Peter Gabriel

Gabriel’s three ambitious movie soundtracks get the remastered, high-definition, 45rpm vinyl treatment.

- John Lewis

SOME artists – particularly those at the peak of their careers – might view a soundtrack commission as a marginal side-project, something to be dashed off while you concentrate on your main album. Not so Peter Gabriel. For him, soundtracks have always been epic projects,which he can dive into and paddle around in for years. often he’d spend more time on them than on his multi-million-selling albums, meeting collaborators and developing methodologies that would have a profound effect on the rest of his music. 

Indeed, much of the furlough between Gabriel’s fourth self-titled solo album, 1982’s ‘Security’, and his all-conquering 1986 opus, So, was spent on film contributions. He provided songs for two separate hit films from 1984 – a track called “Walk Through The Fire” for Against All Odds and “out, out” for Gremlins – both collaborations with producer Nile Rodgers. They inspired that high-end state-of-the-art digi-funk that would influence tracks like “Big Time” and attune Gabriel for the mTV generation.

His first full-length score commission, however, came from director Alan Parker for the ’85 film, Birdy, about two disturbed Vietnam vets who develop an avian obsession. Parker, recovering from a gruelling partnership on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, found Gabriel a rather more amenable creative partner than Roger Waters. “We got on so well, he’s such a sweet man,” said a relieved Parker of Gabriel. “It was a refreshing change – he doesn’t have any of the hang-ups or the unpleasantness of that particular business.”