Vangelis - Blade Runner Trilogy Album

I know there are a lot of reviews for this already, but I feel compelled to review this anew in this, the "trilogy" version. I have never supported bootlegs, and certainly am not going start anytime soon, so I have not been exposed to any of the additional material on here before. That said, on with the review.

Like others, the soundtrack to Blade Runner had a profound effect on me. Its thick electronic sound was before it's time in terms of movie soundtracks and set a heavy tone for a similarly heavy movie. Most people smartly avoided the abortion of a soundtrack that was the "new American orchestra" version, which was likely cooked up by some lazy studio exec. Who wanted to make a quick buck, and instead opted for the official release in the early 90ties. Of course, the only thing about that was it was far from a complete score. That said, it is still a decent record, and it both carries the mood of the movie, and works fairly well as a piece of early 80ties ambient electronica. It is included in as the first disc of this set, and aside from a remastering; the track list remains the same, so nothing new for aficionados there.

Its disc two where things start to get interesting. This disc is comprised of further music from the film that did not make it onto the first round of the soundtrack. There are some standouts for me that I was surprised did not make it onto the first release like dr. tyrells owl, Leon’s room and empty streets, which are favorites of mine, but really this disc is as strong as the first by virtue that it is "more music from blade runner."

Where things really go off the rails is on disc three. there has been a lot of commentary on why they just did not release the full score over three cd's essentially emulating the long circulating bootleg copies that are floating around, and give Vangelis his deserved share in the artist profit from his music instead of fans needing to support pirates. However, instead of doing that, this is a disc of "new" material inspired by blade runner. So, what the hell does that mean? Well, before you read on, let me say: it aint good news. The third disc is full of under produced sketches, some incorporating some of the synth work from the score over "new" beats or rhythm ideas that sound very underwhelming and pale when put next to the material on the first two discs. I bought this on iTunes, so I don’t have the benefit of liner notes, but I don’t really need them after listening to the material. Unfortunately, I think its crap. Not there is anything inherently wrong with it, besides from being incredibly average sounding. it's sad because a generation of incredible electronic music composers, from Detroit, to Sheffield to Berlin, who may have been influenced by the original score and went on to create such amazing music, sit next to this "new" music by Vangelis, and poor Vangelis seems stuck in a time warp. This disc is full of that special kind of limp electronic sound that has traditionally been ruled over by people like tangerine dream and jean Michael jarre. No im not talking about their vintage 70ties stuff, but the fact that artists like these, and Vangelis it would seem have not joined modern society, and their music isn’t even cool in a "retro" way, its just euro-synth-prog-cheese that grates on nerves. listen closer, and you can hear an abundance of pointless voice samples that have little to do with the movie, unless you can consider Vangelis sampling ridley scott, presumably from the commentary to the DVD box set, saying how he wishes he was in more regular contact with Vangelis. uh, what????

Ok, ive ripped on it enough, but this third discs is really an insult to the tone set by such an excellent original soundtrack. Perhaps you will love this disc if you are a huge fan of Vangelis. As you might have guessed, I am not. The Blade Runner soundtrack did not make me endeared to the music of Vangelis; it made me endeared to electronic music in general.

Is this trilogy worth it? Well, no, probably not. In the end, truly: the best way to enjoy this soundtrack is to buy the final cut on blue ray and listen to it along with the movie. Although I don’t mind having some of the songs from the second disc, in retrospect, I should have stayed away and just keep the original one disc soundtrack release and save my money. You should do the same.