Doesn’t make the itch go away

Because it would be difficult to justify giving an “A” to the new Johnny Cash covers album and a “D” to the new Peter Gabriel one with similar logic, I made a list of reasons why “American VI” is a masterpiece and why “Scratch My Back” is ultimately unacceptable:

1. Johnny Cash is dead. Peter Gabriel is still alive.

2. The best song on “American VI” is an original cut by Cash. “Scratch My Back” has no original cuts.

3. Cash hasn’t released an all-originals album since 1974. Gabriel’s last all-originals album was 2002’s “Up,” his best solo record.

4. Cash covers contemporaries and kindred spirits. Gabriel covers Pitchfork-approved acts in a struggle for relevance.

5. Cash tragically reinterpreted the songs he covered. Gabriel merely made already pretentious songs more pretentious.

Gabriel is actually on top of his game vocally on “Scratch My Back,” but there’s an overwhelming sense of “We waited eight years for this?” on every listen. Simply put, he owed his fans more than this.