Arriving 12 years after the release of the film, Vangelis' soundtrack to the 1982 futuristic noir detective thriller Blade Runner is as bleak and electronically chilling as the film itself. By subtly interspersing clips of dialogue and sounds from the film, Vangelis creates haunting soundscapes with whispered subtexts and sweeping revelations, drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern textures and evoking neo-classical structures…
The saga surrounding Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner is one of the most troubled and tweaked film mythologies in Hollywood history. The various cuts, bootlegged unauthorized VHS and DVD versions, different European and American cuts, etc., are too labyrinthine to go into here, but there's plenty available to read if you aren't already familiar with this murky story. Amazingly enough, the film's soundtrack has a similar narrative, one that is dark, full of conflict; it's so complex that even this mammoth, three-disc 25th Anniversary commemorative edition doesn't manage to straighten out. That said, it is a vast improvement on what has previously been released officially. Greek composer and pioneering prog rock and synth king - and subsequently a best-selling composer of film scores - Vangelis Papathanassiou was tapped to write the score for Scott's film and record the soundtrack…
The Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack, which features new music from Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, be released October 5th via Alcon Sleeping Giant Records, Pitchfork reports. Along with Zimmer and Wallfisch's score, the soundtrack will feature an original song from singer Lauren Daigle, "Almost Human." A handful of classic songs from Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley will also appear on the record, including the former's "Summer Wind" and the latter's "Suspicious Minds."
The Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack, which features new music from Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, be released October 5th via Alcon Sleeping Giant Records, Pitchfork reports.
Vangelis’ music is synonymous with space—the symphony Mythodea was composed for NASA’s 2001 Mars mission, and his 2016 album, Rosetta, was borne from the Rosetta mission to explore a comet. Here, he performs 11 original works on piano and accompanying synthesizer, inspired by nighttime and his passion for space, including the beautifully lilting “Through the Night Mist” and delightful “Nocturnal Promenade.” The film composer also visits some of his most renowned soundtracks, with contemplative reworkings of "Main Theme (From ‘Chariots of Fire’),” “Love Theme (From ‘Blade Runner’),” and “Conquest of Paradise (From ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’).” But it’s his pared-down arrangement of Movement 9 from Mythodea that’s the star of the show.
The LateNightTales series is an easy gateway for those interested in finding where an artist's influences lie - with volumes that are curated by Jamiroquai, MGMT, Belle & Sebastian, and Lindstrøm, among many others - and Röyksopp's contribution showcases the Norwegian duo's love of analog synthesizer tones. The album's 19 tracks weave an icy, cinematic narrative as Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge pick choice cuts from their record collections. Most of these songs are from the '70s and '80s, and are innocent and somber songs of the new wave, yacht rock, AM pop, and ambient variety. No surprise that they would select Vangelis' synth theme "Blade Runner Blues" from the Blade Runner soundtrack, or the chilling classical-themed vocoder piece "Odi et Amo" by Jóhann Jóhannsson…
Themes is one of the most entertaining and thorough of any of Vangelis' collections, with excerpts spanning such albums as Opera Sauvage, China, and the ever-popular Chariots of Fire release from 1981. Most of the selections from Themes speak for Vangelis' movie contributions, including the infamous "Chariots of Fire" track as well as the lonesome-sounding theme from Missing and the powerful openings from Mutiny on the Bounty. With this music, Vangelis has implemented some variations in rhythm and some noticeable fluctuation in his synthesizer work, making these tracks much more colorful and animated than his new age meanderings of the '70s.