IGX

I haven't followed this closely but the movie has always been one of my favorites. I bought the first soundtrack when it was released about 12 years ago or so. Loved it and still do but it was obviously incomplete. A few weeks I learned that there was a 3 disc version released to coincide with the Ultimate Edition DVD last year. So I got the 3 disc soundtrack thinking that after 30 freaking years the music company had gotten something right.

No such luck.

It turned out to be the exact same soundtrack on the first disc, the second disc was was sounded like out of context background music, and the third was some music that Vangelis obviously threw together on a whim for the 30th anniversary of the movie. Some of this stuff was okay but obviously this was not the soundtrack a lot of people had been waiting for.

I did some digging and found that fans had gotten tired of waiting for the music company to get their act together and had put together a soundtrack of their own using the official soundtrack, music from the movie, and from the video game. It's called Blade Runner the Esper edition.

Since it's bootleg, you can't really buy it any where. But I did a search for a torrent on it and got it.

If you're a fan of the film, this is a must have. It's available and it's the real deal. This is one of the best soundtracks I have and I like film music a lot. It's worth the torrent search. I guess only fans of the movie could put something like this together. Just shows how stupid music companies are.

Thanks Dave, that's good info.

They have been screwing up the BR soundtrack for almost 30 years. I got suckered into buying the "Orchestral Adaptatons" rip off back in the day.

I had a an official CD of the Vangelis soundtrack once upon a time...IIRC, it was a UK only release or something like that.

The official Vangelis release was put out about 12 or more years ago. It's good, don't get me wrong. But the Esper edition is sooooo much better. You get the music on the official release plus all the great atmospherics from the film plus the sound effects and some dialogue. for me, it's definitely the definitive version. and the price is good, too.

Jack wrote:Mike Jackson thanks you for this review.

The 3 CD set is great, the whole thing.

If you liked that one, then you should do yourself a favor and Google the torrent for the Esper edition. I like it much better than the 3 CD 30th anniversary edition. The Esper edition has the "new" music mixed in with the "official" soundtrack and the tracks have been re-sequenced to fit the film better. Plus sound effects form the video game add even more depth to the experience. When the air cars pass by on my headphones, it sends chills up my spine. It's like your there.

Tacking the new music together onto a second CD as in the anniversary edition seemed bizarre to me. i didn't like it. It was like background music instead part of the film experience.