[.ca] Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence

From Amazon.com:
Aside from a multimedia pastiche he did for England's millennium celebration, this soundtrack for Philip Noyce's film marks Peter Gabriel's first full slate of original recordings in nearly a decade. In the meantime, Gabriel's globally ambitious Real World musical mini-empire has taken precedence; the knowledge the musician gleaned there is immediately apparent in his film cues here. While the booming electro-tribal rhythms of previous Gabriel work come instantly into play, there's a sense of spacious mystery that's perfectly emblematic of the story's Australian outback setting. Gabriel's penchant for dense aural construction gives way to an ambient soundscape punctuated by Aboriginal percussion, didgeridoo, and bird song, and occasionally washed over by lolling tides of synth and samples. It's an atmosphere that, like the Aboriginal world it evokes, is nearly devoid of traditional melody, but one infused with a gripping, almost subliminal power. "Cloudless" then brings in haunting indigenous voices as well, intertwining them with a wordless, Westernized choral to emphasize Gabriel's compelling world music vision. --Jerry McCulley

Chronique amazon.fr:
Musicien nomade, Peter Gabriel se console de l'échec du dôme du millénaire, aventure immortalisée avec l'album OVO, en s'imbibant des images du réalisateur Philip Noyce (The Bone Collector, Patriot Games, etc.). Pendant que l'un filme les déboires de Molly Craig, jeune Aborigène de 14 ans vendue comme domestique, l'autre compose 15 plages intensément émouvantes. Loin du carcan pop, Peter Gabriel tisse en compagnie de David Rhodes et de Richard Evans, privés de guitares et obligés de tripoter surdu, didgeridoo, gong et autre shaker, une partition atmosphérique frappée des percussions délicates de Mahut ("Go Away Mr. Evans") et de la voix de Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Avec The Rabbit-Proof Fence, Peter Gabriel, qui a fait ses preuves en 1989 avec La Dernière Tentation du Christ de Martin Scorsese suivi de Birdy d'Alan Parker, visite des contrées habitées de chants d'oiseaux et de sons exotiques. Une escapade de plus à l'actif de cet ex-Genesis pas vraiment obsédé par la suite à donner à Us, son dernier album enregistré en 1992. --Sabrina Silamo

astounding:
Peter Gabrial began with Birdy as a serious instrumental composer and arranger and hes the only former Genesis member whose delved wholeheartedly into soundtrack albums. Long Walk Home Peters 3rd soundtrack album excelently captures the mood of the album and features top notch musicians. Peter of cource plays well himself on keyboards, surdu, piano and clap sticks. The songs here are engaging and shimmering with talent.

Very nicely done--well worth a buy:
Overall this sound track is very good. I love the rich ambient sounds used throughout the recording. Individually the songs are not as stand alone as songs on Passion and OVO. One thing you must remember is that this is not a musical release, its a movie sound track. The last temptation of Christ and the millenium show are very different performances than Rabbit Proof fence. In that context, the music fits well and really enhances the movie viewing expierience as a soundtrack should. While some lament on the re-use of previous material, I view it more as a remix of material. Peter took my favorite part of signal to noise off his Up album and used it for "the return" on this album. The same goes for the melodic use of the sky blue harmony for Ngankarrpani. I guarantee that once you buy this CD, it won't leave your player for a long time.

Moody and Dark .....:
This Cd is obviously a soundtrack. Therefore, it is not necessarily music that would just flow out of PG under normal circumstances, and some artist use soundtracks as experiments with the word SOUNDTRACK as creative license. I feel as though this music is interesting, and makes wonderful background music for office or home, but it just isn't up to the par that I normally expect from PG. I am not knocking PG and I wouldn't mind it if he did more of these, because if nothing else it is very intresting to listen too, which is 90% better than most ilk on radio CD these days.

I loved it immediately, listen to it regularly.:
I admit that it isn't a "typical" Peter Gabriel album. Not very "pop" and no lyrics, so if you are looking for something like UP or SO you are out of luck here. But one thing that this sound track has going for it is that the music is...big. I don't know how exactly to describe it, but listening to the music I hear great expanses of lonely land under the wide burning blue skies. I hear the heat of the outback, I hear the desolation felt by the children traveling across a wilderness on their own, I hear the fear that they may never make it, I hear the determination that they will. It is BIG music. I enjoy the studio modifications that Peter has made to creat the album. The bird sounds slowed and warped, the digeridoo, the chanting, and the voices all come together to work wonderfully with the film as well as a stand alone piece of music (as long as you understand that it is a soundtrack!).

A Feast for the Ears!!:
With headphones on, this soundtrack is pretty exhilarating. The opening track "Jigalong" is a great way to get you sucked into the mood of the movie. On the DVD to "Rabbit Proof Fence," Peter talks about how he manipulated some bird sounds to great effect on this CD. I never fail to be amazed at how amazingly creative he is. Like most great soundtracks, if you see the movie you will only get a greater appreciation for the music that accompanies it. Also, getting snippets of "Sky Blue" and others from "Up" was a great touch from this CD. Hearing the Blind Boys of Alabama is like listening to Gabriel's horn (no pun intended). One could only wish that Peter would do more soundtrack work, as he knows how to do it right!!

• Jigalong
• Stealing the Children
• Unlocking the Door
• Tracker
• Running to the Rain
• On the Map
• Sense of Home
• Go Away Mr. Evans
• Moodoo's Secret
• Gracie's Recapture
• Crossing the Salt Pan
• Return, Pts. 1-3
• Ngankarrparni (Sky Blue) (Reprise)
• Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Cloudless