Customer Reviews

Near Dark: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Near Dark" is a sibling recording to "Three O'Clock High", where both albums are a product of the short-spanned Tangerine Dream's adventure with the orchestration of electronic music. One can only regret that in 1988 the band under Froese did not pursue that direction further. Instead, Christopher Franke, who left the band around the time this album was released for sale, continued to contribute to the development of the branch of art otherwise known as electronic music - much in the vein of Near Dark, where not only was the music augmented by electronically simulated orchestration, like on this album, but also enriched by the real symphonic orchestra, founded by Christopher Franke. Near Dark is an early proof that the musical interests of the members of the band Anno Domini 1986 were diverging at the exponential rate.

Shortly after the return from the concert tour promoting the latest studio album, "Underwater Sunlight", the band, in a completely new shape, sat down to fulfill the contractual obligations with respect to soundtrack scores. Indeed, there was so much work, that the musicians worked steadily, every day, for the next twelve months, much like any ordinary guys - as if they were not the musicians, the artists, but the paid craftsmen. The output of this cinematic era is quite uneven, but due to their enormous experience, most of what was released, is of very good quality, and innovative, too.

The first set of soundtracks resemble the style developed on "Underwater Sunlight" - this certainly is true in the case of "Three O'Clock High" and "Near Dark". Whereas the instrumentarium is and overall tone similar, these scores are much darker, much more thrilling, and never as sweet as the mother studio album was. Both albums feature short compositions (Near Dark slightly longer and more developed), filled with the aggressiveness of Edgar Froese's guitar, and with the equally aggressive percussive and complicated rhythms of Chris Franke. What distinguishes these two albums of Tangerine Dream from any other work from their heritage is the overwhelming presence of rich orchestral arrangements, which add the nocturnal symphonic layer to their otherwise interesting work. What a pity that this direction was not continued. it must not have pleased Edgar Froese, who never had a penchant for the orchestra, not Paul Haslinger, who is virtually nonexistent on these two albums. Indeed, "Three O'Clock High" and "Near Dark" are the children of Christopher Franke. After the mad production cycle was over for him - he left the band in 1987 - he started to search for new directions in electronic music from 1990 on. I must admit that I am very, very happy because Chris seems to have expanded the inspirations the traces of which are present on "Three O'Clock High" and "Near Dark". There was a multitude of roads he might have taken, and in my opinion, there was no better path than the orchestration of the electronic. If you are interested in these two Tangerine Dream albums from late 1986, you will be happy with almost anything that is signed by Christopher Franke solo, with the help of his own Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra.

Near Dark is a very rich album. For the first time, Tangerine Dream scored a real horror, and thus the atmosphere reflects the emotions the film was supposed to deliver. The band masterfully performs its task, and what we get is a real masterpiece, an album that might just as well serve as the instructional composers' booklet for artists in the genre. As if it was not enough, for the first time in history of electronic music, Tangerine Dream takes on blues. Yes, my friend - in fact the album is opened by 'Caleb's Blues', a fantastic instrumental song which is like a bridge thrown over the fuzzy waters dividing the so much different banks of feeling-based blues music and cold emotional electronica. Who would have thought? Some 11 years later, Christopher Franke confirmed his insporations with his hilarious album "Pacific Blue", where he shamelessly ignored the self-imposed taboo, and went overboard creating music in as many musical styles as possible. Whoever had any doubts as to who was the creative force behind Tangerine Dream curtain, should rethink the issue more than once.

"Near Dark" is a an absolutely perfect album, which should be enjoyed not only by Tangerine Dream fans, or those who love electronica, but also by everyone who is interested in innovative soundtracks - this album should not be forgotten. Quite to the contrary.

Near Dark was the first Tangerine Dream soundtrack I purchased. I had just gotten into their music in 1987 and this was one of their latest releases.

I hadn't seen the film nor did I know what it was about when I purchased the soundtrack, but I had heard several other of TD's studio releases and was quite addicted to their music.

Just by listening to the music and looking at the cover, I imagined what the movie must have been about. Each eerie, dark composition brought up images, characters, and settings in my head. I practically made my own movie in my mind with the help of this soundtrack.

It wasn't until almost a year later that I got to see Near Dark and it was COMPLETELY different than what I had imagined.

THAT'S what intrigues me the most about the music of Tangerine Dream. Their music has the ability to evoke images, feelings, ideas, scenarios, settings, and a thousand other things. It is pure synaesthesia. It is amazing that TD is able to stimulate the creative center of my brain with their electronic compositions.

This is an excellent soundtrack that offers a unique fit to a film about, of all things, vampires. The album is dark, moody, scary, warm, endearing, sad, and suspenseful. What else could you ask for in a soundtrack?

This soundtrack will always hold a special place in my heart and memory.

