{"id":5262,"date":"2012-07-17T18:10:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T22:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5262"},"modified":"2012-07-17T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-17T22:12:47","slug":"cd-legend-1985-tangerine-dream-2012-bsx-re-recording","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5262","title":{"rendered":"CD: Legend (1985) — Tangerine Dream [2012 BSX re-recording]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>J to L<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rating: Good<\/p>\n

Label: BSX Records<\/a> \/ Released: May 21, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 20 tracks \/ (75:35)<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Special Notes: Re-recording produced & arranged by composer Brandon K. Verrett \/ 6-page colour booklet with liner notes \/ Limited to 1500 copies.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Composer: Tangerine Dream<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

More than 25 years since Legend<\/strong>‘s<\/strong> release, only Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s original orchestral & synth-embellished score has received a definitive CD release (via Silva Screen), whereas Tangerine Dream\u2019s electronic replacement score for the North American edit has yet to be issued on disc in its complete unexpurgated form.<\/p>\n

The original MCA LP was a re-recording of select cues (typical for the band, much like Firestarter<\/strong> or Flashpoint<\/strong>), and Varese Sarabande reissued the album on CD a few years later, but TD\u2019s original score recording\u2019s never appeared anywhere save on fan edit and bootleg albums (mostly as a pastiche of unreleased cues among other film & non-film bits & pieces).<\/p>\n

When Universal was prepping their DVD of Ridley Scott\u2019s film, the original special features details included an isolated score track of TD\u2019s music, but what ultimately ended up on the disc were poor mono mix-downs from the album, fitted in close proximity of the original cues \u2013 a move either due to the band\u2019s less than enthusiastic desire to have their original film scores released anywhere, or a legal compromise where Universal wasn\u2019t able to negotiate original cues, and substituted the album recordings they owned.<\/p>\n

BSX Records\u2019 CD is not<\/strong> an original score re-recording: it is, as producer & arranger Brandon K. Verrett describes in the liner notes, a new interpretation of TD\u2019s music, mostly transposed to an orchestral-synth palette.<\/p>\n

On one level, it\u2019s an intriguing transposition of contemporary synth music into a more classical orchestral environment, and some cues are striking and refreshing in their new incarnations \u2013 the most successful being the quiet intimate pieces featuring solo violin \u2013 but where TD\u2019s thunderous synth beats, resonant drones, and wooden percussion emulations dominate, the transposed cues don\u2019t quite work: the end-result in a sound closer to New Age fusion (if not stripped-down TD, as with \u201cKitchen Fight\u201d), and it may be too drastic for TD fans tightly accustomed to the band\u2019s heavy textures, looped percussion, and fat analogue chords that aren\u2019t easily to emulate.<\/p>\n

BSX\u2019s production isn\u2019t a misguided effort, just an interpretation that\u2019s perhaps not radical <\/em>enough<\/em> from TD\u2019s own sound. Instead of going full techno or perhaps avant garde orchestral, for example, Brandon\u2019s straddling of orchestral and specific sonic concepts unique to the band & the original recording fails to blossom into something strikingly original. It\u2019s a misfire, but it\u2019s purely unintentional.<\/p>\n

Where the album succeeds are cues like \u201cOpening,\u201d the acoustic guitar in \u201cCottage,\u201d or the evocation of vintage synths, orchestra, and TD\u2019s use of trance-inducing metronome taps in \u201cJack vs. Darkness\u201d (the latter element evoking Firestarter<\/strong>). The retention of the vocal tracks is more problematic, although Brian Ferry’s “Is You Love Strong Enough?” \u00a0(slapped onto the End Credits by the studio without TD\u2019s knowledge) is acceptable only because it\u2019s the better of the three songs on BSX\u2019s CD. Both Universal & director Ridley Scott created a serious discontinuity within the North American release version by adding and subtracting various music elements, and the integration of the songs within this interpretation just extends the final score\u2019s gaping flaws.<\/p>\n

Jon Anderson\u2019s vocals (“Loved By the Sun”) \u2013 also added without TD\u2019s desire to their final screen cue \u2013 have a nice harmonic arc but the lyrics remain laughable – \u201cTwo and Two go so close together \/ Whether there is hope that is torn apart \/ In the words of all that\u2019s singing \/ Hand-in-hand the beginning is at the start\u201d \u2013 and sound like a piecemeal cribbing of dialogue filtered through rock poetry and hastily rearranged to meet a looming mixing deadline. Katie Campbell\u2019s vocals are fine, but there\u2019s ultimately no improvement by re-arranging a protracted song for a new vocalist when it never worked in the first place in the film or on LP. As for a bonus vocal version of \u201cUnicorn\u2019s Song,\u201d it\u2019s easy listening synth-pop, and is the CD\u2019s most peculiar addition, but the re-imagined Legend <\/strong>programme somewhat recovers with alternate versions of 4 cues.<\/p>\n

Conceived because Scott was trying to think commercial (and pro-Universal), TD\u2019s replacement score ended up being one of their best works, but until there\u2019s a reconstruction of the original<\/em> score tracks as the band intended for the film, fans will never be satisfied with the existing albums. It\u2019s an ongoing gripe that\u2019s more targeted at the band\u2019s current member makeup & management for sitting on hours of unreleased score tracks rather than the genuine efforts of labels to at least bring the music periodically back into circulation in some form.<\/p>\n

For a more detailed chronicle of Legend\u2019s calamitous history on film and LP, readers should track down out Randall D. Larson\u2019s 1987 essay & interview for CinemaScore 15<\/a>.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— DVD Review<\/a> — Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0J to L<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ J to L . Rating: Good Label: BSX Records \/ Released: May 21, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 20 tracks \/ (75:35) . Special Notes: Re-recording produced & arranged by composer Brandon K. Verrett \/ 6-page colour booklet with liner notes \/ Limited to 1500 copies. . Composer: Tangerine Dream […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1mS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5262"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5272,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5262\/revisions\/5272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}