Peter Gabriel – Passion 2xLP

Passion (re-released as Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ) is an album released in 1989 by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel. It was the first Peter Gabriel album to be released on Real World Records, Gabriel’s second soundtrack, and his eighth album overall.

Passion was originally composed as the soundtrack album for Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), but Gabriel spent several months after the film’s release further developing the music, finally releasing it as a full-fledged album instead of a movie soundtrack. The album was released in June 1989 (almost a year after the theatrical release of The Last Temptation of Christ in August 1988) as a vinyl double album and a 1-disc CD.

Later in the year, a companion album was released, Passion – Sources, featuring additional songs on which Gabriel does not perform. Gabriel described this album as “a selection of some of the traditional music, sources of inspiration, and location recordings.” Although no singles were released from the album, an animated promotional video for “Zaar” was released in 1988, directed by Stefan Roloff, using footage from his earlier short film Lunch.

Passion is seen as a landmark in the popularisation of world music, and won a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1990. It was remastered with most of Gabriel’s catalogue in 2002.