Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 12238

Producer	David Rhodes; Stephen Hague; Richard Evans
Engineer	Andrew Skeoch; Michael Brook; Richard Chappell; Steve Orchard; Richard Evans

Original score composed by Peter Gabriel.
Personnel includes: Peter Gabriel (vocals, piano, keyboards, surdo);
Janganpa Group, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Myarn Lawford (vocals); David Rhodes (guitar, didgeridoo, keyboards, surdo, percussion, background vocals); Richard Evans (12-string guitar, hammered dulcimer, whistle, bass, shaker, percussion); Shankar (violin); Electra Strings, London Session Orchestra (strings); David Sancious (Hammond B-3 organ); Ged Lynch (drums, percussion); Manu Katche (drums); The Dhol Foundation (dhol); Alex Swift (programming).
Producers: Peter Gabriel, Richard Evans, David Rhodes, Stephen Hague.
Principally recorded at Real World, Air Studios, England; Hype Studio, Singapore.
Personnel: Peter Gabriel (vocals, piano, keyboards, surdo, drum programming); David Rhodes (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, berimbau, didjeridu, keyboard bass, shaker, surdo, percussion, gong, background vocals); Benet Houariyat, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Blind Boys of Alabama (vocals); Richard Evans (whistling, acoustic guitar, electric 12-string guitar, hammer dulcimer, piano, keyboards, shaker, crotales); Peter Green (electric guitar); Julian Leaper, Chris Tombling, Mark Berrow, Jacqueline Norrie, Antonia Fuchs, Peter G. Hanson, Fenella Barton, Duchess Nell Catchpole, Sally Herbert, Patrick Kiernan, Boguslaw Kostecki, Cathy Thompson, Gavyn Wright, Jackie Shave (violin); Donald McVay, Claire Orsler, Robert Smissen, Roger Chase, Jocelyn Pook, Peter Lale (viola); Ben Chappell, David Daniels , Martin Loveday, Anthony Pleeth, Dinah Beamish (cello); Electra Strings, The London Session Orchestra (strings); Chuck Norman (keyboards, programming); Chris Laurence, Mary Scully (double bass); Ged Lynch (drums, tom tom, percussion); Stephen Hague (drums, programming); Johnny Kalsi (drums, sound effects); Dhol Foundation, Manu Katch (drums); Assane Thaim (talking drum); James McNally (bodhran); Hossam Ramzy (finger cymbals); Babacar Faye (djembe); Richard Chappell (tambourine, drum programming); Dominique Mahut, Adzido Pan African Dance Ensemble (percussion); Alex Swift (programming).
Audio Mixers: David Rhodes; Stephen Hague; Richard Evans .
Recording information: Air Studios, London, England; Hype Studios, Singapore; Lavanderia, Unites States; real World Studios, England.
Photographers: Penny Tweedle; Melvin Bishop.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Clarence Fountain; David Rhodes; Fred Rice; Jimmy Carter .
Arrangers: David Rhodes; Richard Evans .
Nearly a full decade after the release of Us, Peter Gabriel finally returned with new music in the summer of 2002 -- but it wasn't a new studio album, it was the soundtrack to Phillip Noyce's return to independent Australian cinema, Rabbit-Proof Fence. The film tells the true story of three Aboriginal girls who make a return to their home after being abducted by the government to serve as domestic help to a white family in 1931; as they make their journey through the Outback to their home, they follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was constructed to separate Aborigines from white settlers. This, understandably, is a moody, emotional piece, and Gabriel was an ideal choice for the soundtrack, since he proved with his score for Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ that he could stay faithful to the indigenous music of the region while synthesizing it with his own synth-based art-rock, providing a haunting, emotionally resonant soundtrack to the film. He does a similar thing here, using Aboriginal music as a foundation for much of his music, yet winding up with a score that's ultimately closer to Birdy than Passion. That's largely due to its long stretches of moody, spare keyboards, which dominate much of the album. The keyboards are the dominant sound here, not the rhythms, but it all blends together for a very evocative, dark yet hopeful set of music. It's not a splashy comeback, then, but a quiet return to something Gabriel does best -- creating soundscapes that are at once alien and familiar, eerie yet comforting. That he hasn't done this in a while does not diminish the fact that he's created a strong instrumental piece that stands on its own, outside of the film, holding its own with Birdy and Passion. And it only whets the appetite for a full-scale comeback. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Entertainment Weekly (6/21/02, p.84) - "...Gabriel applies studio magic to birdsongs, chants, and didgeridoo to create haunting soundscapes...WALK won't get you dancing, but it just might make you cry..." - Rating: A-
New Age Retailer (1-2/03, p.158) - "...A film score of high drama, searing tension, and astonishing beauty....LONG WALK HOME offers the music of Peter Gabriel at its most electrifying..."