BLADE RUNNER (OST)

I have not seen the movie Blade Runner, but I got a recommendation from a friend and decided I'd this soundtrack a try--and I was extremely impressed! This is some of the best stuff you'll ever hear the synthesizers of the 1980s do, and I mean that. In spite of how long it took to release this album, it is a product of the 1980s--but not the corny 80s. I'm not quite a synth expert, but I think I'm hearing (among other things) the Yamaha DX-7 synth, absolutely a staple of the 80s. "Dark and mysterious" is what they did best in those days with the technology available, and that definitely fits the Blade Runner soundtrack. What's more, VANGELIS does remember to have a few analogue instruments to give it a bit more of a connection to reality (unlike Alexander where he tried to replicate an orchestra with nothing at all but synths and came off poorly). I also have to give him credit for his expressiveness in playing the synths. He has a talent almost rivaling PINK FLOYD's RICHARD WRIGHT, in terms of getting emotion out of them--and for me that is saying a lot.

Normally I would consider movie dialogue to be an intrusion upon a soundtrack album, but oddly enough, it works quite well, the way it's been mixed in here, especially on "Blush Response". This is wonderfully atmospheric stuff. Particular favorites include the amazing and expressive "Blade Runner Blues"--which is eerily like PINK FLOYD's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" just a half step down in pitch, and a synth that seems almost to "talk"; it's almost up to that quality. VANGELIS, like RICHARD WRIGHT or DREAM THEATER's KEVIN MOORE, knows how many notes to play--and how many notes not to play. The "End Titles" are also enjoyable, but most of all, the powerful combination of "Tales of the Future" with its strange, foreign vocals by DEMIS ROUSSOS and its instrumental follow-up "Damask Rose".

The only thing that breaks up the mood of this album and detracts from its rating is the completely out-of-place "One More Kiss, Dear", which sounds like it came right out of the 1930s or '40s. Perhaps it isn't a bad song, and perhaps it had a place in the movie, but I don't really think it needs to be here...or if it absolutely had to be included, it should have been at the end so as not to break up what I consider the main body of the album. This is what loses Blade Runner a star. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this album, especially to movie-score and synth buffs. It is also something to consider instead of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, if you were put off by the lack of emotion in his work.

4 1/2 stars

Close to a Masterpiece, but not very essential in a progressive rock collection. This is not progressive rock at all ... this is instead a very good soundtrack music in a new-age style. All the songs flow together nicely (Except for the out of place 'one more kiss', and are drenched by synthesizers. Vangelis proves to be a master with his synths here. IF you like synth-driven new-age music, this may be one of your favourite albums of all time. Something else to note : the production is outstanding!!

The Main Titles is a gorgeous and atmospheric new-age instrumental full of synths. Blush Response is a highly repetitive (not a bad thing) electronic track similar in structure to the end titles. 'Wait for me' is a brilliant new age composition. Rachel's Song is a beautiful instrumental composition with excellent melodies. Love Theme follows and is a very sexy track with a saxophone player giving the mood. When the saxophone player stops, a keyboard driven instrumental section commences and gets very intense. It unfortunately gives explicit imagery to me. One More Kiss Dear is unfortunately the black sheep of the album. Not only it is out of place, but also is mediocre in quality. It sounds like an average 40s style song (the album has to sound futuristic!!) Blade Runner Blues seems influenced by Pink Floyd (Especially Shine on you Crazy Diamond) with the synth playing like Dave Gilmour. Memories of Green is a mellow song with delicate piano playing. Tales of the Future is a bizarre track with strange singing. Damask Rose is an atmospheric mellow track. Blade Runner (end titles) is the big highlight of the album for me. Not only because its beaty is infinite, but also because I heard it every day on an argentinian soccer show. Tears in Rain ends the album in a similar style of the opener.

Highly Recommended!!

