Sunday 2 August 2009

The Power Of Advertising



I was watching the telly the other night and during the break Hannibal Lecter was banging on about the scene in Blade Runner where Rutger Hauer was on the rooftop and does the tears in the rain speech, in the vain attempt to get me to subscribe to Rupert Murdoch's Shit TV.

I haven't seen Blade Runner for quite a few years, it used to be essential post pub/club viewing with a few spliffs in one of my mates flat, when the debates would start over whether Deckard was a replicant himself or which of the 7 versions was actually the best. Personally I liked the voice over on the original release but I know most folk don't.

One thing that was never argued about was the soundtrack and how good it was. There was the odd gripe about the inferior New American Orchestra recording which was released in 1982 but when Vangelis' score was finally available on CD in 1994 this was no longer an issue. Since then there have been several bootleg soundtracks slipped out and Vangelis released a 3 disc version containing the original score, unreleased tracks and a third disc of music inspired by Blade Runner, none of which I have heard as having the 1994 version this package is very low on the wants list.

Due to Dr Lecter and Murdoch's advert i decided it was about time that I watched Blade Runner again, so headed to Amazon where it can be picked up in the "final" cut for a very reasonable £4.96 quite a bit cheaper than a subscription to satellite tv.

Here are two of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack.

Vangelis - Memories of Green

Vangelis - Tears In Rain

3 comments:

Simon said...

I still prefer the voice over version myself. You're not supposed to say that but it's true. Harrison Ford has a voice made for voice overs.

Such a great film though, still looks amazing and the last Rutger speech, sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it...

drew said...

It is heresy to prefer the original version but there is just something about it I think all the flaws and the murky soundtrack and print make it.

Unknown said...

Star Wars. Bladerunner. Sci-fi in general.

I just dont get it.