| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. At Night | | | | | |
| 2. Floating Dogs | | | | | |
| 3. Quiet And Alone | | | | | |
| 4. Close Up | | | | | |
| 5. Slow Water | | | | | |
| 6. Dressing The Wound | | | | | |
| 7. Birdy's Flight | | | | | |
| 8. Slow Marimbas | | | | | |
| 9. The Heat | | | | | |
| 10.Sketchpad With Trumpet And Voice | | | | | |
| 11.Under Lock And Key | | | | | |
| 12.Powerhouse At The Foot Of The Mountain | | | | | |
Produced by Peter Gabriel and Daniel Lanois.
Birdy, the soundtrack to Alan Parker's film of the same name, is the probably the most atypical album in Peter Gabriel's catalogue. It's certainly the least famous of his "official" releases (no, Snowflake doesn't count), a fact undoubtedly buttressed by the fact that its sales were rather minimal in comparison to Security (1982) or So (1986). It probably wouldn't be stretching things too much to suggest that the great majority of non-hardcore Gabriel fans aren't even aware of this album's existence, and only occasionally wonder where that mysterious "Slow Marimbas" track on Secret World Live comes from.
While none of this may be terribly surprising, the relative lack of support for Birdy among even hardcore Gabriel followers deserves some attention. Most probably, this can be traced to the existence of Passion -- another mostly instrumental soundtrack that surpasses Birdy's quality by a fair degree. In comparison to Passion, Birdy might seem like little more than an early prototype; accordingly, it doesn't tend to receive too high of a position in most assessments of the Gabriel pantheon.
This is something of a shame, as Birdy is a perfectly good album in its own right. Parker's film and Gabriel's soundtrack share a dark, apprehensive quality, which is frequently expressed in poignant understatement. The front cover the album features the lead actor of the film, perched tastefully naked on a bedframe, in imitation of the winged beasts which he so admires. The image suggests a figure perpetually locked in place at the moment prior to revelation, seeking some escape from his limited existence. The music, it can be said, corresponds to this motif extremely well.
Gabriel's soundtrack was intended as "mood accompaniment", and is quite successful at this level (the album makes for excellent meditative music, and seems to be intended for heard with the lights off). It must be admitted that the songs, as songs, don't work on the same level as those from Gabriel's other albums -- they often have a fleeting quality about them (many are quite short), and generally seem rather unstructured as well. It is in this regard that Birdy most obviously falls short of the standard set by Passion, wherein meditative grandeur and musical complexity were combined apiece. That said, this album can fairly easily be appreciated on its merits.
The music on Birdy was the result of a session (lasing "a couple of weeks") wherein Gabriel manipulated the basic tracks of some earlier releases. Some new material was added, leading to -- in Gabriel's memorable turn of phrase -- "what you have here" as the end result. Five tracks were very obviously adapted from earlier material, and were identified as such: "Close Up" is from "Family Snapshot", "Birdy's Flight" is from "Not One Of Us", "The Heat" is essentially an instrumental version of "Rhythm Of The Heat", "Under Lock And Key" is derived from "Wallflower" and "Powerhouse ..." is taken from the last part of "San Jacinto". Other tracks are less obviously adapted. Those looking for connections between the progressive legacy and modern electronica creations could do worse than examine the gestation of this release (suffice to say that the Fairlight plays a notable role).
The album begins with "At Night", a murky and opaque anthem for the lead character. The drone which begins the track is oddly similar to "Zaar", and the dark Fairlight work (with minimal percussive backing) which dominates the first minute of the track is typical of the album's "mood painting". Strangely, the higher-pitch melody which subsequently appears is similar to Tony Banks's work on Soundtracks ... perhaps the legacy of The Garden Wall was more potent that it's members would have imaged. An impressive and appropriate beginning.
"Floating Dogs" is a more overt "sonic painting" work, with various sound effects suggesting the movement of the canine beasts in their nocturnal flights. The track begins with strong discordance, similar to Robert Fripp's recent Soundscape work, although derived from vocal manipulations in this case. The rhythm is clearly the dominant presence in this track, however, and points the way to subsequent developments on Passion (some of this track may have been reused on "Of These, Hope").
