Search - Peter Gabriel :: Birdy

This soundtrack is tearjerking beauty!

Distant Voyageur | Io | 09/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I reviewed the older CD edition of this soundtrack a long time ago but I just got it and things haven't yet sunk in but one year later, I have to honestly say that this soundtrack is one of the most, if not the most, evocotive soundtracks of all time. I don't know what it really is about this strange collection of music that relly does it but the Birdy soundtrack made me cry like no other album by anyone. Is it the dark album cover that makes it so evocative? Is it the heartbreaking theme of the movie about a mentally scarred patient named Birdy, a Vietnam War veteran whose mind has been completely burned out from the trauma of combat? Or is it a much darker, but less ominous look in the minds of mental illness than what PG 3 did? This soundtrack from my perspective conveys all of these perspectives and the dark and sad mood of the soundtrack magnifies the emotional punch of the music on it. The album cover perfectly portrays the atmosphere of this CD.



Keep in mind that there isn't anything poppy on this soundtrack so those who are going for something in the vein of "Sledgehammer", "Big Time" or even the non-singles from Gabriel's more known works will find "Birdy" to not be the best disc to appreciate and is a far cry from even the darkest of Peter Gabriel's regular albums. However, I highly recommend trying this soundtrack for its beauty and its imaginative atmospheres. Several of the songs life parts of several songs from Gabriel's third and Security albums.



"At Night" begins the set with a very dark, droning, and opaque ambient anthem and an eerie echoing rhythm. In some ways, this track is kind of similar to "Zaar" from "Passion". "Floating Dogs" is one of the oddest tracks on this CD. It begins with a very unsettling ambient discordant melody with the sound of chains and a tribal drum before it morphs into an electrifying trancey song. In some ways, this almost brings up images of the confines of a prisoner chained up at a mental hospital as the chainlike sounds bring up. "Quiet & Alone" is an odd peaceful track with comet-like keyboard streaks and buzzing guitar parts and a very aquatic keyboard ambience. For some reason, this song evokes images of a peaceful mind amidst impending danger or gloom. "Close Up" is a 55 second interlude that samples the piano intro of "Family Snapshot". Hearing the extremely remote keyboards played against an eerie silence are enough to possibly evoke tear jerking images of a very damp and isolated place especially when the keyboards echo away into almost total silence. It was very moving with the piano intro of the original "Family Snapshot" and it's really interesting to hear the same sequence from a totally different light. "Slow Water" is another tear jerking track but is more of an ambient droning piece but with odd bass lines that evoke images of what I could imagine are drops of water falling through an opening in the ground and landing in an unseen basin below. "Dressing The Wound" is a haunting and unsettling song that has a mixture of peacefulness and unsettling darkness meshed together in one to create a mesmerizing track. The song has some very interesting chord changes and even mood changes. "Birdy's Flight" samples the fast-paced rhythm of the last minute of "Not One of Us" but with a darker and more twilight mood like that of flying over a city in one's dream but only to land back on earth in a not-so-welcoming reality when one wakes up. "Slow Marimbas" is a beautiful number with haunting marimba playing and a slightly scary ambience although not as much as "Floating Dogs" or "At Night". "The Heat" is basically "Rhythm of the Heat" but without the vocals of that terrifying classic. "Sketchpad with Trumpet & Voice" is a very unsettling piece that foreshadows the direction that Peter would take on the "Passion" soundtrack a few years later. The flute like instrument is actually a trumpet played in an odd way to where it almost sounds more like a Middle-Eastern wind instrument. Gabriel's lends his own vocals with piercing chants. Although it may just be the blueprint of the title track from "Passion", this song is absolute beauty in its own way which then brings me to what I consider the most tear jerking piece on this bleak but incredibly beautiful soundtrack "Under Lock & Key". This track uses the melodic keyboard loop of the incredible "Wallflower" from his fourth album. It begins with a very remote intro and the opening flute and then strips down into a very twilight mood song with very remote keyboards and a very isolated atmosphere. This track for some reason, made me cry like no other song had done in years. The album concludes on an uncertain note with "Powerhouse At The Foot of The Mountain". This track lifts the `Hold The Light' section of "San Jacinto" and the song fades into an uncertain darkness. The song reminds of a ghost possibly illuminating a deserted prison or factory on a misty night.



"Birdy" seems to have been completely eclipsed by the "Passion" soundtrack that followed this one four years later and it seems like few people, even big-time Gabriel fans are even aware of this soundtracks existence and it's a shame as this soundtrack is just as good as "Passion" but in totally different ways. I would even go the distance to say that there are times where I enjoy "Birdy" more than "Passion. The remastered edition is a vast improvement over the original 1984 CD edition and has a much higher quality of detail and it makes "Birdy" even more evocative than ever before. For quite a good number of people, "Birdy" may seem like little more than just merely a first step in Gabriel's adventures in movie scores but to me "Birdy" is far more than that. It is a fascinating and mesmerizing album that should not be missed and should be in checked out.



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