sci-fi soundtracks

i realized again yesterday that i was going to be remiss again in providing some music to share as i have not as yet replaced the needle for my usb turntable. i went on a hunt in the garage and the trunk of my car for a suitable cassette that i could download and share and thought that i had remembered having an old "blade runner" soundtrack somewhere. but i couldn't locate it. and the more i thought about it, the more i wished i could share it. back in the day when i was taking a drawing class at city college, our instructor, a grey haired product of the summer of love would often put on some non-vocal new-agey music while we sketched. blecch. but fairly, she also invited any in the class who were brave enough to share something of their own. conditions being, it wasn't loud nasty rock and roll music and didn't have distracting vocals which might pull our sensitive artistic souls from the tasks at hand.
as i thought about this challenge i remembered this soundtrack by vangelis. he had already scored "chariots of fire" and the music he created for the blade runner film was nothing short of otherworldly. and really that's what i think a good science fiction film soundtrack should ultimately do. take us to another world. and remind us again when we listen at home or in the car or on the walk to work what it was like to taste that world for a little while. so, sadly i cannot share that experience today, but just tease and talk about it a little. and in that vein i also offer 4 more choices to round up my top 5 list for sci-fi soundtracks. music that took me to another place...


obviously i have already spent some time talking about this one, but it certainly deserves inclusion as an avatar of that fantastic journey among the stars.

whenever i hear strauss waltzes i am immediately reminded of this film. the two are inseperable now in my mind. such is the power of film.

and again i wrote recently about this film, but i think it perfectly captured the essence of life in the digital world. a world at that time as alien to us as the distant stars.

and if we're going to have a discussion like this i have to include this score by bernard hermann. hermann is a giant who has scored for hitchcock and welles. and certainly in the sci-fi realm he is no stranger either having done work on the twilight zone and lost in space. but this film with its theremin score put audiences on edge as we watched spacemen land and make us helpless.
so there you have it, my top 5 sci-fi soundtrack roundup. and promises of new music soon.