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The Glass trademarks--those machinelike arpeggios; that familiar, if odd, electronic keyboard sound; the influence of non-Western vocal techniques--are all here. Glass has forged his own unmistakable style of epic-sounding minimalism, but it never gets stale. A few unreleased tracks on Philip on Film will serve hardcore Glass fans (who probably already own most of these works), including "Facades" from Godfrey Reggio's Evidence and a track each from Atom Egoyan's Diaspora and Peter Greenaway's The Man in the Bath. --Jason Verlinde

SEVERELY ALTERED "Belle et la Bete"   December 22, 2005

Reviewers are not looking at this correctly   April 3, 2003

I encourage any new Glass listener to purchase this great set: it served as a superb intro to his works for me, as did the Adams and Reich sets.


A re-approach   December 10, 2001
  8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Everyone who thinks of this as purely a repackaged box set doesn't fully understand the nature of this set. In the introduction, Philip Glass mentions that most of the works represented is from a series of concerts where the music is interpreted live while the movie is presented on a screen behind the performers. I personally attented these performances in Austin, TX and was very pleased with the results. The first night consisted of the Shorts, or the 5th disc of this set. The Man in the Bath, Passages, Evidence (Facades with synth), Diaspora, and Anima Mundi where all performed live by The Philip Glass ensemble with the movie itself in the background. The following 4 performances where of Powaqqasti, Le Belle et La Bete, Dracula, and Koyaanisqatsi. Seeing these films with the music has shed a new light on these scores for me, because I had previously heard almost all of them, but to the recording at hand.
This set of discs is something you might pick up at a live concert of your favorite local band, representing what they played that night in studio recording. This set of discs was released to accompany Philip's current world tour of Philip On Film. Although almost all of it has been released previously, this isn't just a way to make a "quick buck". This is a great way to get most of the music played at these performances and, most of all, is a bargin way to get a lot of his best music to date. I also don't personally agree with the "highlights" idea with Belle and Mundi, but to a person wanting post-Einstein Glass, this is a good way to start. Also, I would think that anyone who believes that Glass has written the same music since Einstein needs to listen more and generalize less because there is a wealth of music out there that you may not realize exists.


The Worst of Phil?   October 30, 2001
  3 out of 8 found this review helpful

Anyone who thinks that Powaqqatsi is "the worst of Phil" needs to have his head examined.


More of the same   October 17, 2001
  4 out of 12 found this review helpful

Okay, I give up! The world (or at least the music industry) wants to keep Philip Glass's star in ascendance, with new commissions, and new recordings, or expensive repackagings of previously issued recordings. Glass hasn't had a new idea since 1976, when his "Einstein on the Beach" was the freshest new sound imaginable. Basically, all he's done is re-write that work over and over (and over!) again ever since. While there are cool parts to some of these scores, most of this is the same arpeggiated chords he's been using for the last 25 years! Somebody wake me up when this guy gets a new idea!