1. Main Titles (9/10) 2. Blush Response (8/10) 3. Wait for Me (8/10) 4. Rachel's Song (9/10) 5. Love Theme (9.5/10) 6. One More Kiss, Dear (4/10) 7. Blade Runner Blues (7.5/10) 8. Memories of Green (9/10) 9. Tales of the Future (7/10) 10. Damask Rose (7/10) 11. Blade Runner (End Titles) (10/10) 12. Tears in Rain (8.5/10)

My Grade : A-

Another suucessful soundtrack album from Vangelis. Although this film went on to make cult status both in Europe and the USA but I think musically it was not as strong as Conquest of Paradise. Certainly the songs are more recognisable and more easily indentifiable than some of Vangelis's earlier works. I keep wondering at times what all the fuss was about becuase although the music is good it is not brilliant. I somehow think this is one of Vangelis's works that will not stand the test of time.

The music of Vangelis is akin to Blade Runner as John Williams' music is to Star Wars. It is impossible to view Blade Runner without taking notice of those soaring synth soaked washes that permeate the soundtrack. The spinner flys towards the tower as Vangelis music streams out of the speakers. We can visualise the replicants wandering through the acid soaked streets, or the sudden breathtaking violence they perpetrate when they are discovered. It is an incredible compliment to Ridley Scott's vision.

Every track is off kilter and laden with weird effects that send you to a place of the not too distant future. The moment the tracks begin you are transported into the movie. The Japanese influences are abundant and many times one can imagine the over-populated metropolis where Deckard embarks on his mission to air out as many replicants as he can before thier incept date expires. Gary Numan was extremely influenced by this music, often sampling pieces of it on his albums and writing lyrics based on the themes and it is easy to see why (eg: Call Out the Dogs (samples the Japanese influences), Time To Die, My Breathing (samples the titles).

Vangelis' music resonated the theme of alienation and the cold sterile environment of a future dystopia. Rachel's Song encapsulates the female android's struggle with humanity, whereas Tales of the Future captures the essence of abandonment and confusion where nothing is as it seems. The End Titles are wonderful and I stayed for the entire thing when the film played at the local cinema.

Vangelis music can often alienate and can be tiresome at times in my experience, but this is one of his best releases and most popular as a result. I recommend this although it is lacking the progginess of other Vangelis releases.

The question is, is there a big possibility that soundtracks are bought by people who haven't seen the movie, or even don't know about it at all ? I don't think so at all. Then we have to assume that majority of these people will buy soundtrack BECAUSE they love/like/ consider the film (a good one). So we can continue to connected topic - music and film are in soundtrack work together. Be sure I wouldn't enjoy Diablo II. soundtrack (can recommend very much) a lot, if I'll never be to play the game. But I did, for hundreds of hours.

And I saw Blade Runner few times, from various reasons (be it that I'm sci-fi fan, like dystopic future and everything by Philip K. Dick [except Valis, because Valis is just weird. I mean too weird, even more crazy than A Scanner Darkly], so we have a triple here - book>film>music. And all three are influencing each other. Or we should take them separately ? I don't think so. And for sure I don't want to), for example these that I stated in brackets. So big deal here is so called atmosphere. Music perfectly fits and accompanies images. Of course, this is review of MUSIC, but can we deny this influencing of each other (type of media) ? I gave 3-something stars to Flash Gordon. And I intend to give this album more. Personally, I like it far more than his other ones, because of these sounds made it to big silver screen, they are real and so they have depth. Bigger depth.

4(-) for exceptional electronic atmosphere album. Maybe more like 3-stars, but you know.

Twelve years after the movie, this soundtrack finally saw the light!

To be honest, I saw the movie at the time, but I couldn't really remember anything about its music. I came to the conclusion that this was a sign that there is nothing as love at the first sight here. And I was proven to be right.

This album is a long sequence of new age music; enjoyable, pleasant, very soft but somewhat too much of the same. There is some good sax during "Love Theme" which is one of my favorite track featured on this "Blade Runner" album.

Some weird moments are also available like "Tales of the Future" which is mixing Oriental atmosphere, passable vocalizing and hectic instrumental passages. The following "Damask Rose" is a kind of extension of the same kind.

The best known song is the main theme: "Blade Runner" which belongs to the best of Vangelis. It is fully in line with the grandeur of some great songs from the Greek master and revives the bombastic tradition with skills. It is the best song from this album.

