Blade Runner Movie Music

This page is dedicated for both Blade Runner movies and soundtracks ( 1982 and 2049 )

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young, it is loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on off-world colonies. When a fugitive group of Nexus-6 replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.

Blade Runner initially underperformed in North American theaters and polarized critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others were displeased with its slow pacing and lack of action. It later became an acclaimed cult film regarded as one of the all-time best science fiction films. Hailed for its production design depicting a “retrofitted” future, Blade Runner is a leading example of neo-noir cinema. The soundtrack, composed by Vangelis, was nominated in 1982 for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe as best original score.

The film has influenced many science fiction films, video games, anime, and television series. It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood, and several later big-budget films were based on his work. In the year after its release, Blade Runner won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and in 1993 it was selected for preservation in the U. S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. A sequel, Blade Runner 2049, was released in October 2017.

Seven versions of Blade Runner exist as a result of controversial changes requested by studio executives. A director’s cut was released in 1992 after a strong response to test screenings of a workprint. This, in conjunction with the film’s popularity as a video rental, made it one of the earliest movies to be released on DVD. In 2007, Warner Bros. released The Final Cut, a 25th-anniversary digitally remastered version; the only version over which Scott retained artistic control.

Blade Runner 2049 is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film Blade Runner, the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, with Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, and Jared Leto in supporting roles. Ford and Edward James Olmos reprise their roles from the original. Set thirty years after the first film, Gosling plays K, a Nexus-9 replicant “blade runner” who uncovers a secret that threatens to destabilize society and the course of civilization. Original director Ridley Scott served as an executive producer on the film.

Principal photography took place between July and November 2016, mainly in Budapest, Hungary. Blade Runner 2049 premiered in Los Angeles on October 3, 2017, and was released in the United States in 2D, 3D, and IMAX on October 6, 2017. The film was praised by critics for its performances, direction, cinematography, musical score, production design, visual effects, and faithfulness to the original film, and was considered by many critics to be among the best films of 2017. Despite positive reviews, the film was a box office disappointment, grossing $260 million worldwide against a production budget between $150–185 million.

Blade Runner 2049 received five nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, winning Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. It also received eight nominations at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, including Best Director, and won Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Effects.

Blade Runner Movie Music

Load More

The first official release (on LP, tape and CD) was a reinterpretation by the New American Orchestra in 1982. Billed as an “orchestral adaptation of music composed for the motion picture by Vangelis”, this release consisted of jazz-inspired, orchestrated renditions of the major tracks from the film, but not the original score tracks.“Memories of Green” originally featured on Vangelis’ 1980 album, See You Later.^[3]

In 1989, Vangelis released Themes, a compilation album featuring unreleased music from several of his film scores, as well as material from non-film-related albums. The album includes “End Titles”, “Memories of Green” and “Love Theme” from Blade Runner, as the first appearance of the original versions of those tracks.

Official Vangelis score

1994 release

This release contained a twelve-page booklet consisting mainly of stills from the film. On page 3 there is a list of credits and the following by Vangelis:^[13]In 1994, an official recording of Vangelis’ score was released by East West (Warner Music) in the UK and by Atlantic Records in the US. The album reached the #20 position in the UK album charts.^[7] In 2013 it reached #14 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums chart.^[8] It has been variously described as “influential and mythical”,^[9] “incredible and pristine”,^[10] “evocative”,^[11] and “the pinnacle of synthesiser soundtracks”.^[12]

Most of the music contained in this album originates from recordings I made in London in 1982, whilst working on the score for the film Blade Runner. Finding myself unable to release these recordings at the time; it is with great pleasure that I am able to do so now. Some of the pieces contained will be known to you from the Original Soundtrack of the film, whilst others are appearing here for the first time. Looking back at Ridley Scott’s powerful and evocative pictures left me as stimulated as before, and made the recompiling of this music, today, an enjoyable experience. (Vangelis, Athens, April 1994)

While most of the tracks on the album are from the film, a number were composed by Vangelis but were ultimately not used in the film itself. Other compositions that appear in the film were not included on this release.

Three of the tracks (“Main Titles”, “Blush Response”, and “Tears in Rain”) feature samples of dialogue from the film. Tracks 1 through 4 are mixed together as a seamless piece; tracks 5 through 7 have silence between them, and the final tracks, 8 through 12 are mixed into another seamless piece.

2007 release

Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary, a 3-CD set, was released in 2007 to coincide with the 5-DVD release to mark the 25th anniversary of the film. It includes the 1994 official CD along with two bonus CDs, both compiled from original material by Vangelis. The second disc includes some previously officially unreleased material, but is still not complete, omitting the Main Title track, for example. The third disc contains new material inspired by Blade Runner. Each track is a separate piece, separated by silence, rather than any of them being mixed together seamlessly as was the case with all but three tracks in the 1994 version.

