Customer Reviews

Blade Runner - O.S.T.

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There has been a lot written regarding this soundtrack. We still wonder why on earth it took Vangelis twelve years to finally release this treasure. There is still much speculation as to the reason why this happened, but in any case, after being forced to listen to grim renditions of the soundtrack and bad-sounding bootlegs, Vangelis' "Blade Runner" is well worth the wait. Many have attacked this work for having certain exerpts of dialog from the film on some of the tracks. I, however, find that this inclusion makes the tracks more interesting. Deckard's exchange with Rachael and Tyrell is a great introduction to "Blush Response" with the eerie music in the background. "Wait For Me," apparently inspired by the film and written in 1994 when the disc was released, is a hypnotic and seductive track with select,very well-chosen lines from Rachael.

Unlike the bootleg, Vangelis makes each track flow into one another. He does so with such fluidity and grace that one has to marvel at the production. Additionally, many have attacked this disc because Vangleis decided to leave out some crucial themes from the film, such as the "Main Titles and Prolouge" (which is included on the bootleg). I agree that the disc could have been more encompassing of all the music from the movie, but if you notice on the disc itself, it does not say "music from the official motion picture soundtrack" anywhere-it's essentially a Vangelis album with Blade Runner as its theme.

Another attractive aspect of the disc is, while there are some themes missing from the film, it does include four unreleased tracks not included in the film or the bootleg. These are: "Blush Response,""Wait For Me," the spine-tingling "Rachael's Song" and the somber and enigmatic "Damask Rose." Most of the other tracks are familiar, such as the heavily atmospheric "Blade Runner Blues" and the emotional and melancholy "Memories of Green." In any case, it is worth noting that this disc makes up tremedously for anything it may lack.

Lastly, in my opinion the most memorable track on the disk is the devastatingly beautiful, "Love Theme," one of the most passionate, mesmerizing and haunting themes ever done by Vangelis-or anyone.

For years I would walk into music retailers hoping to come across this album. It was one of my holy grails. Now it is one of my favourites (definitely a favourite "thinking" CD). Some might question the inclusion of a few tracks on this CD, that on one level seem to stand out abruptly from the others. However I believe that this officially released soundtrack is like the movie in that it captures the images of a world influenced by a variety of cultures and ages. The soundtrack takes you back there, back to Los Angeles in 2019. From the soaring and dark landscape ("Main titles"), the amalgamation of so many cultures ("Tales of the Future" & "Damask Rose"), the influences from simpler (and cleaner) ages long ago ("One More Kiss Dear"), to the final moving words of Roy that make us question what it means to be human ("Tears in Rain"). This is in my top 3 Soundtrack albums. A wonderful piece of work. Don't be put off by the synthesized version released a few years earlier to stave off the hunger of fans. This recording has depth and passion. This has a richness that resonates throughout your body and mind. More importantly this is the real deal. I highly recommend it. The only question now is - will Vangelis bring himself to re-release the earlier 'limited edition private release' that posseses such gems as the "The Prodigal Son Brings Death", so lacking from this official release? Please sir, I want some more? A double CD would do nicely *nudge-nudge, wink-wink*

I add my comments to help overwhelm anyone who's unsure whether to buy this soundtrack. It's very beautiful and haunting. It will linger in your head long after it's stopped playing. I'm thrilled Vangelis included pieces that weren't used in the film. "Wait For Me" and "Rachel's Song" make me feel as though I'm watching the film for the first time, despite having seen it dozens of times. And it was brilliant for Vangelis to blend each song into the next to create a seamless whole.

However, I also feel I don't need the dialogue from the film. And I thought the booklet had too many wasted pages with stills from the film. I can get all that from my DVD or my copy of the book about the making of Blade Runner.

Aside from those two minor carps, this is a must-have for any fan of the film, as well as for any music lover with a taste for a haunting, beautiful, and unusual soundtrack. They sure don't make them like this anymore.

I was not intending to write anything while reading the reviews of Jarre and Vangelis albums on this site, although it was interesting to see that so many share almost exactly the same views as myself.

And then I saw one review for "Bladerunner", and something occured to me. Maybe that reviewer did not hear the album. I am not saying he or she did not put the disc in the system and pressed play.

Both Jarre and Vangelis have outstanding recording techniques, and their respective attention to audiophile needs is without comparison. I have heard all of his work on very poor systems and the best you can get.

I wonder therefore how many people have had the opportunity to listen to the music that actually exists on the discs they have. I am very sure that very few have heard the shear depth of bass that exists in "Main Titles" and "Tear in the Rain". I am not talking volume. I emphasise DEPTH and I know you will not hear this on anything mediocre. I love cranking the volume up when I play these tracks.