All in all, there aren't many great parts featured on this soundtrack. It is just a combo of tranquil pieces of music. Three stars (but five out of ten is more in line with my view).

I might come off sounding mean, but I never really cared much for this soundtrack. Blade Runner is a great movie that fascinated my teenage mind back in the late '90s. That period was incidentally also when the movie had its popularity peak, especially after the fans of the original cut began to bash the director's cut, which came out on DVD just around 1997-98. You know what they say --- all publicity is good publicity!

Blade Runner has lost a lot of its charm over the years and and I honestly didn't have much enthusiasm for the 2007 release of Blade Runner: Final Cut. Still, it's undeniably a cult classic that has received wide appeal which, I guess, no longer makes it a cult classic.

No that I've got my, whatever that was, out of the way; let's talk about Vangelis and his contribution to the Ridley Scott movie. The first Vangelis version of the soundtrack was delayed for more than a decade and due to that manages too lose some of its charm on me. You see, I'm not a fan of voice-over sounds and other effects on albums and even though this one keeps things pleasant and instrumental, for most part, I still lack the consistency of say --- a John Williams soundtrack! Many of these tracks don't actually work as a part of this collection. I'm talking especially about compositions like Tales Of The Future and even Blade Runner (End Titles), which comes out of nowhere and breaks the fluent New Age music that this album is otherwise built upon.

Overall, the soundtrack to Blade Runner is by no means a bad release, but it does sound a bit overdone. The 2007 re-release, titled Blade Runner Trilogy, is even worse in that respect and if you ask me then one CD is all you'll ever need.

***** star songs: Blade Runner (End Titles) (4:39)

**** star songs: Main Titles (3:42) Blush Response (5:47) Rachel's Song (4:47) Love Theme (4:56) Blade Runner Blues (8:54) Memories Of Green (5:05) Tales Of The Future (4:47) Damask Rose (2:33) Tears In Rain (3:01)

*** star songs: Wait For Me (5:28) One More Kiss, Dear (4:00)

Before this official release, just 1 year after the movie, some "New American Orchestra" recorded parts from the original soundtrack in an orchestral version. The result was absolutely not bad also taking into account that the OST has been released so late.

For me it's strange now listening to the original which includes also more songs I'm less familiar with.

This is the first of the two movie soundtracks (the other is 1492) realized by Vangelis for Ridley Scott and both are excellent (not the movies as Blade Runner is light years better than 1492). "Main Titles" wan an excellent opener for the movie. I can't really separate the sensations given by the movie's dark post-modern environment and the music. The pyramid of the Tyrell Corporation emerges from the big metropolis behind and is the only building partially touched by the sunset. The music is spacey. The recordings (noises and voices) fit very well.

"Blush Response" is one of the songs not present in the NAO version. It's a dialogue backed by a dark low-pitched keyboard. When it ends the music is full of tension. The electronic drums sound is very 80s, but this track can be compared to some of today's Senmuth's stuff.

Another track not in the mentioned NAO album is "Wait For Me". ven if I have seen the movie a lot of times, it was dubbed in my home language, so I can't say which is the part commented by this slow dark track. From a musical point of view it has some contact points in the tempo and in the sounds used with "The City", in particular the first two album's tracks only a bit darker.

"Rachel's Song" had to be dramatic. She's the female character, one who doesn't know to be a replicant and discovers that everything she remembers of her life is fictitious. Initially hard, she becomes fragile. The mute singing of Kate Hopkins over a very sad but sweet melody describes the character very well. And it's a great track in the mood of L'Apocalypse Des Animaux even without the movie.

"Love Theme" is almost identical in both this version and in the NOA. Here the sax is played by Dick Morrisey, but what he plays is the same that his less known colleague plays on the other version so he doesn't make the difference. This version is just a bit longer. Same for "One More Kiss, Dear". A 40s fashioned song. I suspect the singer, Don Percival, is the same on both the albums. It gives a touch of grotesque to the ultra-technological ambientation. Outside the movie there would have been no need for a song like this.