"Quiet And Alone" is the best of the first three numbers, a spacious, trace-esque work (without a strong rhythmic presence) that relies rather heavily on a Fairlight presence. Even more than "At Night", this track conveys a strong sense of the apprehensive development central to the album experience. Rather amorphous, this track is not easily given to extended analysis.
The very brief "Close Up" is a piano adaptation of the "Family Snapshot" introduction (as far as the second "shooting into the light). This track is most notable for its threat of an absolute tension release at the end, which is (of course) not followed through. As an independent piece of music, this is of limited value -- it only makes "sense" if one is aware of the context and history of the track. Still, there isn't anything wrong with the work by any standard.
"Slow Water", as the title implies, consists of an original track played at a very slow speed. One particular instrument (probably Tony Levin's bass) imitates the sound of water dripping into an unseen basin. While this is essentially just the elaboration of a single trick, is works on its one terms ... and it's notable for its masterful use of a drone effect.
"Dressing The Wound" is probably the most odd track on the album, and not just for its instrumentation -- while the xylophone/bass/keys interplay is more diverse than the music on most others tracks, but is not itself overly unusual (aside from the "gently mad" keyboards toward the end). The track, rather, deserves particular attention for the amazing form of distortion on Gabriel's vocals, which transforms an idiosyncratic vocal line (which may or may not feature lyrics) into an extremely amorphous sonic presence, fitting very strangely with the remainder of the work. A feat of sonic manipulation, to say the least.
The second half of the album is rather more focused than the first, although still less so than his other releases. "Birdy's Flight" is adapted from the introduction of "Not One Of Us", featuring various extensions of the original thematic development. The drum line is most obviously altered from the original, and is moreover the strongest element of the track from a music standpoint. One might wonder if the similarities between this track and Banks's similarly titled "Redwing Suite" (from Soundtracks) might suggest a degree of influence, though that neither adds to nor detracts from the merit of Gabriel's work.
The best track on the album is "Slow Marimbas", another miracle of sonic manipulation which seems strongly inspired by recordings of outdoor gamelan festival (the insect effects from the keyboards do little to dispel this illusion). The lead keyboard line which appears over the marimbas features the same motif that would later appear in "Of These, Hope" -- and the end result is itself enough to justify purchase of the album. Not credited as such, this seems to be adapted from "No Self Control".
"The Heat", as mentioned above, is essentially an instrumental version of "Rhythm Of The Heat", with minor variations throughout. The sudden "release" section at the end of the track obviously seems a bit odd in conjunction with rest of the album, though perhaps the placing of the breakthrough before the end of the album, with three other tracks still to come, negates its watershed presence). The track itself is musically as solid as the original.
"Sketchpad With Trumpet And Voice" is another of the odder tracks here, and another of the better ones. Jon Hassell's trumpet and Gabriel's voice are both placed under extreme manipulation -- it never quite reaches the transcendent level of "Dressing The Wound", but succeeds on its own level nevertheless.
This is followed by "Under Lock And Key" (from "Wallflower"), a paean to personal isolation which might almost seem too obvious for inclusion in this context ... one wonders if Gabriel's decision to limit the song to an under-three-minute excerpt resulted from a decision not to belabour its point. The flute presence is stronger here than in the original version, and the primary theme is play sparingly on keyboards. It's a nice effect, though not an album highlight.
"Powerhouse At The Foot Of The Mountain" (taken from the "We will walk ..." section of "San Jacinto") closes the album on an uncertain note -- the presence of the mountain seems to indicate a finality, but it isn't certain from what or to what. A case could be made that this is the consolidation of the character's psyche at the end of the work -- no longer attempting to interact with outside forces, the "finality" which he creates is inscrutable to all others (as a bizarre side note, I might add that a few vibrato effects from "Excuse Me" seem to be included here).
Passion is the better album, but those seriously interested in Gabriel's career should acquire this album as well. Recommended.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 3 Nov 1998)