Although this release claims to be the “complete” score, there is still some music heard in the film that is missing (in sequential order):

1. Longer-length track: “Main Titles”, with prologue
2. Heard in scene: Leon’s Voight-Kampff test
3. Heard in scene: Deckard meets Rachael for the first time (starting with the owl)
4. Longer-length track: “Blade Runner Blues”
5. Heard in scene: Deckard’s dream, before, during and after the unicorn appears (1992 and 2007 film releases)
6. Heard in scene: Deckard’s dream (1984 US film release), actually an alternate recording of “Love Theme”
7. Heard in scene: Deckard meets Abdul bin Hassan (the snake seller); continuing to Taffey Lewis’s club
8. Full track: before the “Love Theme” (called “I Am the Business” on the Esper Edition)
9. Full track: when Batty walks around J. F. Sebastian’s apartment (called “Morning at the Bradbury” on the Esper Edition)
10. Missing prelude: “The Prodigal Son Brings Death”
11. Heard in scene: Deckard enters the Bradbury and walks up the stairs
12. Longer-length track: “Deckard and Roy’s Duel” (which is an abbreviated version of “Dangerous Days” combined with “Wounded Animals”)
13. Longer-length track: “End Titles”

The second disc, of previously unreleased music, contains additional music not present in the film, including two bonus tracks. One of these, “Desolation Path”, is a slightly different version of “Alternate Love Theme/I Dreamt Music”.^[20] This track was originally used in the workprint version of the film, during the Deckard/Rachel love scene.

Instrumentation and methods

Vangelis recorded, mixed and produced the score for “Blade Runner” in his own recording space, Nemo Studios, in 1982. He utilised many contemporary electronic instruments in order to create the atmospheric soundscapes, which he crafted on an ad-hoc basis. This was done by viewing videotapes of scenes from the film in the studio, and then improvising pieces in synchronisation with the images on the screen.^[21] He also applied the use of some foley techniques, using the synthesisers to produce diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The most prominent synthesiser used in the score was the Yamaha CS-80, which can be heard in the opening scenes, and subsequently throughout the rest of the film. 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;^[22] 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.^[23]

Bootlegs

The delays and poor reproductions of the Blade Runner score led to the production of many bootleg recordings over the years. A bootleg tape surfaced in 1982 at science fiction conventions and became popular given the delay of an official release of the original recordings, and in 1993 “Off World Music, Ltd.” created a bootleg CD that would prove more comprehensive than Vangelis’ official CD in 1994. A disc from “Gongo Music” features most of the same material, but more of it. The Deck Definitive Edition came about in 2001, with 27 tracks. In 2002, the “Esper Edition” bootleg surfaced, followed by “Los Angeles, November 2019” in 2003. The double-disc “Esper Edition” combined tracks from the official release, the Gongo boot and the film itself. Finally “2019” provided a single-disc compilation almost wholly consisting of ambient sound from the film, padded out with some sounds from the Westwood game Blade Runner.

Studio tape

The first release of the Blade Runner score in any form was a tape suspected of coming from a sound engineer during the film’s mixing. It was popular, despite subpar audio quality, given there were no plans to release a Vangelis score.^[24]

Off World Music

A second bootleg Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Blade Runner appeared in 1993 by “Off World Music, Ltd.” on CD, which was of high quality and actually more comprehensive than the official release by Vangelis in 1994. This release includes the 1939 recording by R&B group The Ink Spots, “If I Didn’t Care“, that originally appeared in the workprint of Blade Runner, but was replaced by the Don Percival cut “One More Kiss, Dear” in the final version.^[25]

Gongo Music

In 1995, a disc from Romanian label, “Gongo Music, Ltd”, was issued as a limited edition of 3000 copies. It contained mostly the same music as the Off World Music release, but included one track, “Blimpvert”, which had not featured on any previous releases. This track contains an excerpt from “Ogi no Mato” by Ensemble Nipponia.^[26]

Deck Definitive Edition

In 2001, a 27-track CD from Japanese label, “Deck Art”, was released as a limited edition of 500 copies with high quality sound. No tracklist was provided, but the disc contained material found on earlier bootlegs as well as music which had not appeared on any previous releases.^[27]

Esper Edition

In 2002 a bootleg – Blade Runner: Esper Edition by “Esper Productions” – was created as a limited edition of 10 copies, providing a comprehensive Blade Runner soundtrack. It contains some background music that has never been released.^[28]

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 ‘Retirement’ Edition, consisting of six discs (five CD-DA and one DVD-ROM). It incorporated the missing tracks from the trilogy release.