"Blade Runner Blues" is my favourite track on both the albums. I have to say that the flugelhorn of the other version gives more (dark) colour to the piece, but this is the movie version. One of the most dramatic and action moments of the movie is just finished. A bleeding Harrison Ford and Sean Young stand under the rain after the "battle". The music is slow and evocative. The melody is bluesy. Without the movie it could make me think to a smokey jazz club.

"Memories of Green" was the only decent track on the very poor "See You Later". It has been reused. I don't listen to See You Later since years, so I can't currently say if it has been played or just copied. I think the first as I have the impression of a longer coda. The NOA version was good as well but without the recordings at the end.

"Tales Of the Future" underlines a transition in the movie. I didn't recognize Demis Roussos initially. He sings with his very high-pitched voice but the language is alien. A great evocative track on which the voice is the leading instrument.

"Damask Rose" has an ethnic (middle-eastern) flavour. In the multi-ethnic and chaotic city imagined by Ridley Scott (and by philip Dick, of course) it's very appropriate. Short and athmospheric.

"End Titles" is probably the most famous track of this OST. Something that even who doesn't know anything of Vangelis has surely listened at least one time from TV or radio.

While this was the last track on the NOA version, on this OST there's an amazing appendix. "Tears in Rain" contains the whole monologue of Batty (Rutger Hauer). The most touching moment of the movie when the "bad guy" is dying and tells his considerations about death to the "good guy". It seems that Hauer improvised it. This is directly extracted from the movie. The music behind Batty was also present in the NOA version without batty and with the title "Farewell".

A great soundtrack for a great movie with Vangelis at his best. One of the few good things produced in the 80s and maybe for this reason released only in the 90s.

Vangelis' most enduring soundtrack work might also be his absolute best album. With evocative quotes lifted from the movie adding texture here and there, the soundtrack is the perfect evocation of the movie's brilliant mingling of the futuristic melding of cultures with the loneliness, isolation, and nostalgia of characters to whom memory is everything - and yet whose memories may be fabricated. Even the phony trad-jazz ballad One More Kiss Dear, whilst at first seeming out of place with the rest of the album, manages to capture the androids' dilemma perfectly; what appears to be a genuine memento from yesteryear is, like their memories from before their "incep" dates, an ingenious and artificial fabrication.

For the rest of the tracks, the dizzy blend of sparse classical piano and cutting edge synthesisers suggests that Eno had been playing close attention to Brian Eno's ambient experiments of the years leading up to this, and it is obvious that he has learned much from it. A classic of electronic music which proves without a shadow of a doubt that synthesisers can be as emotive, passionate, and heartfelt as any other instrument.

'Blade Runner (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)' - Vangelis (9/10)

There are few films that have left such an impression on me like Blade Runner. One part neo-noir science-fiction adventure, one part deeply felt existential drama; Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece did what any good science fiction film should do: it used an unfamiliar setting to make a relevant commentary on the experience of being a human being. The flashy visuals and moody atmosphere aside, Blade Runner remained a meditation on love, death and uncertainty. It would be unfair to say Vangelis' score for the film didn't have something to do with making the film such a memorable experience. To the point where I cannot dissociate Scott's vision of a perpetually rainy metropolis without thinking of the soundtrack, Vangelis' fusion of space-age synthesizers with world and new age music is an essential part of the film. Though many scores tend to fare poorly when robbed of their cinematic context, the 1994 release of Vangelis' score proves that the best soundtracks can still function beautifully on their own.

Blade Runner (the film) might be best described as a fusion of the science fiction and film noir genres. If anything, it's the noir aspect that influences the film's mood most overall. Though it may not be set in the 1940's, all of the central aspects are there: a gruff anti-hero, a femme fatale, and enough rain to drown a fish. Aware of the film's conscious fusion of cinematic styles, Vangelis' musical direction on this soundtrack tends to make more sense. Though there is a predominant focus on synthesizers and spacey ambiance, there are timbres here that more closely resemble a tenor saxophone than anything out of the electronic handbook. I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'jazz', but there is indeed a bluesy, jazzy tinge to some of the movements here, particularly the "Main Titles" and the aptly titled "Blade Runner Blues". To further engage the 'film noir' atmosphere, there's also a real saxophone here, performed by Dick Morrisey. "Wait for Me" finds a perfect fusion of these two aesthetics. It would be an interesting enough mashup of styles to hear on this album alone, but I think it needs the context of the film to really make sense.

