| birdy |
released in march 1985 |
music from the film by peter gabriel
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 the rhythm
of the heat
sketchpad with trumpet and voice
under lock and key from wallflower
powerhouse at the foot of the mountain
from san jacinto
Alan Parker approached Peter Gabriel while he was commencing work on what would become So. Always prepared to delay releases, PG took on the challenge to score music for the Parker's film Birdy. The film is an adaptation of William Wharton's wonderful 1978 novel of an unlikely friendship torn apart by war and reconstructed within the confines of a military psychiatric hospital. Critical posturing dictates that the book must be much better than the movie, but in this case both communicate the same sense of harmless nuttiness juxtaposed against a much darker insanity with thoughtfulness and sensitivity (although the film does cop out with a much easier and slightly tackier ending).
This was Peter's first attempt at a film score and many elements of the record are culled from previous PG records (particularly the third and fourth). In an attempt to avoid Birdy being seen as a rip off to his fans, Peter slapped a huge warning on the back cover: "Warning: This record contains re-cycled material and no lyrics" and detailed which songs had been most obviously rehashed (see the playlist above). It's probably just as well there is no health risk in listening to Birdy. Perhaps thinking that this was not enough Peter wrote some cover notes, the first time he had done so since his bewildering story for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. As detailed in the cover notes, Alan Parker had already chosen some tracks which he felt were appropriate, but Peter felt that some new material was required. Despite this two of the most electrifying tracks from Birdy (Birdy's Flight and The Heat) are remixed versions of existing songs.
How then does all this procrastination and severity of warning translate to quality of music? Birdy is in fact a modestly cohesive achievement. from the opening track a mood and atmosphere is established which permeates every facet of the recording. Apart perhaps from Sketchpad..., each track maintains a song-like quality and the tendency to develop tracks into more conceptual and overly melodramatic soundscapes (as on Passion) is avoided. Many of the songs (At night, Floating Dogs, Dressing the Wound and Slow Marimbas) may be equally placed beside any PG song with lyrics. Slow Marimbas in particular has become a popular Peter Gabriel song in its own right, featuring on the Secret World Live record in 1994.
Birdy was released after the film to allow Gabriel some time to tie up loose ends. Consequently a few of the tracks didn't make it to the film itself. Not that this is particularly important in today's film industry where you would be lucky to hear more than two soundtrack songs in the movie, but unlike the average "soundtrack album" full of songs "inspired" by some crappy movie we'll all forget about in twelve months' time, Birdy makes quite a convincing package.
As an addenum to this Plausible Publications staff would like to note how we cannot seperate Matthew Modine from the character Birdy (as in: "Oh look, Birdy's in this movie!"). Also we still shriek in fits of laughter at the image of Birdy investigating the properties of Doris Robinson's breast.
Written by Mercutio
while he had too much time
on his hands. Thankfully this has now been rectified.