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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you like Vangelis' works, you will love this!, 21 Dec 2007
A new Blade Runner soundtrack release with two new Vangelis discs!!!! The release comes in a deluxe 3 CD digipack. The artwork looks contemporary, and the print quality of the artwork is attractive, sharp, and of high quality. The stills from the movie are carefully restored. Overall this packaging looks and feels impressive.
Disc 1:
I proceeded to play disc one. This is Vangelis' officially released "Blade Runner" album from 1994 that contained several memorable themes from the movie. Themes such as "Memories of Green", "Love Theme", "Blade Runner Blues", and "End Titles" are all included here, but the album also contained new material composed in 1994. Listening to disc one made me aware how I have adopted the 1994 compositions as part of Blade Runner's music saga, Rachel's Song could have been plucked straight from the movie. The music on this disc flows and pours from one theme to the next, and listening to it you lose sense of time, slowly re-emerging in another time another place into the movie's characters and storyline. This disc is engaging, the themes are seamlessly connected in an uninterrupted movie of its own, and it is done so to maximum effect. Very few so-called "soundtracks" have achieved this level of immersion, and this music is as timeless and enjoyable as it ever was.
Disc 2
The next disc contains music from the Blade Runner score that until now has remained unreleased. The music of the disc two conveys a different feel. If disc one could be described as a collection of memorable music from the movie, then disc two captures the ambiance of the film on a more personal level. The music unravels as an Sci-Fi opera and puts you right into the heart of Blade Runner's bleak and grand atmospheres, it makes you feel enchanted by the lush landscapes and grandeur of the surroundings, while at the same time you feel uneasy and tense by the somber and the discomforting underpinnings. With shape-shifting sequencers, curious sound effects, underlined by razor-blade synth sounds that drones the soundscape around you, by which sometimes gets ripped by thundering blasts, just the way we seem to remember of the futuristic world of Blade Runner, this music is simply magnificent. Again, the music here is presented in a seamless fashion, and you get uninterrupted music for the whole duration of the album. The experience is incredibly reflective, levitating, intimate, and magical. I think disc 2 will be recognized as a Vangelis masterpiece. If you would ignore for a moment its links to the Blade Runner world and listen to it as an album, it is a brilliant piece of work. It shows a side of Vangelis' we have not heard in any previous work. His use of machines to build an aural sound-scape while injecting emotions at the same time is breathtaking and refreshing. I can't recall being exposed to music like this before, well except maybe a bit on the long track (B-side) of Chariots of Fire. It is somewhat sad this great work has been dormant for 25 years, but I am glad to be here and enjoying it. The way this album is compiled is to be complemented for, the tracks segues into each other and I think it plays a big part of the magic. In retrospect, this album fits nicely the gap of Vangelis releases between Chariots of Fire (1981) and Soil Festivities (1983).
Disc 3:
The third disc contains new music composed for the 25-th anniversary of Blade Runner. The music does not pretend to go 25 years back to the past and do more music on period instruments, instead it sounds modern giving no doubt a certain amount of time difference between the two periods, not only in musical style but also to changes that might occured to the world. Its story is in the Blade Runner world, though not about the characters Dick, Roy, or Rachel, it could about someone you know or your own story for that matter. The music is more edgy, more ethnic, and sometimes more chaotic, but it can also be very sweet as well. Occasionally the music refers to musical motifs from the original score, by recycling melodies and audio samples. And just as on the first disc, there are dialogs or spoken words here too, some incidental and some part of the musical plot, though never getting in the way of the music, and actually sometimes enhancing the experience. The variety of music throughout this disc is colorful, the album is different than anything Vangelis has done in recent times. I must say the results are pleasantly refreshing and intriguing at times. This music has lots of surprises, and one that I am gladly embracing with the first two Blade Runner discs. The prevailing feeling here is how Vangelis is doing things a little out of ordinary or the unconventional. For example, I can't recall Vangelis ever creating a piece of music entirely on a grand piano, without the use of any added sounds, you just can't help imagining how intimate and special this piece is. Or for example on Up and Running, his use of samples from his first Blade Runner album and present them in a hypnotically-driven track, it brought back memories of the experimental side of him in Alpha Beta, and some more. I admit I like the spoken words of this album, for me they are completely integrated within the context of the music, I especially liked the one talking about solitude and loneliness. One track I feel so attracted to is Spotkanie Z Matka, I can't be sure why. The music does not allure you with a grand Vangelis theme that he is so famous for, instead the music might be described as simple. Yet it attracts you in a subtle way, there is a sense of reserved optimism and unobtrusive gentleness here, and one that Vangelis manages to pull so brilliantly and almost effortlessly. Listening to Spotkanie Z Matka I felt I was listening to a new Direct album for a moment . It also made me realize how much I miss Vangelis' tinkering with electronics and digital productions lately (since Oceanic really). The other track that is likely to be a favorite for any is of course Sweet Solitude, the moment this piece starts with the opening notes and you know this is going to be a great Vangelis(ian) piece, and marvelous and great it is.... It also shows another example of Vangelis that is not conventional, the use of other musicians in an explicit way to give the impression he is improvising or performing with a band, rather than using musicians to fulfill a role for his symphonic music. We could listen to a whole album like this. There are other favourite tracks of mine, such as Perfume Exotico and Mail form India, all in all, this album is surprise, a pleasant surprise!
