MUSIC FROM THE FILM BIRDY

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Peter Gabriel music in instrumental form reworked for a film about the after effects of the Vietnam War on two childhood friends. The compositions are retitled but the sources remain obvious and easily recognizable to fans of his first four solo efforts. Some of the music which didn't make it into the film but is also included here. This project demonstrated the intensity & power of Gabriel's music to set moods and express itself in contexts other than that for which it was originally intended. A must for Gabriel completists and of interest to fans of electronic and instrumental arrangements in the vein of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream.

Peter GABRIEL started his soundtrack career with "Birdy", a riveting and emotional film about two young men that go off to war, starring Nicholas Cage and Mathew Modine. I remember the film and really didn't pay too much attention to the music playing in the background; I don't think that many folks really do unless it has a dominating presence. When I listened to this I could understand why it didn't get my attention. It's all atmospheric and meditative background music. This is not to say that this music has no value or purpose, it most certainly does. I am accustomed to being excited and totally mesmerized by GABRIEL's music, so this was disappointing. This is the first release by GABRIEL that I really didn't enjoy. I felt it was boring and uneventful.

Ratin: 2.5/5

Usually soundtracks don't work so well as their own. (If they do, they often differ a lot from the actual score heard on the film; Vangelis is a good example.) Gabriel's first film contribution shows Gabriel's talents in creating atmospheres. In film the music is used too sparingly, but as an album it's not for repeated listening. The decision to recycle material from Peter Gabriel albums 3 and 4 is not a bad idea at all; the songs really had this potential. In many cases it's just a fragment, e.g. piano intro of 'Family Snapshot' or outro of 'San Jacinto'. The most powerful track is 'Birdy's Flight' based on ending of 'Not One of Us' - the drumming is deliciously multiplied and the original song really pales in comparison. But as an album per se Birdy has quite little to offer in its shortness and such a cold, lonely, sad atmosphere. The film has a wider palette of emotions. And as a literature lover I must add that Alan Parker's film is not even closely as great as the novel by William Wharton.

I saw the film "Birdy" in a cinema in 1985 or in 1986, and I saw it again on TV years later. The story told in the film, as other reviewers wrote, is the story (if I remember well) of two childhood friends who are years later recruited to go to fight to the Vietnam War. One of them (Birdy)became obsessed with birds since childhood, and his friend looks at his behaviour with some surprise until both are hurt in the war and are send to the Military Hospital. In the Hospital Birdy`s fascination with birds leads him to think that he is one of them to the point that he retires from the real world adopting birds` behaviour. This strange (and fictitious, as the final credits of the film say) mental illness is shown in the film as the final outcome of the effects of war in the mind of Birdy. The final scene of the film is very funny, with Birdy jumping from the Hospital Room`s window, trying to fly, with his friend being frightened by this, but Birdy laughs at him as he really jumps to a roof which is below the window.

The music of Peter Gabriel for this film works very well with the scenes shown in the film. Gabriel has a lot of talent to make music for films like this. Most of the instrumental music for this film was done with Gabriel re-working the music of some songs from his third and fourth albums. The mood of the music is adapted very well to the scenes in this film. I particularly liked very much "Close Up (from Family Snapshot)" , "Birdy's Flight (from Not One Of Us)" and "Under Lock And Key (from Wallflower)" . The musical themes are reprised several times in the film working very well.