Breathtaking.

Undoubtably one of the best soundtrack ever recorded, Peter Gabriel's "Passion" is a brilliant work. For those who know Gabriel only from his vocal work, this should be a revelation-- the building tension of "The Feeling Begins" opens the album and signals this is something unique-- Middle Eastern horn soloing over drones until tribal percussion with a decidingly modern feel arrives and eventually takes over the piece. This really sets the stage for the rest of the album.



The music on here is largely difficult to describe-- unique, quite a bit is drawn from Middle Eastern, Indian, and African music, but it has a decidingly modern edge, filled with synthesizers, western drum sounds and guitars.



Discussing individual pieces is difficult-- the album works best as a whole and as a statement. There are brilliant moments, I think immediately of the stunning, passionate vocals of "A Different Drum", the building, haunting tension fading into repetitive rhythmic figures of "Zaar", the incredible beauty of the horn and bass over swelling ambient haze of "With This Love", Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's immense, pained, wails on "Passion"... the list of great moments goes on.



If you're a fan of interesting and unique music, you should probably own this record. Essential.

Mesmerizing...feel it overcome you...

The first time I heard this soundtrack was in 1990 when I was only a teenager.
I remember the exact time and place as it had a profound impact on me. I remember the darkness of the house and the eerieness The Passion impacted on it.
To this day, I listen to this album with the same emotions, feeling as if Peter Gabriel's work, of unexplainable nature, was meant to bring us to a higher level.
This is intensity at its optimal.
Best listened to in moments of emotional and spiritual need, with the lights turned down and the mind wide open.

This is Ur-Music!

One of my favorite albums of all time. It works on a level that is "sub-lingual:" by which I mean that it is more primal than language itself. It's simultaneously ancient and modern, middle-eastern and Western. It brings up deep emotions without getting caught up in thoughts. It's direct, deep, and completely unpretentious (nothing like this lame attempt to describe it). It's like no other album I know.