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Peter
Gabriel-
Long Walk Home
music from the film
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Jeffrey's
Sum-Up:
A Masterpiece
Excellent
Impressive
Worth Hearing
So-So
or Sorely Lacking |
Excellent.
Peter Gabriel has here added another brilliant soundtrack to his small collection
of film works. This composition fuses the resonant, richly layered rhythms with Aboriginal
instruments and voices. The result is reminiscent of both "Birdy" and
"Passion" (Gabriel's masterpiece, a soundtrack for The Last Temptation of
Christ.) A rapturous finale features powerful choral support from the Blind Boys of
Alabama and Gabriel himself. |
Gabriel's "Long Walk Home"
Doubles as a film soundtrack and
a sonic landscape for a
for a spiritual voyage
a review by Jeffrey Overstreet
Copyright (c) 2002 by Jeffrey Overstreet.
Reproduction is forbidden without permission of the author.
Contact Jeffrey Overstreet at joverstreet@gmail.com.
I have a list of three albums that I would take with me if I went to live on a desert
island, and that list has not changed since 1989. The only instrumental album on the list
is Peter Gabriel's "Passion", a musical meditation on the sufferings of Christ,
and a work that provided the exotic soundtrack for Martin Scorcese's film "The Last
Temptation of Christ". Gabriel has always written music that is powerfully spiritual,
and focusing on the life of Christ brought out the best work of his career.
Now we have another soundtrack from this reclusive artist, his first release in
more than a decade. "Long Walk Home" is a film that at this writing has not yet
been released, so I cannot comment on its content. But the album is a dark, troubling, and
beautiful journey through shadows, trials, and eventually a glorious explosion of voices.
Gabriel paints in dark colors, with sustained keyboards that owe a lot to Brian
Eno's instrumental works. Those who enjoy Gabriel's soundtrack to "Birdy" will
find much to like, and much that is similar here. Low, slowly building tones eventually
break open into thunderous rhythms. And, as was true of "Passion", there are
complex tapestries of percussion, guitars, keyboards, and instruments native to the
Aboriginal cultures at the focus of the film. There is also an effective, minimalist use
of Aboriginal singing.
"Long Walk Home" is best experienced in dim light or in the dark.
Gabriel is able to stir up emotions and images unlike any I have found elsewhere. I would
compare it to hearing whalesong. There is something ancient and profound at work, and yet
it is brought to vivid life through Gabriel's mastery of technology and his ability to
fuse the sounds of different places, eras, and cultures. He has devoted himself to finding
the most powerful music in all corners of the world and bringing it to us. His research
has influenced his own musicianship greatly, making his compositions a truly unique
hybrid.
I am not skilled in describing music of this sort any more specifically than that.
It is not as complex a work as "Passion", but the film is not as ambitious
either. And yet, it easily stands among this unique artist's best works, another
soundtrack that will become one of the cornerstones of my own music collection, and that
will by listeners all around the world for many years to come.
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