Like many, I have waited for a decent release of Vangelis' Blade Runner.
No doubt most fans will already have the Disc One, released in 1994. This was so atmospheric. Sound effects and dialogue combined to submerge us into the damp streets of Los Angeles. Excellent. I loved it, still do.
So three discs will be eagerly anticipated. Especially with unreleased tracks...
The second disc is also atmospheric, images of Tyrell's office are easily conjured. We just float along in the world created by Ridley Scott and Vangelis. Lovely.
Imagine, travelling in your spinner thru the neon sky-scrapers, lost in the sounds of the second disc.....then the third disc kicks in.
The first and second tracks are fine. A nice mix of One More Kiss Dear, but you cannot help but feel that you have left Blade Runner. Then the rest of the CD hits you.
I could not help but question what Vangelis was doing. Has he just used tracks that he never released from the eighties? So… more »

Like many, I have waited for a decent release of Vangelis' Blade Runner.
No doubt most fans will already have the Disc One, released in 1994. This was so atmospheric. Sound effects and dialogue combined to submerge us into the damp streets of Los Angeles. Excellent. I loved it, still do.
So three discs will be eagerly anticipated. Especially with unreleased tracks...
The second disc is also atmospheric, images of Tyrell's office are easily conjured. We just float along in the world created by Ridley Scott and Vangelis. Lovely.
Imagine, travelling in your spinner thru the neon sky-scrapers, lost in the sounds of the second disc.....then the third disc kicks in.
The first and second tracks are fine. A nice mix of One More Kiss Dear, but you cannot help but feel that you have left Blade Runner. Then the rest of the CD hits you.
I could not help but question what Vangelis was doing. Has he just used tracks that he never released from the eighties? So un-Blade Runner.
I love the score for Blade Runner but everytime I've listened to the third disc I've asked, except for the occasional sound effect and the odd sample there is no connection to the film.
Is there something that I'm missing? I cannot help that I am listening to a Jean Michel Jarre album from the late eighties. (Which, in the right frame of mind is not a bad listen BUT it is not what I expect when I've purchased a Vangelis unreleased score for Blade Runner!)
The great atmosphere created by the first two discs is shattered by the third. Which to me is a shame. A real shame. So ignore the third disc and just float to the first two.
If you're stuck for a third disc to listen to, find 'My Kingdom' by the Future Sound Of London. Excellent use of the Rachael's Song sample.

A new Blade Runner soundtrack release with two brand new discs!!!! The release comes in a deluxe 3 CD digipack. Overall this packaging looks and feels impressive, and this must be one of the best looking CD's I have seen in recent times.

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… more »

A new Blade Runner soundtrack release with two brand new discs!!!! The release comes in a deluxe 3 CD digipack. Overall this packaging looks and feels impressive, and this must be one of the best looking CD's I have seen in recent times.

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 legendary soundtrack 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 epic 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 or dream 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.

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 the way we might perceive 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. Very occasionally the music refers to musical motifs from the original score, by recycling melodies and 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.