Legacy

In 2017, a sequel to Blade Runner was released, Blade Runner 2049. Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch collaborated on the Blade Runner 2049 score, and the original Blade Runner soundtrack served as inspiration for their work. The composers included a Yamaha CS-80 analog synthesizer among the instruments in an effort to maintain stylistic continuity with Vangelis’s original 1982 film score. Zimmer said of the soundtrack: “Ridley [Scott] is a hard act to follow – as is Vangelis. While Ben [Wallfisch] was four years old, I had actually experienced all of this. We watched and literally, as we stopped watching, we decided on the palette. We decided this wasn’t going to be an orchestral thing. The story spoke to us.”^[29] The sequel score includes a fairly faithful remake of the original “Tears in Rain” (retitled “Tears in the Rain”), and borrows many musical cues from the original Vangelis score throughout, including its frequent use of pitch bending.

Certifications

References

• Johnson, Zac (2011). “Blade Runner – Vangelis | AllMusic”. AllMusic. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
•  
• Eder, Bruce (2011). “Blade Runner (Not O.S.T.) – New American Orchestra | AllMusic”. AllMusic. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
•  
• “Julian Cope presents Head Heritage”. Julian Cope presents Head Heritage.
•  
• NME, 6/11/1994, p.32
•  
• Q, August 1994, p.130
•  
• ocelot-05 (January 15, 2006). “Vangelis – Blade Runner Soundtrack”. sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
•  
• “Vangelis” (select “Albums” tab). Official Charts Company.
•  
• “Vangelis chart results”. Billboard Biz. Billboard. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
•  
• “RA: Vivid LIVE: Vangelis – Music From Blade Runner at Sydney Opera House, Sydney (2013)”. Resident Advisor.
•  
• “The Music Writers Collective”. The Music Writers Collective.
•  
• Alan McGee. “Massive Attack, Vangelis and other replicants”. The Guardian.
•  
• Si Truss. “9 incredible synth film soundtracks”. MusicRadar.
•  
• Vangelis (1994). Blade Runner Soundtrack. Warner Music UK. CD liner notes.
•  
• Jurek, Thom (2011). “Blade Runner Trilogy – Vangelis | AllMusic”. allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
•  
• BBC Music review
•  
• Clemmensen, Christian (27 September 2009). “Blade Runner: (Vangelis)”. Filmtracks. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
•  
• Mike Orme (7 February 2008). “Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary”. Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
•  
• Koran, David (30 January 2008). “Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary Soundtrack”. Soundtrack.Net. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
•  
• Track 5 of the second disc is erroneously listed as “Leo’s Room” (for Leon) on the back of the CD cover.
•  
• “Yahoo Groups/Blade Runner Soundtrack”. yahoo.com.
•  
• “Blade Runner”. Nemostudios.co.uk.
•  
• “Landmark Productions: Vangelis – Blade Runner Soundtrack”. MusicTech.
•  
• “Vangelis scoring Blade Runner”. nemostudios.co.uk.
•  
• Sammon, Paul (1996). Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner. London: Orion Media. ISBN 0-7528-0739-0.
•  
• “Blade Runner Rarities, Off World Music”.
•  
• “Blade Runner Rarities, Gongo Music”.
•  
• “Blade Runner Rarities, Deck Definitive Edition”.
•  
• “Blade Runner Rarities, Esper Edition”. anunna.net.
•  
• “Blade Runner 2049 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Out October 5 – Epic Records”. Epic Records. 3 October 2017. Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
•  
• “Brazilian album certifications – Vários – T.S.O. Blade Runner” (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos.
•  

External links

• Vangelis’ Blade Runner film score at NemoStudios.co.uk – synthesizer set-up, recording music, and studio’s photographs.
• Bladezone.com – Visions In Sound by Bentley Ousley
• Blade Runner (Bootleg Editions) – Antas’ Vangelis rarities website
• The Esper Interview
• Vangelis – Blade Runner (29th Anniversary Limited Edition)

Blade Runner 2049 (soundtrack)

History

Warner Bros. reportedly considered engaging the rapper and music producer El-P to write the film score for Blade Runner 2049, and he was commissioned to write a short score for the film’s first trailer. Conscious of the legacy of Vangelis’s score for the original 1982 film, El-P’s composition made use of a Yamaha CS-80 analog synthesizer, an instrument used by Vangelis. However, El-P’s music was not used in the end, and he has stated that his score was “rejected or ignored”.^[4]

Jóhann Jóhannsson, who had worked with Villeneuve on Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival, was initially announced as composer for the film.^[5] However, Villeneuve and Jóhannsson decided to end the collaboration because Villeneuve felt the film “needed something different, and I needed to go back to something closer to Vangelis‘s soundtrack“.^[6] New composers Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch joined in July 2017. In September, Jóhannsson’s agent confirmed that he was no longer involved and that he was contractually forbidden from commenting on the situation.^[7]

According to Epic Records, Zimmer and Wallfisch sought to continue the legacy of the original Blade Runner score by incorporating the Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer. Zimmer has said of the soundtrack: “First of all, I realized that Denis [Villeneuve] is a director who has a vision; he has a voice. Remember, I’ve done a lot of movies with Ridley Scott. So, it was important that this was an autonomous piece of work. Let’s just be honest. Ridley is a hard act to follow—as is Vangelis. While Ben [Wallfisch] was four-years-old, I had actually experienced all of this. We watched and literally, as we stopped watching, we decided on the palette. We decided this wasn’t going to be an orchestral thing. The story spoke to us.”^[8]

Release

The soundtrack album was released online on October 5, 2017,^[9][10] and a two-disc CD version was released on the Epic Records/ASG Records label in the United States on October 27.