For the first track "the rumbling" really kicks in part way through. It is so deep on my system it causes my house to shake. It is like an ocean liner being dragged across my living room floor. This is not an exaggeration, and there are other "artists" who have tried to copy this at times, but soooooooo poorly. You will not have heard half the music if you system cannot reproduce this. It underpins the entire track as it ebbs to and fro, from back to front in the sound stage.

The bass in "Tears in the rain" is unbelievably surprising the first time you hear it (or rather, when it messes with your guts). You just do not expect something so potent to emerge out of something so delicate and poetic. Perfect.

My friends who heard these tracks for the first time at first mocked my likes in music because of the name of the artist, who they had never heard of. Then as the first rumbles started they shut up and listened. Then they begged to hear it all again and to crank the volume up even more. They then bought it a few days later.

If you do not have the luxury of high-end Hi-Fi, go to someone who has and play the disc there. You will hear probably the most tangible, visceral, and evocative pieces of music ever woven together. Do not rely on a midi system, and NEVER use head phones for this. There are only two recordings I know of that demand these requirements.

Take Movement I of "Soil Festivities" with you when you go!

I am nowhere near worthy enough to write a review for Vangelis' masterpiece, but I will do my best to write a comprehensible review for this album.

Let's start with the minor quibbles about the album. The most common complaint you've probably heard about this splendid soundtrack is the inclusion of voice excerpts from the film in some of the tracks. Despite what you may have heard, the SoundBits from the film actually add a fair amount to the album (particularly "Blush Response," "Wait For Me," and "Tears In Rain,"). The only track where the voices seem to be out of place is on "Main Titles" where you hear Deckard (Harrison Ford's character) speaking about the exact amount of zooming he wants a machine to perform (it's cool in the film but weird on the album, especially to Blade-Runner-virgins who haven't seen the film, although I doubt anyone who buys and listens to the soundtrack hasn't seen the movie a million times like I have).

The only other minor annoyance on the album is the entirely out-of-place track "One More Kiss, Dear". It isn't electronic or ambient-sounding music like the rest of the album. It's some sort of bizarre, pre-doo-wop song that was played in the movie briefly, and I'm 99% sure that Vangelis didn't compose it. Even more unfortunate than having it on the album is the fact that it's stuck right smack-dab in the middle of the entire album (for some, it may ruin the entire experience). Whoever decided to do that should be ashamed of themselves. However, it is just one track, and anyone who isn't paralyzed can simply press a button to skip over it.

Petty bickering aside, there are many more things to love about the album then to hate. For starters, it is revolutionary. No film soundtrack sounded that distant yet so near, and Vangelis improves upon the original film score by including many pieces he originally withheld from the theatrical-version of the movie and the largely-improved Director's Cut. The best of these is definitely "Blush Response" (possibly the best song on the album besides the legendary and often copied/ remixed "Blade Runner End Titles").

Anyone who listens to this album will agree that it has some sort of eerie while fascinating sound to it, and words are vastly unable and incompetent at describing it. Words like "haunting" and "lingering" are often thrown around quite casually when it comes to discussing this album, but I think " an overall impending sense of tragic doom and artificial beauty" describes it much better. Also, anybody who simply dismisses this album as good "background music" is mistaken. The album is great to listen to anytime anywhere.

I have a funny feeling that anyone who has read this far into my review probably already owns the album, but if you don't, you should purchase it immediately (it's pretty cheap here at amazon.com, too). I rate it 5 stars, although it is not for everyone.

Ever since the release of the film in 1982, for reasons still unclear (though the booklet for the OWM bootleg says it was a contractual dispute) an official soundtrack was never released immediately, despite the end credits showing "Soundtrack available on PolyDor records and tapes". The closest would be a bootleg cassette with terrible quality which circulated around Los Angeles in 1982. At last, 12 long years later an official soundtrack was finally released to the prayer's of many obsessed fan. This was probably promted by the private release of the famous "OWM-9301" bootleg CD.

I bought the official CD in the hope that I will be able to finally listen to all of the original flawless score used in the film. I was disppointed. But then again I really didn't get my hopes up too much. What really annoys me about soundtracks and whoever is involved with it is that they NEVER include every single bit of music in the film. They only give you some of it. I have never understood this. Here, this CD gives you less than a third of all the music used in the film which is a big disappointment because I believe the CD would have sold just as well (if not better) if all the music were present. I really don't understand why they complain about bootleg CD's being made when if they realease all the music, Blade Runner bootlegs wouldn't exist. However, die-hard fans have to go to the extent of buying an illegal product with bad sound quality just to hear the rest of the unreleased music. (And even still there is some of the music still unreleased whether or not you have the bootleg.) That's why the OWM/Gongo bootleggers have made quite a bit of money.

It was good Vangelis did put some effort into this soundtrack CD but he put it in the wrong area. He didn't really need to re-compile them. All the original music from his master tapes would have been perfect. While "Memories of Green" is practically untouched, all the others have either been altered or truncated in some way or another. Dialogue has also been tagged on the start of a few songs which is an interesting idea but it would have been better if they were kept seperate from the songs.

