Birdy

Artist: Peter Gabriel
Label: Geffen Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 606949327125
EAN: 0606949327125
ASIN: B000065V86

Release Date: 2002-05-07

Birdy

Related Categories:

Movie Soundtracks

| Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General

| Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Tracks:

At Night
Floating Dogs
Quiet And Alone
Close Up (From Family Snapshot)
Slow Water
Dressing The Wound
Birdy's Flight (From Not One Of Us)
Slow Marimbas
The Heat (From Rhythm Of The Heat)
Sketch Pad With Trumpet And Voice
Under Lock And Key (From Wallflower)
Powerhouse At The Foot Of The Mountain (From San Jacinto)

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Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch
Security
Peter Gabriel 1: Car
Peter Gabriel 3: Melt

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic mood music.......2006-10-10

Peter Gabriel ventured into the realm of soundtracks in 1985 after being asked to score Alan Parker's film BIRDY, starring Nicolas Cage. Parker wanted to use instrumental versions of Gabriel's songs as the soundtrack for the film; Gabriel decided that the film needed some original material to accompany the recycled material. Thus we have BIRDY, and album that is about 40% recycled and 60% original.

The album belongs to a trio of experimental Gabriel albums inspired by tribal music (the other two albums being Gabriel's fourth self-titled release, a.k.a. SECURITY, and PASSION, the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's controversial drama THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST). BIRDY is the most lonely and cold of these albums, at times exuding a childlike innocence that seems chilling among the harsh soundscape. The music is largely synthesized, with some eerie woodwinds popping up frequently throughout. The original material has an isolated, distant, and oddly peaceful sound to it.

The recycled material includes instrumental sections from "Family Snapshot" and "Not One Of Us" (from PETER GABRIEL 3, a.k.a. MELT), "Wallflower" and "San Jacinto" (from SECURITY), and an instrumental version of "Rhythm Of The Heat". This material is good, but it's just not as powerful without Gabriel's passionate singing and full arrangements.

The big problem with BIRDY is that it's just powerful enough to be moving, but it offers no strong emotional attachment or power, unlike Gabriel's 1988 masterpiece PASSION. Nonetheless, BIRDY is fantastic mood music, and while it may not appeal to the general public, it's a delicious snack for hungry Gabriel fans.

TRIVIA: The opening from "Birdy's Flight" was also used in a pivotal scene from John Woo's 1986 action masterpiece A BETTER TOMORROW.

Good soundtrack, but overshadowed by the future........2005-03-18

Peter Gabriel's "Birdy" soundtrack is a delicate, quiet, and moody piece. Five of the tracks are recycled-- mixes and/or edits of material from "Peter Gabriel 3" and "Security", and seven of the tracks are brand new.

The material that's recycled is in many cases quite interesting-- the delicate piano line from "Family Snapshot" (titled "Close Up" here) is lovely by itself, and both "Birdy's Flight" (from "Not One of Us") and "The Heat" (from "The Rhythm of the Heat") stand nicely on tehir own.

Of the new tracks, most of them are haunting and of a delicate beauty ("Slow Water", "Dressing the Wound", "Slow Marimbas"). Its really all quite good, pretty stuff.

But I did only give it three stars, and largely for two reasons. First, I don't really feel any emotional content or attachment to this music-- instrumental music, particularly of an ambient or minimalist vein (as much of this is) is often very hard to convey emotion, and I don't think this succeeds in all cases. The power, for me, behind much of Gabriel's music has always been the severely high emotional investment into his pieces he puts. This is quite unlike his more famous soundtrack to "The Last Temptation of Christ", an album titled "Passion". In fact, "Passion" is quite the other reason that I rated this only three stars-- "Passion" is so stunningly good and by the same composer that invariably, I find myself comparing them, and very few soundtracks can hold up to that one.

So perhaps my rating is unfair, but when I want great instrumental music and Peter Gabriel's style, I don't grab this album.

Birdy really.......2004-06-20

Birdy really lets Peter Gabriel show off his skills as a keyboardist (he played his first keyboard an Accodian on the Genesis album Trespass), his playing is all over here. This was Gabriels first time delving deeply into instrumentals (he wrote and played previously only on the Genesis tracks After The Ordeal and Silent Sorrow On Empty Boats as well as Start from his own third album) and he really shows why hes as much a musician/arranger as he is a Singer/Songwriter. The only drawback is that this album lifts musically quite a bit from his former work.

Excellent score! A bit depressing though........2004-02-19

This soundtrack is Peter Gabriel's first foray into movie scores but it is a really good soundtrack that stands on it's own. The movie itself is just amazing and the soundtrack perfectly fits in the weird tone of the movie.

Be warned: The soundtrack is very gloomy and may leave you depressed.

As some are aware of, five of the songs life up parts of tracks from Gabriel's third and fourth CDs and the album label arns that this record contains no lyrics. The remaining seven are extraordinarily haunting and beautiful. My favorite of the retooled older songs is "Birdy's Flight" which lifts up the fast-paced ending minute of "Not One of Us" and giving it a totally different feel altogether.

The best of the original tracks is "Floating Dogs" which is a very scary but beautiful track that becomes a very twisted trancy piece.

Do not let the fact that this is overshadowed by "PassioN". "Birdy" is a really excellent score and should be included in any Gabriel fan's collection.

Beautiful soundtrack!.......2003-09-15

This first score from Peter Gabriel is a great soundtrack to a great movie. Some of the songs are retooled edits of tracks from his 1980 and 1982 albums. It may not be up there with "Passion" but it is a great soundtrack anyway.

The best song is the odd "Floating Dogs" which is a very scary and odd track. The other best is "Birdy's Flight" which samples "Not One of Us" from PG3.

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