Rated PG

Rated PG is a clever title for a compilation of songs Peter Gabriel gave to films over the course of his career. Gabriel has been intimately involved with the world of cinema since the start of his career -- during the waning days of Genesis, he collaborated with Exorcist director William Friedkin on a film that never left the development stage -- and provided scores for Birdy, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Rabbit-Proof Fence, but Rated PG focuses on the stray songs he contributed to movies between the years of 1984 and 2017. As this is a comp designed with Record Store Day in mind, it consists of ten songs running at a tight 50 minutes. This means there are several songs left stranded on soundtracks -- most egregiously, this doesnt have Out Out, his paranoid gift to Joe Dantes 1984 monster movie Gremlins -- but whats here emphasizes Gabriels moodiness, his bent for collaboration, and his passion for non-Western music. There are exceptions to the rule, usually arriving through his contributions to blockbusters -- there is the buoyant Down to Earth from WALL-E and Thatll Do, a Randy Newman composition written for Babe: Pig in the City also featuring Paddy Maloney on vocals -- but most of Rated PG simmers at a low-key atmospheric setting before In Your Eyes, the 1986 single that was made into a romantic standard via its inclusion in Cameron Crowes 1989 comedy drama Say Anything, brings it to a rousing conclusion. In Your Eyes isnt quite tonally of piece with the rest of Rated PG but as its one of Gabriels most famous songs, it belongs here and helps put into perspective how so much of Gabriels film work leans toward the artier side of the spectrum. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine