Customer Reviews

Legend: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The one oddity with this soundtrack is the inclusion of Bryan Ferry's Is Your Love Strong Enough ? Why ? The entire soundtrack is strictly a Tangerine Dream product w/Jon Anderson of Yes fame thrown in the mix. However, make no mistake, Ferry's tune is one that is highly sought after by fans for it appears nowhere else on any Bryan Ferry album (except maybe an import or greatest hits package).Yet, Ferry has always been the master of post-Roxy music ambient pop. The rest of the tracks are highly reminiscent of Vangelis' work (ironically, Vangelis produced the soundtrack for Ridley Scott's film Bladerunner). The music by Tangerine Dream can only be described by one overly used adjective: ethereal ! There are some haunting synthesizer elements. Yet, the overall effect will definitely transport the listener to another realm of sheer fantasy, wizadry, magic (both good and evil) !This soundtrack was released at a time when the New Age music scene was starting to catch on. As for the film itself, it may very well likely end up on a cult status list much like Scott's Bladerunner from 1982 !...

Tangerine Dream does a good job in attempting to create a fantasy world of feeling through music, but in some cases through the album the electronics gets in the way of creating a feeling of legendary magic (which is not at fault of the composer, but in the digital keyboards used back in the mid eighties). Still, the beautiful tracks of Opening, Cottage, and Unicorn Theme create such striking images of fantasy that I was surprised when I heard it the first time through. Also, accompanying one of the beautiful tracks is Jon Anderson's (known best from the group YES) fantasy type voice in the beautiful song "Loved By the Sun." Overall it is a good album and worth the purchase.

Greetings folks.. I have been fortunate to find the CD with the Love Theme from "Legend".. Since most of you are looking for this song, you can find it on "sonambulistic imagery". It is a live album that is hard to find here, but available in Europe.. It's a live concert in Irvine Meadows, USA..No thanks to that specific fan I e-mailed to somehow get some info (In which I never even got a response) on where to find this song. Enjoy, fellow TD fans.. The song is on the second CD. It is called (on this album) Imagery Three.

A limited edition, "20th Anniversary Edition" of the Tangerine Dream soundtrack has been issued by a German company that seems to specialize in resurrecting and augmenting out-of-print soundtracks. I have loaded the artwork above.

This new CD obsoletes the older Sarabande disc completely. The audio mastering is exactly the same as the original Varese Sarabande CD, but it is greatly expanded in content, and at 79:09, double in length. The original 11 Sarabande tracks are present in their entirety, but the anniversary CD has nine, new, glorious additions.

The tracklist titles have also been changed for many of the identical Sarabande pieces. Here are the titles as they appear on the new CD, with a brief description of each:

1.) Prologue (1:22) This track, with its pan-flute-like music, is the piece that played over the introductory, rolling text. I could never believe it was left off the original soundtrack.
2.) Main Title (same as "Opening" on the Sarabande, same running time)
3.) Nell's Cottage (same)
4.) The Unicorns (same as "Unicorn's Theme")
5.) Goblin's Theme (same as "Goblins")
6.) The Gump Appears / A Toast To Love (same as "Fairies").
7.) Entrance To The Underworld / Lilly Charmed (same as "Blue Room")
8.) The Dance (same)
9.) The Lord Of Darkness (same)
10.) Kitchen Fight (3:20) On the Sarabande disc, this piece was shortened and mixed into a reprise of the Unicorn Theme. On this disc, the kitchen fight scene music is restored and isolated. The Unicorn Theme is separated and greatly expanded (see below).
11.) Jack The Champion (1:20) new & lovely.
12.) Jack Versus Darkness (3:45) new, but personally, I could give or take this one.
13.) Unicorn Theme (7:03) THIS IS NEW, & IMHO, worth the price of the disc by itself. A whopping seven minutes, utterly fantastic piece. It also has a reprise of the Prologue theme incorporated. It's hard to pick a fav on this new disc, but this is probably it for me. WOW.
14.) Unicorn Saga (3:56) Another new and gorgeous addition.
15.) United Goblins Parade (8:23) I think only snippets of this piece were used in the film, but it is a soaring ballad-like piece with an extended guitar solo. It's actually two compositions; as the first performance fades out, at -3:00, a haunting piano/synth piece commences.
16.) JON ANDERSON Loved By The Sun (same)
17.) The Unicorn Song (3:13) This is a female vocal track, but I don't know where it belongs in the film. May have been something recorded but not used?
18.) BRYAN FERRY Is Your Love Strong Enough? (same)
19.) Princess Lily's Chant (9:22) Snippets of this track, with vocals by Mia Sara, appeared in the film, but this is the entire near 10-minute suite. Absolutely stunning to finally have.
20.) Autumn (1:30) Nice. It is listed on the CD as a "bonus track", composed by a "Eric Allaman". Not sure what it's doing here, but he does a succinct Tangerine Dream imitation.