...certainly far from TD's best soundtrack work. "Pickup at High Noon" and "Bus Station" are a couple of the highlights here. Oddly, the music heard over the opening credits, as Caleb is driving, is nowhere to be found, and that was one of the better cues in the film. Instead this CD opens with the cheesy "Caleb's Blues". It's neither bluesy nor interesting. "Fight at Dawn" and "Severin Dies" are nice as well, perfectly accenting the action in the film but menacing and driving enough to work well alone. I'd recommend this to fans of the film and/or TD completists.

An excellent soundtrack. A must have if you can find it. TD was on cue when composing this peice for the movie. They added a most eerie ambience to an excellent film.

Tangerine Dream's work for film deserves to be seriously re-evaluated. Two film scores in particular merit re-appraisal. These are the American version of Ridley Scott's classic fantasy 'Legend' and this wonderfully evocative score for Kathyrn Bigelow's superb 'Near Dark'. The music for "Near Dark' is quite simply perfect for this film and it's dark and moody electronica has not diminished over the years. In fact, the score sounds even better in retrospect. A great reminder of how good a purely electronic score can be. As with the seminal Vangelis score for 'Blade Runner', in the right hands, composers like these really know how to raise their game.

Recorded in 1987 and released a year later, TD captures the qualities of this horror movie in the soundscapes, which is paced by a shorter track (3:20), Caleb's Blues.

Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Paul Haslinger deliver nearly 47 minutes of power, that is strongly developed in the longer works - Bus Station (including Mae's Theme), 8:42, She's My Sister (Resurrection I), 7:22 - and a pair of numbers flow together at one tick over nine minutes, Fight at Dawn and Mae's Transformation.

The 1980s was an incredibly hectic time for TD - considering the number of side projects - and this is one of the underrated efforts.

Soundtrack to an equally great horror flick from that wretched era of the 1980s. Sure, some of this sounds TERRIBLY dated, but then other tracks have an equally timeless appeal that I shall never part with.Listening to Tangerine Dream one gets the sense that they were concerned about creating actual songs & mood,and not just setting their arsenal of electronics gear on auto-pilot like much of modern day "Electronic Artists". When it works, it WORKS.Moody, contemplative and somewhat melancholy, it achieves it's goal of creating an expansive, moody backdrop soundscape to its low budget vampire film. The reason for the full-on five star review is for the fact that, for the most part, this can stand on its own as it's own piece of work distinct from the film for which it was made. No endless variations of the same couple of cues, here folks - no, this is a fleshed out album of individual songs. Five stars for established TD fans,diverse soundtrack collectors and horror film fanatics alike.

This soundtrack is a rare gem, that's for sure, the movie is even more rare I think. But on to the little review here. As people has stated, there are often too many filler tracks on TD's soundtracks, but not on this one.

I saw the movie once a long time ago, and thought the music was perfect for the kind of "horror" movie it was. All songs has their little magic moments and follows the movie in a good way with great atmosphere and mood to it. The best tracks IMO are "Pick Up At High Noon" which is the typical "opening title song, or I you prefer, the killer is watching you song", haunting and atmospheric!!

And the second best song is "Good Times" which has lots of guitar playing in it. A fast paced track!.

The rest of the album is pretty much very well done. The only bad/boring song I know about on this disc would be "Severin Dies". It doesn't feel TD when I hear it.

I would recommend this soundtrack if you are looking for dark and atmospheric TD stuff. Great piece of work! Buy it!

I was really surprised how good this CD was. It really stands on it's own not unlike the way Thief does. One on their best last ones with Chris Franke. Though the opening track is a little cheesy the rest of the CD is well worth tracking down.

In the mid-to late 80s, Tangerine Dream cranked out soundtracks like Ken Griffey Jr. hits home runs: in bunches. This 1987 soundtrack, for a less-than-interesting "scary" movie, turned out to be the end of the line for me. I had still hung in there, with "Underwater Sunlight" and the "Legend" soundtrack in 1986, but barely. I didn't know it at the time, but I simply stopped buying new TD releases, because their music was gradually becoming... uninteresting, which is the worst complaint one can make.

This soundtrack demonstrates the worthiness of the "skip" or "program" button on your remote. If you pick and choose, there is some decent stuff on here. In particular some of the longer tracks are worth exploring. "Pick Up At High Noon" is atmospheric and dark (near dark?). "Bus Station/Rae's Theme" is the best track of all, an 8 min. piece that starts out haunting and midway through becomes more reflective. "She's My Sister" and "Father & Son" also are worthwhile. After that, it's a very mixed bag. "Good Times" is a short piece that shows TD is not a rock'n'roll band: just aweful.

Overall, this soundtrack is slightly better than, say, their soundtracks for "Three O'Clock High" or "Shy People" from the same era, but keep your remote handy: you will need it!