BladeRunnerTrilogyFrontSIntroduction

“BR 25” (Blade Runner 25th Anniversary) is a studio album by Vangelis released by Universal Music on the 10th of December 2007. The album is included as part of an expanded re-issue of the official “Blade Runner” soundtrack titled “Blade Runner Trilogy, 25th Anniversary”, consisting of 3 CD’s: the first an exact copy of the 1994 official soundtrack album, the second containing additional music from the filmscore, complemented by a couple of unused cues, and the third is “BR 25”, a completely new album with music inspired by Blade Runner on behalf of its 25th Anniversary.

The link of "BR 25" with Blade Runner is incidental and not always evident, noticeable through the use of particular sounds and spoken words. As such “BR 25” does not aim to be a follow-up of its illustrious predecessor. It is inspired at best, but overall a very independent studio album. One of the things that stand out on “BR 25” is the use of voice recordings of spoken words by many people from Vangelis’ social network, such as Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Roman Polanski, Laura Metaxa, Cherry Vanilla, Scott Bolton, Akiko Ebi and Rutger Hauer.

Highlights on the album are ‘Dimitri’s Bar’ and ‘Sweet Solitude’ featuring Dimitris Tsakas on saxophone, as well as ‘Spotkanie Z Matka’ featuring Roman Polanski reciting a poem by Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski. ‘Piano In An Empty Room’ is the odd one out here, sounding exactly like its title suggests and as such a prelude to Vangelis’ later album “Nocturne The Piano Album” (2019).

 

BladeRunnerTrilogyBackTracklist and credits

  1. Launch Approval1 (1:54)
  2. Up And Running2 (3:09)
  3. Mail From India3 (3:27)
  4. BR Downtown4 (2:27)
  5. Dimitri's Bar5 (3:52)
  6. Sweet Solitude6 (6:56)
  7. No Expectation Boulevard7 (6:44)
  8. Vadavarot8 (4:14)
  9. Perfume Exotico9 (5:19)
  10. Spotkanie Z Matka10 (5:09)
  11. Piano In An Empty Room (3:37)
  12. Keep Asking11 (1:29)

1 Voice by Bryce Bolton and Scott Bolton.
2 Voice by Ridley Scott.
3 Ney by Harris Lambrakis.
4 Voice by Akiko Ebi, Bruno Delaye, Cherry Vanilla and Oliver Stone.
5 Saxophone by Dimitris Tsakas. Voice by Akiko Ebi and Oliver Stone.
6 Saxophone by Dimitris Tsakas.
7 Voice by Bhaskar Balakrishnan, Laura Metaxa, Ridley Scott, Rutger Hauer, Shobhana Balakrishnan, Wes Studi and Zhao Yali.
8 Voice by Florencia Suayan Tacod and Irina Valentinova.
9 Voice by Edward James Olmos.
10 Voice by Roman Polanski. Poem written by Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski.
11 Voice by Bryce Bolton.

  • All music composed, arranged, produced and performed by Vangelis.
  • Assistant sound production and mixing: Frederick Rousseau.
  • Sound engineers: Frederick Rousseau and Philippe Colonna.
  • Assistant sound engineer: Vangelis Saitis.

 

BladeRunnerTrilogyFrontDiscography

CD “Blade Runner Trilogy, 25th Anniversary” (3CD Special Edition, issued in digipack)

 

Recording studio

The release does not specify where the music was recorded, but most likely it was recorded at one of Vangelis' home studios in Athens.

 

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