CD :: Passion, The soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ
Artist :: Peter Gabriel, et al
Produced :: Peter Gabriel
Released :: 1990
Label :: Geffen Records

Undoubtedly, Passion is the most important CD that i have in my entire collection. It is the most spiritual, profound, beautiful, painful, mesmerizing and uplifting experience i have had the pleasure of being exposed to. I don't mean to give this CD too much credit; certainly the experience it brings to me is most likely not going to be yours, but i do encourage you to find out for yourself.

Passion, aka The Soundtrack to the Last Temptation of Christ is a series of sweeping brushstrokes using the sounds of africa, asia minor, ancient europe and the far east. The talent is brimming over in this soundtrack as well; from Shankar on violin to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with his vocals to other musicians who are probably less known, but no less talented than the peers they worked with to create this experience.

Many of the tracks are too short, in my opinon. I'm sure this is the dilemma of composing for a film where music oftentimes needs to fit nicely and neatly in a set number of scenes. But what ends up happening in Passion is that these pieces are woven in such a manner that the way one track leads to another seems to be a tapestry of sound that makes perfect sense.

With soundtracks, one of the most important things to consider is if the music can stand on its own, or does it rely on the memory or presense of the movie to bring it all together. To that end, i can say with honesty that Passion more than stands on it's own. Passion, in my opinion, is a far greater work than the movie it was made for. I had made this CD a key component of my collection years before i ever saw the movie... by about 8 years, no less.

What Passion has to offer is so much more than music. It is a feast for the soul and mind to those who would receive it's gift.

-swt :: 1 april 2001