Search - Richard / Gabriel, Peter / Rhodes, David Evans, Peter [1] Gabriel, Peter Gabriel :: Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence

A soundtrack that stands on its own.

W. Bumgarner | Cupertino, CA | 05/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Gabriel has long been a favorite artist of mine. He has been consistently willing to innovate in ways that are both highly successful and still accessible to the mass market. Each album seems to have broken new ground in some fashion but never were the ties to previous efforts lost!His soundtracks are similar.The first soundtrack, Birdy, borrowed heavily from previous work, yet mixed it together to achieve a highly evocative, sometimes frighteningly dark/intense, soundtrack that works just as well as a solo piece of music.His second sountrack, Passion, is an absolute masterpiece. While continuing the artful and often complex instrumental soundscapes omnipresent throughout his work, Gabriel added music from the indigenous artists of the film's setting. The end result is breathtaking. I dare anyone to sit down and listen to Passion through a good stereo out a decent volume in a dark room without becoming completely absorbed in the music. A masterpiece.Rabbit Proof Fence / Long Walk Home continues in this tradition. The music is often dark and of a more Gabriel-esque instrumental nature as that found on Birdy. However, the album is rife with material performed by various Australian musicians.Excellent stuff. Stands on its own. Every PG fan should own it and a lot of folks not familiar with his work will likely find this to be a good entry point."

Four and a Half Lunar Cycles...That Long?

gabrielblaine | Rochester, NY | 05/03/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While I was initially enthused about the idea of PG creating another film score, I have to admit my disappointment in this project. Unlike his previous efforts Birdy and Passion, where the music stands on its own as an album, Long Walk Home lacks a great deal in musicality. The songs bear more of a semblance to traditional film scores, i.e. short clips of music that fade in and out. The songs here, while they have great potential, are never fully developed in the way the tracks for Passion are. They give one the impression that they have been edited down from their original form. The musical motif's are too repetitive and over-used, blending all the songs into one long composition which, although interesting in their cohesiveness, detract from the uniqueness of each song. The most disheartening aspect of this album is the obvious recycling of "The Nest That Sailed the Sky" from OvO to construct "A Sense of Home". Similar to Birdy in that respect, one would hope that after nearly ten years of inactivity PG would have more tracks lying around to work with. There are some very bright spots on the album, including "Moodoo's Secret" and "Ngankarrparni" featuring guest vocals from The Blind Boys of Alabama. It was also very touching to see that PG incorporated a vocal performance from the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. But overall the songs on this album sound like outtakes from Passion. A rather disappointing follow-up to the remarkable OvO album(s) one can only hope that it suggests PG was putting most of his effort into UP, which we all hope will come out on its projected September release date. It is definitely haunting though, and entices the listener to go out and see the film."

Another soundtrack triumph for gabriel

Lance Tilford | San Francisco, CA United States | 04/23/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Gabriel's film scores are evocative, richly produced, and always give the listener (and film viewer) a sense of place and history, rather than just layering on some symphonic score meant to jar a viewer's emotions one way or the other. His latest effort, Rabbit Proof Fence (an Australian film from director Philip Noyce scheduled to hit the U.S. this summer) is every bit as rhythmic, sensuous, and disturbing as his scores for Birdy and The Last Temptation of Christ (released in CD as Passion). Again, Gabriel has assembled a vast array of world musicians (many Real World artists) who take the stage for an amazing tapestry of sounds; including his long-time collaborator David Rhodes, a soulful appearance by the Blind Boys of Alabama, and interweaving the haunting didgeradoo music of Ganga Giri. This, like Gabriel's other film work, stands very much on its own; though hearing it makes me very anxious to see what must be a provocative, emotionally resonant film. Not quite as powerful as Passion, but another solid scoring triumph from Gabriel."