But the CD does have some good points, of course. The music on the CD is still quite similar to the original, despite what I have said above. The sound quality is perfect. And the CD is extremely easy to get, no matter where in the world you are. The booklet has some really good art - the cover is a close-up of the poster used to promote the director's cut. The booklet contains a photo of Vangelis and an introduction from him. The rest contains brilliant photos from the film including the spinner approaching the police station, Roy Batty behind a chessboard and a shot of a spinner approaching the Tyrell Corp. Vangels also included the new songs "Blush Response", "Wait For Me", "Rachel's Song" and "Damask Rose" which I hear were intended to be used in the film but never made the final cut. These songs are pretty good.

It's extremely unlikely that Vangelis will ever release every scrap of music from Blade Runner to public now that he has made this soundtrack. More likely you'll find a bad quality extremely rare bootleg CD (I guarantee there will be a few more of them) that contains something slightly different from the official release. Needless to say, there will never be a Blade Runner soundtrack that will fully satisfy everyone by containing everything. You'd probably have to be a millionaire to personally get the original tapes, or a copy anyway.

Overall, a reasonable CD that a Blade Runner fan should definately buy. However, it only contains less than a third of the whole score which is regretted by many many people. So, if you want to hear the song at Taffey Lewis' bar (which is one of my all-time favorites), for example, you'll be soarly disappointed.

Being a bachelor who lives on their own in a small apartment, this CD is the music of my choice when I'm at home (whether I be shaving, waking up, doing errands or simply relaxing. The music on this CD transforms my apartment into some sort of space-age futuristic bachelor pad - just like Deckard's apartment in the movie "Blade Runner". After a hard day's work, returning home to the sounds of "Blade Runner Blues" soothes the soul. "Memories of Green" is perhaps my favourite track and never fails to get me sentimental and nostalgic about friends, relationships and family. The background sounds on many of the tracks give you the feeling that outside you really are living in the cold futuristic L.A. portrayed in the movie. While some say the track "One More Kiss Dear" is out of place, for me it adds to the overall atmosphere of the CD and perfectly recreates images of Harrison Ford's moody P.I. eating in a neon-soaked rain-drenched city of the future.

Blade Runner is the finest sci-fi movie ever made. Same for the soundtrack. This is it, but they included sound bytes from the movie WITHIN the tracks of music. I love soundtracks which include sound bytes as seperate tracks, but for some reason when they made this, you get sound clips from the movie buried withing the music at different times. It's distracting. Still excellent music of course. And yes this is the disc you're looking for.

I remember the night I found this gem in a cd shop; My soul and c.d. collecting appetite jumped for JOY ! Like any other Vangelis fan who waited for years until the smoke cleared between artist and industry (still a big rumour) I was elated with both the original tracks and the bonus tracks. On the originals, Opening Title, Memories of Green, Bladerunner Blues, One More Kiss, and End Titles,are all in superb form. With the bonuses, Rachel's Song and Wait For Me are exceptionally ethereal and breathtaking. Wait For Me is one of my all time favorite tracks for it's haunting yet seductive melody, slow pace, and soft movie dialogue exchange between Rick Deckard and the replicant Rachel ! Some of the tracks perfectly segue or fade into one another without botching the soundtrack thematic continuity. True, it is not the complete soundtrack as heard on the film , but still just as captivating. It's great for headphone listening. I'm also glad that the majority of previous reviewers also enjoyed this long awaited Vangelis soundtrack and gave it high marks ! Only wonder if Vangelis will release two of his other highly sought after soundtrack masterpieces from die-hard fans: The Bounty (Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins) and Bittermoon (Hugh Grant, Peter Coyote and Emmanuelle Seigner) !

I was ecstatic when this disc first appeared back in 1994. Till then the only source for Blade Runner music was the Vangelis compilation "Themes" and the orchestral adaptation disc released around the time of the film, and the Off World Music bootleg. Vangelis did a wonderful job here, providing many of the tracks heard in the film as well as including some new music ("Blush Response", "Rachel's Song", etc.) A few snippets of dialogue are even thrown in for a nice effect that is not intrusive on the music. I believe the most complete sources for Blade Runner music are still the bootlegs that appeared in the early-mid 90s. The Off World Music release has tracks entirely absent from this offical disc, including "The Prodigal Son Brings Death" and "Wounded Animals" as well as the complete music from the opening credits. Then there was the Gongo Music release that was very similar to the Off World disc but also included "Blimpvert", the Japanese song heard briefly while the blimp flies overhead. Nevertheless, Vangelis has done some of his finest work on the soundtrack, and the offical release was much appreciated by die-hard fans. Reknowned DJ Paul Oakenfold recently included a couple of these tracks on his Perfecto Presents Another World double disc set. Perhaps Vangelis will release a second CD with the rest of the Blade Runner score.