Album Reviews

Silly me! I thought all Hans Zimmer lifted for The Gladiator soundtrack were bits and pieces of Holst's "The Planets". Everyone does that so no offense, but after playing this reissue I heard from where came the best parts of The Gladiator soundtrack. Surely this was on the CD player when Zimmer created his track. Don't get me wrong, it's still a masterful soundtrack and filled with sonic and musical jolts, but here's from where it originated.

Passion is described on the jacket as "Music for The Last Temptation of Christ a Film by Martin Scorsese" because it's not exactly a soundtrack album. Rather, it was released way back in 1989 months after the movie premiered because Gabriel wanted the record to stand on its own and there were completed pieces that were not included in the film and others that hadn't been finished in time for inclusion.

Gabriel steered clear of the usual religious glorified music found in biblical films and instead opted to explore music that reflected the story's geographical location. So the music is heavily influenced by Arabic and Middle Eastern folk music even though as we all know from the artistic renderings, Jesus was a blue eyed, blond haired white fellow.

Gabriel recorded at his Real World studios using musicians from Pakistan,Turkey, India, Morocco and Senegal among other countries including the United States, anchored using traditional North African rhythms. There are synthesizers as well, including the then revolutionary Fairlight from Australia that could sample and play them back using a keyboard—commonplace now but exotic then. The combination of familiar western and exotic instruments (including the Armenian Doudouk that coincidentally does the same mournful thing on "The Gladiator" soundtrack) plus sonic treatments and a superb recording overall produce a spellbinding recorded experience.

I have to admit it sat on my shelf unappreciated for decades, yet now it's easy to write that it's among Peter Gabriel's most significant musical accomplishments and a record that will shine on for years to come. It would make a damn good audiophile demo disc at a show if anyone at these shows had a shred of creativity.

The sonic pictures are vast: deep, wide and spectacularly dynamic. Add the exotic instrumentation and rhythmic excitement and you have a record that brings pleasure with every play. I made up for the "benign neglect" by playing this reissue often, much to my wife's displeasure as she sat upstairs binge watching "Big Bang Theory", which she does almost every night (don't get me started).

In any case, this was originally issued on a double vinyl Geffen Records set mastered DMM at Precision Mastering. I don't think it saw a CD release then because the promo kit says "two record album". For this reissue 1/2 speed mastered at 45rpm, the set's been expanded to 5 sides of a 3 record set with nice gatefold packaging and a card for a high resolution download.

There's no comparison between the original and the reissue. The reissue smokes the original in every meaningful audio check list, especially dynamics, bass extension and transparency. No doubt it was cut from a digital source but so probably was the original, here using far superior converters and of course spread to three sides and cut to lacquer. My copy was very well pressed though side one was eccentrically pressed beyond acceptable tolerances.

I was sent this and two other soundtracks so I can't comment on the sonics of the Gabriel vocal albums that have also been similarly reissued, so I won't, other than to say those reissues from Classic Records cut from tape by Bernie Grundman (including So) probably can't be bettered. That said, If you want to go on a satisfying sonic world music adventure, get this sonically spectacular, musically eclectic reissue .