ROTTEN TOMATOES: Peter Gabriel Working on WALL-E Soundtrack

Peter Gabriel Working on WALL-E Soundtrack

Singer spills a couple of beans about Pixar's latest.

by Jeff Giles | February 15, 2008

In the past, Pixar has demonstrated an ability to score with kids and parents alike -- but its next release, WALL-E, looks like it might be their ticket in with the elusive "aging prog nerd" demographic.

Cinemablend reports (from the musician's latest videoblog) that former Genesis vocalist and multiplatinum solo artist Peter Gabriel is working on the WALL-E soundtrack. According to Cinemablend's report, Gabriel wasn't entirely specific about the exact nature of his involvement (he "describes his contribution as creating one or two new things, as well as putting some glue on things he's done before"), but he did reveal that he was initially approached about the gig in 2005 -- and shed a little light on the film itself:

We know from the trailers that the movie centers around a small robot who was left behind on Earth to clean up garbage after mankind moved to the stars. The environmentally conscious musician says that Pixar consulted with NASA and, based on descriptions of bone deterioration in space, humans are being made to look like "flat blobs in armchairs."

Gabriel's no stranger to animation -- his groundbreaking videos for '80s hits such as "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" made heavy use of the stuff -- but that isn't going to make it any easier to explain to your kid why there's a guy in a Lamb Lies Down on Broadway t-shirt sitting next to you at the theater, or why WALL-E isn't scampering around to the delightful strains of new music from Randy Newman. But hey, anything is better than Rascal Flatts covering "Life Is a Highway," right? To see Gabriel's videoblog, click on the second link below!

Source: Cinemablend
Source: Peter Gabriel

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(1-20 of 29 posts) | Reply

Gimy writes:
on Feb 15 2008 06:57 AM

i am, NOT AT ALL, sold on this. especially since i thought Pixar's last film was completely overrated, and barely above average. the numerous trailers i've seen about this just makes it look like a poor rip off of an animated Short Circuit. i hope i'm wrong but, it just looks so blah.

(Reply to this)

Crenshaw writes:
on Feb 15 2008 07:16 AM

Gimy, you are wrong on so many levels. Anyway, the addition of Peter Gabriel makes me even more excited about this film.

(Reply to this)

Slipperypick writes:
on Feb 15 2008 08:37 AM

I'm skeptical about Wall-e, but then again I've been skeptical about every Pixar feature film prior to release, and I've been proven incalculably wrong every time. Is it just me or do all the Pixar trailers seem to leave the viewers with the uneasy sense that perhaps "this time, they're gonna fail."
In that sense, I'm not excited about Wall-e.
However, this news about Peter Gabriel doing the soundtrack has got me as intrigued as I've ever been about Pixar's stuff... And have I mentioned that I think Pixar is making just about the finest films these days?
Peter Gabriel... I'm looking forward to this.

(Reply to this)

ManofStee1 writes:
on Feb 15 2008 09:13 AM

Sounds like the most bizzare Pixar film yet... maybe they'll play Shock the Monkey over the closing credits.

(Reply to this)

minderbinder writes:
on Feb 15 2008 10:22 AM

Is he doing the full soundtrack, or just a couple things with someone else doing the score?

(Reply to this)

Xavier Telouran writes:
on Feb 15 2008 10:24 AM

I'm not exactly tempted to hold up a Wall*E outside my girlfriend's house right now... but still, it's an interesting combination.

(Reply to this)

Reel Nerds writes:
on Feb 15 2008 10:28 AM

I bet it will be more "Nursery Cryme" than "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway."

(Reply to this)

bethehero7404 writes:
on Feb 15 2008 11:24 AM

Big fan of Pixar AND Peter Gabriel. I think the reaction to Wall-E is the fact that the film is going to be 80% pantomime. Not a lot of dialogue and there is going to be an actual human in the movie. So the direction theyre are taking is throwing people for a loop because it isn't the regular Pixar film. They have to change it up because if they keep releasing the same thing, it will get repetitive even though there have been some failures (ex: Bug's Life made a lot but was least favorite amongst a lot of people) and HUGE successes (FAVORITE of minue is THE INCREDIBLES).

Love it...It is better than Randy Newman AGAIN.

(Reply to this)

RottenRob writes:
on Feb 15 2008 11:31 AM

Mr. Gabriel is notorious for taking about 10 years to do about a year's worth of work, so I hope Pixar's got people lurking around his studio with hot pokers at the ready. (I say this with great affection as a big old fan of his.)

