Birdy (Peter Gabriel Album)
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''Birdy'' is the first
soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
and sixth album overall by the English
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
musician
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
for the movie of the same name, released in 1985. The album marked Gabriel's first work with producer
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...
. It was remastered with most of Gabriel's catalogue in 2002.


Background

In addition to composing new pieces for the soundtrack, Gabriel also used instrumental themes and sections from earlier works to form the basis of some tracks. Of the album's twelve tracks, two adapt music from Gabriel's third album and three adapt music from Gabriel's fourth album. There are, however, no songs with lyrics on the album. Gabriel recorded the album over the course of six weeks. In an interview with ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
'' in 1986, Gabriel said, “''Birdy'' was about the struggle of the spirit... It was about the interplay between the traumatized Birdy, the wounded victim, and his best friend, who’s ostensibly the tough one. But in the end, it’s Birdy who’s strong and his friend who’s cracking. When I saw the rough cut of the film, I knew I had to do it. It haunted me.” Recalling his experience of working with Gabriel, ''Birdy'' director Alan Parker told '' Prog'' magazine in 2010, "We got on so well, he’s such a sweet man. It was such a refreshing change from working with megalomaniacs like
Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...
. Peter’s record company were very difficult to begin with, and so I phoned them to ask if they’d mind if Peter took a little time to do this, and they said as long as it didn’t take more than a couple of months because Peter was already a year late or something. He had strong views and I would never be able to persuade him to do something he didn’t feel comfortable with, but we didn’t have any confrontation as such."


Reception

Released 18 March 1985, ''Birdy'' reached number 51 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
and number 162 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The commercial performance exemplified Gabriel's strong
cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
, according to biographer Daryl Easlea (2018), adding that the chart peaks are "still pretty impressive for what is essentially an album of
sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as musique concrè ...
s." In their review, ''
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'' noted the album's prioritisation of "mood over melodic content". In a retrospective review, Tom Demalon of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
felt the album was a "successful companion piece" to Parker's film, providing a "moody and evocative" backdrop. He noted many of the tracks incorporate threads from Peter Gabriel's fourth album (1982) and warned that the album would disappoint listeners expecting Gabriel's more pop-leaning material, but said "its meditative nature makes it fine, reflective listening for the more adventurous." Steven Grant and Ira Robbins, writing for ''
Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
'', also drew attention to the mix of new material and adaptations of earlier recordings, and felt that " though it's uncommon to hear sustained instrumental work from someone so known for vocal music, the score is audibly identifiable, and provides a fascinating glimpse into his adaptational thinking." They described it as " strongly affecting work, a major challenge met admirably with style and character."
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...
described it as a "haunting soundtrack" in ''
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'', whilst in ''
The Great Rock Discography Martin Charles Strong (born 1960 in Musselburgh) is a Scottish music historian known for compiling discographies of popular music including ''The Great Rock Discography''. Strong has been described in broadsheet newspaper profiles as a "compiler ...
'',
Martin C. Strong Martin Charles Strong (born 1960 in Musselburgh) is a Scottish music historian known for compiling discographies of popular music including ''The Great Rock Discography''. Strong has been described in broadsheet newspaper profiles as a "compile ...
wrote how Gabriel transformed earlier material into "atmospheric mood pieces" with "impressive effect". ''Birdy'' was reissued on vinyl in 2017; reviewing the release for '' Uncut'', John Lewis described ''Birdy'' as "interesting but fragmentary" but highlighted "Birdy's Flight" for being a heavy, drum-laden instrumental based on "Not One of Us". He also noted the album's significance, saying: "Many of the techniques explored on ''Birdy'' – particularly the experiments with
ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...
sound on 'Dressing the Wound' and 'Sketchpad with Trumpet and Voice' – would lay the groundwork for '' So'', and both projects certainly shared many of the same personnel."


Track listing

All songs written by
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
.


Personnel

*
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
– keyboards, production *
Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...
– trumpet * Ekome Dance Company – drums *
Larry Fast Lawrence Roger Fast (born December 10, 1951) is an American synthesizer player and composer. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (''Synergy'') and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, inclu ...
– keyboards *
Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...
– bass guitar, double bass, backing vocals *
Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta; Rick is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands Arthur, Hurley & ...
– drums, percussion * David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals *
Manny Elias Manny Elias (born 21 February 1953) is a British drummer and record producer. He is notable for being the original drummer with Tears for Fears during the 1980s. Career Elias was born in Kolkata, India, to British parents. He was originally ...
– drums *
Morris Pert Morris David Brough Pert (8 September 1947 – 27 April 2010) was a Scottish composer, drummer/percussionist, and pianist who composed in the fields of both contemporary classical and jazz-rock music. His compositions include three symphonies, p ...
– drums, percussion *
John Giblin John Giblin (26 February 1952 – 14 May 2023) was a Scottish musician who worked as an acoustic and electric bass player spanning jazz, classical, rock, folk, and avant-garde music. He was a member of Simple Minds from 1985 to 1988, and w ...
– double bass, bass guitar


Technical personnel

* David Stallbaumer – additional engineering


Charts


In popular culture

The piece "Birdy's Flight" was later used by Hong Kong film director
John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...
as part of the score to his ''
A Better Tomorrow ''A Better Tomorrow'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong action film directed, co-written and co-produced by John Woo, co-produced by Tsui Hark, and starring Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat. The film had a profound influence on Hong Kong action c ...
'' films. Other parts of the score were used in
Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, , born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong (), is a Hong Kong filmmaker. A major director in the Golden Age of Cinema of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cinema, Tsui gained critical and commercial success with films such as ''Zu Warriors from ...
's 1986 movie ''
Peking Opera Blues ''Peking Opera Blues'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong action comedy film directed and produced by Tsui Hark. It stars Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh, Paul Chun, Wu Ma, and Kenneth Tsang. The film combines action comedy with scenes involving Pekin ...
''. The track "The Heat" was used in 1994 Movie ''
Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims ...
'' and in the theatrical trailer of the 1993 movie ''
Tombstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...
''.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Peter Gabriel soundtracks Albums produced by Peter Gabriel Albums produced by Daniel Lanois 1985 soundtrack albums Instrumental soundtracks Charisma Records soundtracks Geffen Records soundtracks Ambient albums by English artists Experimental rock albums by English artists Sound collage albums