Favourites on the album include the heartachingly lonesome-sounding "Memories of Green", and the urgent climax and title track. There are a few tracks here that include pieces of dialogue from the film, and while I would have often found that to be distracting from the music itself, the pieces of dialogue chosen are some of the most thought provoking in the film. Beyond any doubt, I think it was a great decision to have included Rutger Hauer's "Tears in Rain" speech for the track of the same name. Music aside, it's one of the most emotionally devastating and poignant monologues ever recorded on film, and it has a conveys a similar degree of feeling on the album. Some people have expressed doubts whether the brief piece of old-timey vocal jazz "One More Kiss, Dear" really works for the album, and though it certainly stands out stylistically from the rest of the music here, it's a pleasant departure from the soundtrack's signature style.

Ultimately, the only way to experience the music as it was intended to be, is to witness it along with the rest of the film. Blade Runner is one of the greatest films ever made, and even if you're not usually a science-fiction fan, you would be doing yourself no disservice to check it out if you haven't already. For fellow fans of the film, the soundtrack deserves to be experienced on its own. It still tells the story of Blade Runner, but it does so much more abstractly. On its own, the soundtrack becomes distanced from the science fiction visuals, but the same heartfelt emotions remain. It's arguably Vangelis' best work, and it's one of my favourite film soundtracks ever.

Vangelis - Blade Runner (1994)

Among my ten favorite movies, Bladerunner is certainly enriched by the atmospheric and dark melancholic sountrack made by Vangelis. The movie has its great slow phases in which the music really sets the mood.

The electronics sounds are brilliant and the jazzy compositions are really well composed. The addition of vocals and even saxophone on some tracks add to soundpallet. Though no single moment could be called hugely exciting, the overall experience is adventerious and interesting throughout. I love to listen to this record while traveling in urban traffic, trains and stations - it transforms the world around you into that beautiful bleak film-noir world of the movie.

The opening track is perhaps the most bombastic and progressive track. 'Love Theme' stands out as comforting, whilst in the middle the dark section really sets the contrast - such a relief when the main theme with the sax begin again! Blade Runner (End Titles) is a nice dark electronic track in a higher pace. In my version of the soundtrack some conversations from the movie are inserted. Only on the last track 'Tears in the Rain' this really impresses me.

Conclusion. Great soundtrack album, recommend tot listeners of progressive electronic (which I'm not) and progressive symphonic music in general.

This is my 1000th review; I wished to spot an album personally dear to me (and, as always, preferably without a huge amount of preceding reviews) which I haven't yet reviewed in all these years. This soundtrack album is exactly such case. Vangelis has been one of my favourite artists since the early 90's. Speaking of film music in general, it's not a field I would actively listen to -- other than as the integral part of the movie experience itself, of course. My two favourite film composers are Vangelis and Ennio Morricone; their music have the ability to move me emotionally also without the film context. What makes this very album even more special to me is the fact that I love it much more than the Ridley Scott movie from 1982, no matter how legendary classic of the SciFi genre it is. Besides, the music heard in the movie is notably inferior compared to the album, which was finished over a decade later.

The music is seducingly sensual, indeed electronic music at its most elegant. The production is head and shoulders above the average of the time, and it still feels fresh, not outdated. Well, perhaps the saxophone in 'Love Theme' is a bit cheesy. The music on the album paints very vividly the dystopian world somewhere in the future, not to mention the emotional content of the film, especially what happens between Deckard, the hunter of "replicants", human-like androids, and Rachael, the woman who painfully learns to be an artefact with planted memories instead of human being. Vangelis has edited some of the film dialogue into the music. This feature is simply fantastic in the case of Blade Runner. I got shivers down my spine hearing Rachael's frail words to Deckard, or the famous dying monologue from Roy Batty, the leader of dangerous replicants, in 'Tears in Rain'. Apart from those film dialogues/monologues, the album features the voices of Mary Hopkin (the one who had a hit in 'Those Were the Days') and Demis Roussos, Vangelis' bandmate from Aphrodite's Child.