Conclusion:
All in all, this 3 CD set is looking like an excellent collection for Vangelis fans. Initially when news break out of this 3-CD release, I had certain thoughts what discs two and three could be like, but both ended sounding quite different than what I anticipated. The surprise is they are far much better than what I could have imagined them to be. This is a great way to re-visit Blade Runner, and one that would not disappoint the fan of the music or the film.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most of the new material IS IN THE MOVIE. Please read..., 27 Dec 2007
I'm getting a little annoyed by some people giving negative reviews of this 3CD set when they simply don't appreciate what they have here. Now, don't get me wrong, this is NOT the complete Blade Runner score. For some reason, they've never seen fit to release it. But taking a balanced look at what IS in this release, here is a break down of the tracks on CD 2, which is the disc containing previously unreleased pieces of the score.
1) LONGING. This track does not appear in the movie as far as I'm aware, although it isn't listed as a bonus track. Instead, it offers a fairly short introductory piece which leads nicely into Track 2. Yes, these tracks are abridged, as Vangelis did with the 1994 soundtrack release (CD 1 in this album set).
2) UNVEILED TWINKLING SPACE: This cue is the last piece heard in the film, when Deckard 'rescues' Rachael and they flee his apartment. It includes the beautiful, haunting tones where Deckard is looking at the origami unicorn.
3) DR.TYRELL'S OWL: This cue is mixed quite low in the movie but plays all through Rachael's Voight-Kampff test at The Tyrell Corporation. It begins with Deckard's line "It's too bright in here."
4) AT MR.CHEW'S: all this music corresponds to the scene in the freezer where Roy and Leon ask Chew questions about Tyrell. In the movie this cue is around 3 minutes whereas here it is 4:47, which suggests that Vangelis may have scored a longer cut of this scene.
5) LEON'S ROOM: (erroneously called LEO'S ROOM on the back of the CD). This music is actually the music covering Deckard's Esper analysis of Leon's photo in his appartment. You can hear it quite clearly in the movie, although occasionally it's mixed low and those lovely Esper bleeps get more of your attention.
6) ONE ALONE: A bonus track, which has echoes of Vangelis' work from other albums. It reminded me of L'apocalypse Des Animaux in particular.
7) DECKARD AND ROY'S DUEL: This is actually "Wounded Animals", the final confrontation, but on the CD this cue is 6 minutes long whereas in the film it's almost 11 minutes. This music, in a different form, has already been released.
8) DR.TYRELL'S DEATH: Well, this is the choral/gothic cue playing during Tyrell's demise. This version is much longer than the one in the movie.
9) DESOLATION PATH: The album says it's a bonus track, and technically it is as it doesn't appear in any of the official released versions of Blade Runner. However, this is actually the ALTERNATE LOVE THEME that can be heard (with the film) in the famous "Workprint" that can be found in the 5 DVD set of BR. It's a fascinating and different take of the scene. It's interesting to note that this version and the final one in the workprint vary in length and some content.
