Peter Speed

Although accorded a substantial article in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, the German-born composer John Frederick Lampe (1702/3-51) remains largely unknown except to connoisseurs of 18th-century English music. Yet on the evidence of this disc, such neglect is hardly deserved, since Lampe possesses a rare gift for writing genuinely comic opera. The basis for his Pyramus and Thisbe of 1745 (subtitled ‘a mock opera’) is the famous play-within-a-play sequence from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Two of Peter & Gordon's early albums, Woman and Lady Godiva, were combined on this single-CD reissue by Collectables.
Woman (1966). There's but one original on this album, and maybe it's no coincidence that this effort, "Wrong From the Start," is the best song on the LP other than "Woman." "Wrong From the Start" is nothing great, but at least it's straight-ahead period rock with organ. Most of the album, in contrast, nearly drowns in fatuous orchestral production. The selection of cover material isn't much better, sometimes giving the impression the pair was trying for the all-around entertainment market, including as it did songs like "Somewhere" (from West Side Story)…

Passion is Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ. Like much of Gabriel’s solo work, the album is a product of his continuing fascination with world music, which he employs here to create an exceptionally beautiful and atmospheric tapestry of sound perfectly evocative of the film’s resonant spiritual drama.