I've read the complaints regarding the high prices of out-of-print titles. However, like a retailer friend of mine observes: "Nobody wants to buy anything until it's deleted." Obviously, these are folks who don't inhabit the world of CD soundtracks: You have to buy them when they're released, because they're usually only pressed in small numbers and never reissued, unless it's the OST to some multi-plex dreck.

There are several hundred OOP soundtracks I can think of that are FAR more expensive than this one; good luck finding a CD of Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown for less than $100.

Besides, if you own the older Sarabande Legend soundtrack, just sell it, then use the money to upgrade to this one.

I collect hard to find 80s soundtracks (that I like of course), and the music on this soundtrack is right up there next to Neverending Story and Labyrinth. The Unicorn Theme is a beautifully enchanting piece that I enjoy relaxing to. The only disappointment with this soundtrack is that the best song isn't on it. At the end of Loved By the Sun is a very small excerpt of the same woodwind song played during the opening titles of the film. The song isn't on the soundtrack for the American or British version, yet the CD is still excellent.

This soundtrack literally puts the viewer into the movie. It provides an ambient atmosphere that really adds flavour to the images in the movie. I am a fan of all Ridley Scott movies, and he really made a faerie tale spring to life in this one. It was the second movie I had ever heard in stereo on my VCR (the other was "Never Cry Wolf") that really added an aural "landscape" to the storyline. The movie now resides in my permanent collection.

One puzzling problem with this soundtrack CD is that the producers chose to use a mix that is (in some cases) painfully different. Sure, the song is the same, but that mix used in the movie is missing. The emphasis is too high on a certain phrase or voice, that makes it sound different from the movie's choices of emphasis or voice. The notes are the same, but the "flavour" is different. For this reason, I am still on the border about purchasing this "soundtrack".

I have this album on casset, and I love it. Legend is one of those movies that has an unforgettable effect on your life, and this soundtrack takes you back to the world of imagination that springs eternally from youth. Like I said I have it on tape, and I have wanted it on CD for years, but the price has been prohibitive of that.

Why on earth does it cost so much? Did the only make 12 of them or something? I mean really $50+ for a cd of no lnger lenght than any other really, and from a movie that in it's day went almost completely unnoticed. I just don't get it.

Still, drink 'em if you got 'em, cuz this is the best soundtrack in history.

This is one of my favorite movies ever. I used to watch it every day when I was little. Everything about this film is awesome, actors, music, costuming, make-up, tim curry's sexiness....everything. Last night I saw the director's cut for the first time with Mr. goldberg's score. I thought it was fascinating to see all the extra footage and I really enjoyed this more classic sounding score. I think that the US theatrical release version is better though, the director's cut seemed to include a lot of little scenes that were obviously cut out for a reason (most notably some of the overacted scenes with the gump). I think both soundtracks are fantastic, and we're lucky to have two different versions of such a beautiful film, but I think Tangerine Dream's score matches the story so much better. The main things I though were better was the dance song, Goldberg's score in this scene is much too lighthearted, where tangerine dream's is etheral and eery. The other thing was the ending song, legend just isn't legend without "Loved By The Sun", even when replaced by another lovely song. I get all squishy inside when I hear the US music, maybe I'm partial to it because of sentimental reasons. I reccomend seeing both versions of the movie, (I'd go for the shorter one first, then it's more fun to see what was cut out!) And both CDs are awesome, but I'd buy Tangerine Dream's over Goldbergs'.

This version of the Legend Soundtrack was chosen over the original Jerry Goldsmith one by Ridley Scott for release in the US. Both versions have shinning attributes to them although I am one of the minority that thinks the Tangerine Dream version is better. The feelings of eeriness and darkness coincide with the dark feelings of this movie better. If taken with the Jerry Goldsmith music, this movie feel candy coated, your atypical fairy tale... In the TG version the eeriness of the pan flutes at the beginning tune you into the fact that the fantasy movie you are about to watch is deeper and darker than those before. In the Goldsmith version I feel like I'm listening to watered down Enya, leading into Willow, or Lord of the Rings. I believe Ridley made the right decision with this music as it made it the darkness darker, and the moments of light more appreciated.

Jon Anderson... what to say? he probably has one of the most recognizable voices in music today. "Loved by the Sun", is a song that every person will love. It's very mythical, and enjoyable. The instrumentals are very relaxing, and romantic. This has been one of my most favorite soundtracks in years. I had the tpe, that broke, I went out that day and bought the CD. Listening to this I became a much bigger Yes and now I am really starting to enjoy Tangerine Dream. I only wish that you could go to a concert, where they would play this music. I could compare a lot of the songs to Pink Floyd, kinda trippy, chill' music.