10) EMPTY STREETS: This one I'm not sure about. The album doesn't list it as bonus material, but I can't place it in the film. Definitely there are tones from it that can be picked out, but as a piece I'm not really sure it's there. Over to you ;-)
11) MECHANICAL DOLLS: I read another review saying this track is also not included in the movie, but as far as I can tell it's mixed quietly into the background at Sebastian's apartment at different points. It's a nice piece, regardless, feeling childlike yet empty.
12) FADING AWAY: Well, this is "Tears In Rain" but without Rutger Hauer's monologue. Here it is spoiled somewhat by an added background "wind" effect. I have no idea why they renamed it, as this track has been known for years as Tears In Rain. Perhaps it's simply to differentiate it from the original track (with dialogue) included on Disc 1.
And there you have it. That's the best I can do, but I hope it's some use to you.
What many fans can't appreciate, unfortunately, is that composers often feel their music needs to work independently of the images they were scored to accompany. That is their right, I feel, as it's their music. Some fans just want all the cues as they were heard in the movie, in that order, regardless of the dramatic flow when isolated from the imagery. That isn't what many composers do. Jerry Goldsmith hated doing it, John Williams even avoids it. Vangelis certainly does.
Basically, this second CD is a direct companion to the original soundtrack release, with pieces extended or altered to form coherent thematic cues which together create an arc to the experience of the album. That's what was done with the first, and that's what has been done here, including the abridging of tracks. It isn't a complete score, no, but it's a beautiful extension of the original 1994 soundtrack album and, as explained above, it does contain a substantial amount of music from the film.
It's not the scene-by-scene score. If you want that, seek out the bootleg scores that are around, but be aware, complete as they claim to be, they're not. And what they certainly are not is an experience.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blade Runner Trilogy [Disc 2], 11 Dec 2007
The Blade Runner soundtrack is one of those epoch making moments in soundtrack history. It set the tone for a lot of what was to come in sci-fi and, as the cliché goes, has been often copied but never surpassed. The distinctive soundscape that Vangelis achieved was very analogue, melancholic, nostalgic and like the film a jumbled mixture of past, present and possible future.
I have been excited by this release ever since I heard about it because of Disc 2, which contains previously unreleased material from the Blade Runner soundtrack. The troubled history of the sound track has meant that, to date, much of it has remained available only on dodgy quality bootlegs.
Disc 2 is well worth the money as it contains some beautiful material from the film. However, the 3 CD box set is still incomplete. I must confess that I am an obsessive completist when it comes to this music: I own the (rubbish) American Orchestra version, the 1994 version, the 5 DVD box set and the 1992 bootleg. For a long time I have been looking forward to having the whole original score in a high quality format. Sadly, the new material on Disc 2 only goes part of the way to achieving this. There are still some lovely bits of the original score that are unavailable. Additionally, some of the tracks have been extended or altered. Track 3 for example clearly starts with the original film score, but it does not develop as the music does in the film, consequently, the lovely string melody that accompanies Rachel and Deckard's first meeting is still unavailable. What is more it has been replaced by some fairly inconsequential keyboard noodling.
I can't place some of the music on Disc 2 in the film. The first track for example sounds authentically Vangelis 1981, but I can't link it to a single scene.
Track 9 is an interesting one. It is labelled as a bonus track, but it was also available on the 1992 bootleg. I believe it is an authentic outtake, written to accompany part of the original love scene that was shot and has never been used.
The best bits of the album, from the point of filling the gaps, are tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10. Track 12 is a version of Tears in Rain with the vocal removed. Sadly, a new "electronic wind" sound effect has been added.
I would love to get my hands on a high quality version of the track, known on the bootleg, as `Morning at the Bradbury' which accompanies JS's first meeting with Batty. It is a kind of anti-love theme. There are thematic links to the actual love theme, (and so there should be because it underscores the love triangle between JS, Batty and Pris) but there is something ominous, melancholic and wistful about it. It would also be nice to have the music that precedes the love theme.
I guess when Vangelis finally shuffles-off-the-buffalo his estate will release all of this stuff in yet another box set, but until then we will have to continue to rely on the bootleg for a complete record of this amazing soundtrack. In the mean time I will have to learn to love Disc 2 this for what it is, rather than what it isn't.
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