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this is Rachaels song and neatly matches the questions that the film posses about her, how human is she, how much can a machine be like us.

The most memorable part of the score, Love Theme is dominated by a sleazy saxophone, soft and subtle waves of harmonies provide a bed for it to lay on, and a piano provides a counterpoint, before the synthetic sounds again become the dominant sound, and as they fade the saxophone plays us out once more. Out of the blue One More Kiss Dear is a 1940s radio ballad, totally at odds with what has gone before, but reminding us that even in the far future, there will still be elements of the distant past.

Blade Runner Blues is Vangelis at his starkest, cold stabs of sound cut through a warmer drone of background noise. Memories of Green is a more contemporary piano piece, the occasional incidental electronic sounds remind us were we are, but a wistful and nostalgic nocturn of a piece places us in more human territory. Those incidental futuristic noises carry us into Tales of the Future and an arabesque vocal contrasts with the almost random noises behind it. A spiral of exotic eastern sounds rise from the keyboards that still manage to maintain its futuristc sound, enable the song to come across like a strange mix of ancient past and far future.

Haunting pipes lead us into Damask Rose, still clinging to its arabic charm and its dark future melodies. The End Title Track is the only one on the album that really lets itself go, an up electronic beat carries the tune and epic rolls of percussion punctuate the gaps in the main riff, and finally it builds to a crescendo and is gone. In its place is the rain and the tired breathing of Batty, the anti hero of the film, and he launchs into the most famous part of the script, his dying speech, Tears In Rain.
The soundtrack does capture the feel of the film well, futuristic, dark and sexy. My one word of warning is that almost all of the music is synthetic and keyboard driven. If you are not a fan of this type of music then this is not for you. It is a great soundtrack on its own but I do think that you need to see the film first and use the soundtrack to as a permenant record of the atmosphere of this amazing movie.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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