Vangelis - Blade Runner (OST) (1982)

Vangelis Papathanasiou - Blade Runner (OST) (1982)

Tracklist front / back album covers

Blade Runner: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Ridley Scott's 1982 science-fiction noir film Blade Runner, composed by Greek electronic musician Vangelis. It has received acclaim as among Vangelis's best work and an influential work in the history of electronic music. It was nominated in 1983 for a BAFTA and Golden Globe as best original score. The score evokes the film's bleak futurism with an emotive synthesizer-based sound, drawing on the jazz scores of classic film noir as well as neo-classical elements and Middle Eastern texture. It features vocals from Demis Roussos and saxophone by Dick Morrissey on "Love Theme". The track "Memories of Green" from Vangelis' 1980 album See You Later was also used.

The official release of the soundtrack was delayed for over a decade. The first 1994 release omitted much of the film's score and included compositions not used in the film. A 25th anniversary edition released in 2007 included further unreleased material and a disc of new music inspired by the film. Various bootleg recordings containing more comprehensive versions of the score, as well as superior sound quality to the original 1994 release, have widely circulated.

An orchestral rendition of the soundtrack was released in 1982 by the New American Orchestra, but disowned by both Vangelis and director Scott.

Recording

Vangelis recorded, mixed and produced the score for Blade Runner in his London recording space Nemo Studios in 1982. He crafted the score on an ad-hoc basis by viewing videotapes of scenes from the film in the studio, and then improvising pieces in synchronisation with the images on the screen. He also applied the use of some foley techniques, using synthesisers to produce diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

The most prominent synthesiser used in the score was the Yamaha CS-80, which can be prominently heard in the opening scenes. Other synthesisers employed by Vangelis included four Roland instruments: the ProMars, the Jupiter-4, the CR-5000 drum machine, and the VP-330 Vocoder Plus; a Sequential Circuits Prophet-10;[10] a Yamaha GS1 FM synthesizer; and an E-mu Emulator sampler. A Steinway grand piano, a Yamaha CP-80 electric grand and a modified Fender Rhodes were also used. He also utilised a variety of traditional instruments, including, gamelan, glockenspiel, gong, snare drum, timpani and tubular bells.

Esper Edition notes

Original music composed and performed by Vangelis

"Harps of the Ancient Temples" (Bicycle Riders) written and performed by Gail Laughton.

Vocals performed on tracks 3, 9 (disc I) and track 5 (disc II) by Demis Roussos.

Vocals performed on "Rachael's Song" by Mary Hopkin

Saxophone on tracks 2 and 9 (disc II) by Dick Morrissey.

Lyrics and vocals on "One More Kiss‚ Dear" by Don Percival (Note: the official 1994 release credits the vocals to Don Percival but the lyrics to English singer/composer Peter Skellern).

"Salome's Dance" includes a snippet that the band 

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark expanded into the single "Junk Culture" from the album of the same name, released in 1984.

The Esper bootleg edition was expanded in 2017 and renamed the Esper 'Retirement' Edition, consisting of six discs (five CD-DA and one DVD-ROM). It incorporated the missing tracks from the trilogy release.

Other authors and iTunes, state the Gail Laughton piece is called "Pompeii 76 A.D." from his album Harps Of The Ancient Temples.