The tracks flow seamlessly in a beautiful manner. This is music to float in, to listen to in a certain mood, not as a meaningless background music. Hats off also to Philip K. Dick (1928 - 1982) whose original novel to which Blade Runner is based on is titled "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (1968). It would be far-fetched to say this was a masterpiece of progressive rock, as it isn't progressive rock, but in my opinion it is a masterpiece of electronic music and film music. Five stars.

Even though the movie 'Blade Runner' was released in 1982, the official score for the movie by Vangelis was not released until 1994. There was an orchestral version released much earlier, but it wasn't the actual score, and, even though the music by Vangelis was loved by the critics and the fans, it wasn't available, except for a few tracks on collection albums, until much later.

The music, as far as electronic music is concerned, is considered very influential. Some of the music is taken from the score, but not all of it. Some of it is also inspired by the film but not used in the film itself. Either way, it does flow quite smoothly and is hard to tell which music was on the score and which was left off.

There is some film dialogue on this soundtrack, but it is only on tracks 1, 2 and 12. It isn't overbearing, except maybe on the 2nd track, and is mostly done tastefully so as to almost seem like an electronic field recording. It doesn't seem to be dubbed in like it does on other soundtracks.

The music also flows from one track to the other, except for tracks 5, 6, and 7, which has silence after each track. This works well for continuity.

As far as listen-ability, the 'Main Titles' track is good, but it isn't the full track, which is only available on bootlegs as far as I know. 'Blush Response' has too much dialog and takes a while to get moving because of that, but the 2nd half is better. However, the music really gets better on 'Wait for Me' which features a nice, soft jazz feel and includes sax from Dick Morrissey, who is a well-known British jazz artist. The sound is not new age, as would be the fear of most, but is much better.

'Rachel's Song' features wordless vocals surrounded by peaceful effects, some choir effects, and a rather ambient tone. Other than the vocals, which I find a bit distracting, this is a nice track. 'Love Theme' is a lush and romantic feeling track, which seems to be aimed a little more towards a radio-friendly sound. This one was previously available on the 'Themes' collection.

'One More Kiss Dear' features processed vocals made to sound like an old lounge-jazz recording. Vocals are by Demis Roussos who was Vangelis' bandmate from 'Aphrodite's Child'. 'Blade Runner Blues' follows this and is the longest track on the album at almost 9 minutes. It is a slow, blue-sy, yet ambient track, all electronic, but the main melody has the sound of a muted brass or sax.

'Memories of Green' was previously available on the album 'See You Later' released in 1980, so is not original to this soundtrack. It was also available on the 'Themes' collection. This also has a slight jazz feel to it, led by an electronic simulated piano melody with ambient electronic effects surrounding it. 'Tales of the Future' is another supplemental track inspired by the film. It features a more electronic feel, with mid-eastern sounding vocals with an echo effect. It has a more intense and unsettling feel than the previous tracks.

The mid-eastern feel continues with simulated violin on 'Damask Rose', this time with no vocals. Again, suspense builds with a minor key and darker effects. The 'End Credits' follows. This is the one that most will recognize. It is one of the few tracks on the album with a faster rhythm, which is more paced by the music than by percussion, even though there is some there, more as an orchestral effect. The music is dramatic and exciting, which contrasts with the feeling of most of the rest of the album, but is very effective for soundtrack music, and one of Vangelis' more famous themes. It all ends off with 'Tears in Rain' which starts with dialog surrounded by peaceful effects. Ambient music with effects continue after the dialogue ends.

Being a fan of the film, I appreciate the music as the soundtrack as it all fits well, mysterious yet not overpowering. Some of the additional music tends to distract a bit, and I prefer the music itself over the added dialog and vocal sections, but it is not used to an overabundance. As far as albums, I don't consider it one of his best or most enjoyable, but as far as a soundtrack, I can't see how any other style of music would have been this effective for the film. By itself it is nice, but not exceptional, and because of that and it's influence on ambient and electronic music, it gets 4 stars.