On October 25, 2017, it was announced that a vinyl double-LP of the soundtrack album would be released on December 15, 2017,^[11] in a numbered limited edition of 2500, pressed on 180-gram premium vinyl, intended for audiophiles.^[12] Although the information about the release mentioned that the album would have 24 tracks, the advertised tracks on sites selling it shows only 20 tracks, with the tracks by Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley being omitted from the LPs.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, unless otherwise noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	“2049”	3:37
2.	“Sapper’s Tree”	1:36
3.	“Flight to LAPD”	1:47
4.	“Summer Wind” ( performed by Frank Sinatra)	2:54
5.	“Rain”	2:26
6.	“Wallace”	5:23
7.	“Memory”	2:32
8.	“Mesa”	3:10
9.	“Orphanage”	1:13
10.	“Furnace”	3:41
11.	“Someone Lived This”	3:13
12.	“Joi”	3:51
13.	“Pilot”	2:17
14.	“Suspicious Minds” ( performed by Elvis Presley)	4:22
15.	“Can’t Help Falling in Love” ( performed by Elvis Presley & the Jordanaires)	3:02
16.	“One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” ( performed by Frank Sinatra)	4:24
17.	“Hijack”	5:32
18.	“That’s Why We Believe”	3:36
19.	“Her Eyes Were Green”	6:17
20.	“Sea Wall”	9:52
21.	“All the Best Memories Are Hers”	3:22
22.	“Tears in the Rain” (originally by Vangelis)	2:10
23.	“Blade Runner”	10:05
24.	“Almost Human” (performed by Lauren Daigle)	3:22

Note indicates tracks that are not on the limited edition two-LP vinyl release

Charts

References

• Egner, Jeremy (September 8, 2017). “‘Blade Runner 2049′: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling and the Creators Discuss the Sci-Fi Sequel and Rehash Old Arguments”. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
•  
• Gettel, Oliver (February 18, 2018). “Three Billboards triumphs at BAFTA Awards: See the full winners list”. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
•  
• “Award Winners Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media”. Grammys. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
•  
• “Listen to El-P’s ‘rejected’ Blade Runner 2049 score”. The Independent. September 25, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
•  
• Jon Blistein (October 3, 2017). “‘Blade Runner 2049′ Soundtrack Features Hans Zimmer, Elvis Presley”. Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
•  
• William Mullally (September 28, 2017). “Villeneuve reveals why he wanted David Bowie in Blade Runner 2049”. Al Arabiya. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
•  
• “Icelandic Film Composer No Longer Attached To Blade Runner Sequel”. icelandreview.com. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
•  
• “Blade Runner 2049 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Out October 5 – Epic Records”. Epic Records. October 3, 2017. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
•  
• Noah Yoo, Matthew Strauss (October 3, 2017). “Blade Runner 2049 Soundtrack Detailed, Jóhann Jóhannsson Exit Explained”. Pitchfork. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
•  
• “Blade Runner 2049 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”. Apple Music. October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
•  
• Gabriela Helfet (October 25, 2017). “Blade Runner 2049 original soundtrack released on limited 2xLP”. The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
•  
• Brock Thiessen (October 25, 2017). “‘Blade Runner 2049′ Soundtrack Gets Limited Vinyl Release”. Exclaim!. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
•  
• “Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer / Benjamin Wallfisch – Blade Runner 2049” (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
•  
• “Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer / Benjamin Wallfisch – Blade Runner 2049” (in French). Hung Medien.
•  
• “Hans Zimmer Chart History (Canadian Albums)”. Billboard.
•  
• “Lescharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer / Benjamin Wallfisch – Blade Runner 2049”. Hung Medien.
•  
• “‘Blade Runner 2049 (O.S.T.)’ on the FIMI charts” (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
•  
• “Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS – Official Retail Sales Chart”. OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
•  
• “Spanishcharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer / Benjamin Wallfisch – Blade Runner 2049”. Hung Medien.
•  
• “Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer / Benjamin Wallfisch – Blade Runner 2049”. Hung Medien.
•  
• “Official Albums Chart Top 100”. Official Charts Company.
•  
• “Hans Zimmer Chart History (Billboard 200)”. Billboard.
•  

External links

• Official film website