BLADE RUNNER (OST)

With a stain or two on this record notwithstanding, this record is a five-plus piece of work. The album has a dark, urban feel to it, which is suggested in the montage of the eponymous Ridley Scott film. I think the montage really helps, especially in the case of 'Tales of the Future'; I probably wouldn't be able to make anything out of this music without the visuals. That way this air of scummy, industrial landscapes easily permeates the record in my mind. Also, we hear several audio clips from the movie with the lines of some of its characters, and those lines are not really in the way of my listening experience.

On almost every single track Vangelis Papathanassiou works his magic with moody synthesizers and even drum sequencers. We have a long string of deeply introspective textures as well as a few moody rhythmic tracks on this masterwork. The album surely sounds like a lot of work was put into it. I'm not even sure which track on its running order list is the true pinnacle. Can a record really have six pinnacles? I guess what I'm trying to say here is that Vangelis actually claimed the title of a true master of ambient music with this soundtrack. By the way, I don't hear any strings on my version of the album, so I must have got the 1992 rendition of the soundtrack. What can I say? I download stuff without knowing much detail about it.

All in all, I have two words for you: absolute classic.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Main Titles' - *****

2. 'Blush Response' - ****

3. 'Wait for Me' - *****

4. 'Rachel's Song' - ****

5. 'Love Theme' - *****

6. 'One More Kiss, Dear' - *****

7. 'Blade Runner Blues' - *****

8. 'Memories of Green' - *****

9. 'Tales of the Future' - ***

10. 'Damask Rose' - **

11. 'Blade Runner (End Titles)' - ****

12. 'Tears in Rain' - *****

Stamp: "I like it." It's not "Highly recommended" because it seems that relatively not a lot of people on this website (as of the time of this writing) deeply enjoy this record. In addition to that, ambient music is not a mainstream kind of music.