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Passion (Peter Gabriel album)

Passion is an album released in 1989 by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel. It was the first Peter Gabriel album to be released on Real World Records, Gabriel's second soundtrack, and his eighth album overall.

Overview
Peter Gabriel's first film soundtrack, Birdy (1985), comprised original material and instrumental rearrangements of songs from Gabriel's earlier albums. Passion, on the other hand, contained music entirely original to Gabriel's catalogue. To record the soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ, Gabriel used the resources of WOMAD, an organization he founded, to bring together musicians from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and South Asia. He worked with them to create music meant to enhance the mood of the film, but he also added a modern ambient musical touch to the original pieces, producing a musical work that has influenced many musicians. Passion introduced many listeners to such artists as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Youssou N'Dour, L. Shankar, and Baaba Maal. N'Dour and Shankar had provided contributions to Gabriel's previous album, So (1986); Passion also features other musicians who had worked with Gabriel before, including David Rhodes, Manny Elias, David Bottrill, and Manu Katché. The delay of the album's release was due to Gabriel's schedule with the Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International in 1988 and to the truncated production time allotted by Universal Pictures for the soundtrack: Universal cut the recording time for Gabriel from 10 to three weeks, leaving Gabriel very little time to complete all the pieces he wanted. After the film's mix was finished, Gabriel had unfinished ideas he wanted to develop and took extra time to complete the album. Gabriel took a further four months to complete Passion, building the pieces and developing the musical textures as part of his stated desire for the album to stand as a piece of work in its own right. The cover art for the album, Drawing study for Self Image II (1987), is a mixed media composition by the artist Julian Grater. When re-released in 2002, the album was titled Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ due to "legal barriers" according to Gabriel in its liner notes. Reflecting on the album in 2007, Gabriel told Uncut that "Passion may be the best one I've ever done. I wasn't working with a producer, and as I was serving someone else's vision, that gave me freedom in a strange way. Some of the 'Sledgehammer' fans wouldn't be into it – a bit too 'out there' for them." ==Recording==
Recording
Several tracks on the album originated from improvised seven-minute sketches from which Gabriel would pick the sections that he felt best aligned with the film and later layer in additional instrumentation. He explained his compositional approach for Passion with Keyboard magazine, saying that "seven minutes is the time I start getting bored. Obviously, a lot of ideas don't sustain that long - but it's good for me to give myself that much room. I tend to want to over-record at first." David Bottrill assisted with the creation of some drones, which he achieved by overdubbing various sound sources onto a 24-track tape machine and using the freeze function on a Quantec Room Simulator to create sustained chords. Bottrill used various sound sources to create these chords, including a Prophet-5, Fairlight CMI, a Vox bass guitar, Fender Stratocaster, and Gabriel's voice. "With This Love" began with a vocal melody developed by Gabriel. He then worked with David Sancious, who built an arrangement around the song and suggested some harmonies to accompany it. "With This Love", which Gabriel described as "church-like", was originally intended for a scene where the devil, disguised as a little girl, removes Jesus from a cross and kisses his bleeding body. However, Scorsese decided against using the song for this scene. Gabriel attributed this decision to his belief that the scene would have been "perhaps too powerful" and "potentially too explosive", but still felt that it would have been a "very strong marriage of music and image." ==Reception==
Reception
