter Gabriel’s New Blood project where he reworked choice moments from his back catalogue for a 46-piece orchestra. Arrangements come courtesy of John Metcalfe and the New Blood Orchestra is conducted by Ben Foster.
“It was exciting to see that, when we took ‘Scratch My Back’ out live for the first time, people really seemed to respond to the second half which was all my material. That made me determined to pump new blood into this old material.
I think that a lot of people have been put off by the idea of an orchestra – artist gets older, straps on an orchestra. A move into some veteran respectability. But part of the aim with the ‘New Blood’ name was to try to explain that this wasn’t how we were approaching it. We were trying to explore things to see if we could do it differently. There are places where you hear something that you won’t have heard before and that’s always exciting to me. So we chose songs that were more textural, more evocative, ambient pieces.”
SIDE A
1 Intruder
2 Wallflower
3 The Boy In The Bubble
4 Après Moi
SIDE B
1 The Drop
2 Washing of the Water
3 The Book Of Love
4 Darkness
5 The Power Of The Heart
SIDE C
1 Biko
2 San Jacinto
3 Digging In The Dirt
4 Signal To Noise
SIDE D
1 Downside Up
2 Mercy Street
3 The Rhythm Of The Heat
SIDE E
1 Blood Of Eden
2 Red Rain
3 Solsbury Hill
SIDE F
1 In Your Eyes
2 Don’t Give Up
3 The Nest That Sailed The Sky
Record Store Day USA store locator here