Should be great!

(Reply to this)

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Feb 15 2008 01:24 PM

In response to a certain post above: Pixar excels at everything they do...except making trailers. Their trailers are always very vague, none too interesting, and not that good overall. Like most people, I'll just see any new movie that Pixar puts out, and they're lucky that they have that name recognition, because not a lot of people would see Pixar movies based solely on their trailers.

(Reply to this)

SPfan79 writes:
on Feb 15 2008 01:54 PM

Slipperypick,
I've felt the same way ever since Toy Story 2. The Pixar trailers just don't do it for me, I get that same sense you described about the next film failing whenever I see them. But of course, I'm always wrong on that one. Pixar's never failed to entertain and impress me.

(Reply to this)

harrismonkey writes:
on Feb 15 2008 02:47 PM

I watched the video blog a month ago (I'm a huge Gabriel fan). He's not terribly specific on what he's doing- but there was nothing that made me think this would be anything other than a new song. (and this was straight from the man's mouth)

Unless there's something else kicking around in the way of press on this, I think we're probably jumping the gun to assuming he's doing much here besides a song.

(Reply to this)

Lyman Ward writes:
on Feb 15 2008 03:48 PM

I'm pretty sure Thomas Newman did an orginal score for WALL-E so at least they've got one talented Newman on the project.

(Reply to this)

rt_hire_me writes:
on Feb 15 2008 04:12 PM

This is for the scene where wall-e seranades a fat blob by holding up a cassette player in the rain.

The album So is an all-time great, there is no greater. But since then: ? . You might as well have Sting, Elton John, Phil Collins, or Paul Simon making the song/soundtrack. These guys just aren't hungry anymore. The music is going to be safe, mildly catchy, and lame. Or some kind of transcendental world music, which is fine if you like that kind of thing.

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Basilides in Alexandria writes:
on Feb 15 2008 06:24 PM

Let me just add that Peter Gabriel has composed, in my opinion, three of the best and most original film scores ever: Alan Parker's "Birdy", Phillip Noyce's "Rabbit Proof Fence", and Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation Of Christ" (which is one of the most imitated scores ever)...

I hope he'll do the whole score to Wall-E because Gabriel is a crazy musical genius!

(Reply to this)

Pilgermann writes:
on Feb 15 2008 06:37 PM

Oh son of a *****, now I know for sure that this movie will make me cry like a baby.

(Reply to this)

sliknik27 writes:
on Feb 15 2008 07:48 PM

I'm very excited for this film and I think Gabriel will serve it well.

(Reply to this)

vaodsi writes:
on Feb 15 2008 10:16 PM

This is awesome. SWEET SWEEET SWEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!
my ticket is sold! plus, it's different. congrats to pixar for being BRAVE(new world?)
i luv pixar. and even if the public finds this too wierd and are dissapointed, it will become a classic anyway like Fantasia)

(Reply to this)

harrismonkey writes:
on Feb 15 2008 10:21 PM

In reply to this comment (#1577570)
I happen to think Sting used to be great (but not for a while).

But that aside, Gabriel's only done two studio albums (not including soundtracks) since So. Sure US bears some resemblance to (good) Sting- but have you heard UP?!?!

There's NOTHING SAFE about that record. The opening track alternates between beatiful piano and bone crunching noise heavier than much of NIN's catalogue. He went back to experiemnting with the dissonant works of his early records without forgetting the lessons learned on his biggest hit records.

As of the last effort (who knows what to expect next), he was still pushing himself creatively as hard as he ever did. It's just that most of his best work has never been very radio friendly, so if you aren't looking you're not going to know what he's doing.

If you want to see why Gabriel's still great since SO try these songs- Darkness, Signal to Noise, I Grieve, In the Sun (if you can find it), Come talk to me.

The man is a musical genius, and I don't use that term lightly. There are plenty of artists with a couple great records, but very few have a carreer length discography like he does. Rant over.

(Reply to this)

N720MF writes:
on Feb 15 2008 11:19 PM

For Ratatouille, It wasn't groundbreaking (besides the always improving CGI and animation), but BY GOD, everything in it was top notch. It had a lot of heart, and you can tell how much effort the creators put into making it pitch perfect.

WALL-E looks something a bit more innovative; when was the last time you saw a movie with little to no talking for a good part of it? Pixar's record is damn close to immaculate.

(Reply to this)

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