Upon its release, Passion received generally positive reviews from critics. Reviewing Passion for Rolling Stone, Jimmy Guterman wrote that "Gabriel’s journey is just as deeply felt as Scorsese's... [Passion] stands as a testament to the breadth of Gabriel's interests, as well as his talents." Noting songs which "successfully accommodate third-world melodies and cross-rhythms in a Western pop context," Guterman claimed, "Passion is stirring, stunning stuff: You won’t hear it on the radio like you heard ‘’Sledgehammer’’ or ‘’Big Time’’, but if you do search it out, you'll find a piece of work by an artist who remains idiosyncratic without being obtuse." Reviewing the album for the Chicago Tribune, Chris Heim called it a "surprisingly accessible and successful instrumental album where "traditional percussion, string and wind instruments blend seamlessly with modern synthesizer to create a compelling work that suggests the mystery, agony and sublime release at the core of Christ's passion." ==Track listing==
Personnel
• "The Feeling Begins" The doudouk is playing an Armenian melody, "The Wind Subsides". (Armenian doudouks recorded for Ocora Records under the direction of Robert Ataian.) • "Gethsemane" • Peter Gabriel – flute samples, flute, voices • "Of These, Hope" • Massamba Diop – talking drum • Peter Gabriel – bass, percussion, flute whistle, Prophet 5 • L. Shankar – double violin • David Rhodes – guitar • Mustafa Abdel Aziz – arghul drone • "Lazarus Raised" This piece incorporates a traditional melody from Kurdistan telling of the unhappy love of a young girl for Bave Seyro, a legendary warrior. (Kurdish duduks are from UNESCO Collection – A Musical Anthology of the Orient, general editor Alain Danielou for Musicaphon Records.) • "Of These, Hope – Reprise" • Massamba Diop – talking drum • Peter Gabriel – bass, percussion, flute whistle, Prophet 5 • L. Shankar – double violin • David Rhodes – guitar • Mustafa Abdel Aziz – arghul drone • Baaba Maal – vocals • Fatala – additional percussion • "In Doubt" • Peter Gabriel – Audioframe, Fairlight samples, vocals • Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh – kementché • "A Different Drum" • Doudou N'Diaye Rose – percussion loop (four bars) • Fatala – percussion loop (three bars) • Peter Gabriel – surdo, percussion, Audioframe, Prophet 5, voice • L. Shankar – double violin • Youssou N'Dour – voice • David Sancious – backing vocals • "Zaar" • Hossam Ramzy – tambourines, dufs, tabla, finger cymbals, triangle • Peter Gabriel – surdo, additional percussion, Audioframe, Akai S900, voice • Nathan East – bass • David Rhodes – guitar • Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh – kementché • L. Shankar – double violin • "Troubled" • Bill Cobham – drums, percussion • Hossam Ramzy – finger cymbals • Peter Gabriel – percussion, Fairlight, Emulator, backing vocals • David Sancious – backing vocals • "Open" • Peter Gabriel – Prophet 5, Akai S900, vocals • L. Shankar – double violin, vocals • "Before Night Falls" The Ney flute is playing a traditional Armenian melody. • "With This Love" • Robin Canter – oboe, cor Anglais • L. Shankar – double violin • David Sancious – Akai S900, synthesizer arrangement • Peter Gabriel – Audioframe, Fairlight, piano, Prophet 5, synthesizer arrangement • "Sandstorm" • Location Recording – Moroccan percussion & vocals • Hossam Ramzy – surdo, tabla, tambourine dufs, mazhar • Manu Katché – additional percussion • Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh – kementché • L. Shankar – double violin • Peter Gabriel – Fairlight • "Stigmata" Based on an improvisation by Mahmoud and Peter Gabriel. • "Passion" • Djalma Corrêa – Brazilian percussion • Jon Hassell – trumpet • Peter Gabriel – Prophet 5, Akai S900, Fairlight, voice • Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Qawwali voice • L. Shankar – double violin • Youssou N'Dour – voice • Julian Wilkins – choirboy • "With This Love (Choir)" • Robin Canter – cor anglais • Richard Evans – choir recording • "Wall of Breath" • Kudsi Erguner – Turkish ney flute • L. Shankar – double violin • Musicians Du Nil – arghul • David Rhodes – Ebow guitar • Peter Gabriel – synthesizers • "The Promise of Shadows" • Bill Cobham – drum kit • David Bottrill – lead tambourine • Peter Gabriel – Emulator, Prophet 5, Audioframe, additional percussion • David Rhodes – guitar • "Disturbed" • Hossam Ramzy – surdo, tabla • Mustafa Abdel Aziz – percussion loop • Said Mohammad Aly – percussion loop • Fatala – African percussion • L. Shankar – double violin • Peter Gabriel – Fairlight, Prophet 5 • "It Is Accomplished" • Bill Cobham – drums, tambourine • David Bottrill – tambourine 2, distorted slide • Nathan East – bass • Mustafa Abdel Aziz – arghul drone • David Sancious – Hammond organ • David Rhodes – Steinberger guitar • Peter Gabriel – doholla, additional percussion, Roland D-50, piano, Prophet 5, voice • "Bread and Wine" • Peter Gabriel – contrabass, Prophet 5, voice • David Rhodes – EBow guitar • Richard Evans – tin whistle • L. Shankar – double violin ==Charts==
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