Citizen Kane my ass! Blade Runner is the best movie ever produced in the history of the medium! It renewed film noir and science fiction and stands as an unsurpassed landmark in both genres. And its influence stretches beyond film to other visual arts, design, advertising and literature: the Cyberpunk movement was SF's reaction to the unprecedented mix of high tech and low life, the twin reality of the gleaming Tyrell Corporation towers and crumbling Los Angeles ghettos. And although it didn't stick very close to Philip K. Dick's original story, its version of the future shared the writer's pessimism: No leisurely living thanks to the machines, at least not for everyone: While the rich enjoy the fruits of android slave labor, the bulk of humanity scrapes a living under the domination of huge corporations and police oppression. Murderous as these replicas are, you can't help but sympathize with them in their quest for...meaning? freedom? revenge? I suppose it's different things for each one. The film's music was no less revolutionary in its mix of jazz noir, electronic and symphonic music. Composer Vangelis Papathanasiou (known outside his native Greece just by his first name) was a veteran of the Greek pop scene, starting with his invention of the popular Yanka dance craze in the early 60's. He shot to international fame after his collaboration with Demis Roussos in the prog-pop Aphrodite's Child and had since become a pioneer of proto-electronic music. His music for the film "Chariots Of Fire" had already won him an Oscar and he deserved another one for "Blade Runner", but fell victim to the Academy's contempt for science fiction. Sounds improbable that an iconic film like Blade Runner would go on to win 0 (zero) Academy Awards, but there you have it. Despite the obvious appeal of the film's music, there was no official soundtrack release until 1994 - which is how this album came to being. Entitled Blade Runner - Orchestral Adaptation Of Music Composed For The Motion Picture Soundtrack, it's a recreation of some of Vangelis' original music from the film. For many years it served as O.S.T. for us fans and I must admit that, although I clearly heard that it wasn't exactly the same as the film, I hadn't realized it was a completely different work until recently. Which doesn't render it useless at all. It still displays that revolutionary mix of jazz and electronic music and it still conjures up scenes from the movie - which is a secondary but important function of film soundtracks. The opening "Love Theme" is an orchestral piece with late-night sax, romantic but thankfully not as corny as would be expected by its title. "Main Title" is another mellow tune featuring an orchestra, synthesizers and subtle acoustic elements like small bells. The next song entitled "One More Kiss, Dear" is the album's only vocal track and sounds like a 30's jazz tune, only it's not an original one. It was composed by Vangelis for the film but you wouldn't be able to tell the difference just by listening to it. "Memories Of Green" is an older Vangelis piece included in his See You Later album, a delicate piano tune with an orchestral backdrop. "End Title" and "End Title (Reprise)" are big electronic synthesizer music. Pretty much of their time, yet classic all the same. "Blade Runner Blues" is a melancholic jazz piece with a lonely sax playing over atmospheric synths and "Farewell" is another mellow orchestral/electronic mix, with a slightly oriental flavor. It may not be the best track in the album, but it always moves me because it reminds me of android Roy Batty's unforgettable farewell speech in the film: "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die"
***** for Memories Of Green, End Title
**** for Love Theme, Main Title, One More Kiss Dear, Blade Runner Blues, End Title (Reprise)
*** for Farewell
I wrote the above review in 2015. At the time I only had the CD of the NAO version of Vangelis' music for the film. Later, I bought the vinyl reissue of the real 1994 O.S.T. This was originally released in CD only, finally becoming widely available on vinyl in 2015, while there's one more version (the final word?) released as a triple CD under the title Blade Runner Trilogy.
For now, though, we'll focus on the 1994 O.S.T. and its differences with the NAO CD I presented here more than a decade ago. Obviously these are two very different records, the NAO one being a more orchestral work, and the original score a more electronic/synthesizer-based one. Opener "Main Titles" starts with a minute-long intro including spoken word followed by Vangelis' imposing synths, exactly what the opening sequence of the movie demanded with its futuristic cityscape, flames, and first glimpse of the Tyrell Corporation pyramid. Thaks to the absense of electronic instruments, the song "One More Kiss Dear" is the closest match between the two albums, although the OST vocal probably gives off a more vintage feel. "Memories of Green" (originally from 1980's See You Later LP) is a fragile piano-based piece, without the classical dimension of the orchestral version. The romantic "Love Theme" sounds superior here, with the sax providing the necessary smoky noir element to complement the atmospheric synths. "Blade Runner Blues" on the other hand is more ambient, and less jazzy, than the NAO version, and "End Title" (which was previously split in two) is presented in its whole, a majestic classic of early electronica. The NAO LP contained 7 tracks, of which only "Farewell" does not appear here. But, even though there's still a lot of the actual film music missing, we do get 6 tracks absent from the NAO version: "Blush Response" (complete with dialogue from the film) takes us back the first meeting between Deckard and Rachel, "Rachel's Song" features some gorgeous female vocalizing, and "Damask Rose" some cello-like synth emulating what sounds to me like a traditional Greek mountain village melody. "Wait For Me" is another atmospheric electronic piece incorporating film dialogue while "Tales Of The Future" contains a distorted vocal reminiscent of traditional Asian music. Closer "Tears In Rain" features some of the film's best dialogue with a suitably emotive instrumental backing. All in all, although the NAO version still sounds quite good, being orchestral it's curiously more like conventional film music than the actual OST. Vangelis' original music is way more interesting, with its futuristic synths, smoky jazz feel, and dialogue excerpts conveying the right atmosphere for this seminal sci-fi noir cinematic masterpiece. Most of the music could work well as a standalone piece of electronica, but combined with the stunning cinematography of Blade Runner, it makes for one of the greatest soundtracks of all time - in my opinion even better than Vangelis' Oscar-winning Chariots Of Fire.
Unbeatable, really.
***** for Love Theme, Blade Runner Blues, Memories Of Green, Blade Runner (End Titles), Tears In Rain
**** for Main Titles, Blush Response, Wait For Me, Rachel's Song, One More Kiss Dear
*** for Tales Of The Future, Damask Rose
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