LIMITED TO 2000 UNITS ONLY BUYSOUNDTRAX Records presents the soundtrack for NEAR DARK, featuring music composed and performed by Tangerine Dream for the 1987 cult horror film directed by Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK, THE HURT LOCKER, ZERO DARK THIRTY), written by Eric Red (THE HITCHER) and starring Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein, Jenny Wright, Adrian Pasdar, Joshua Miller and Tim Thomerson. NEAR DARK tells the story of small town boy Caleb (Pasdar) who meets Mae (Wright) on the street outside an ice cream parlor one night. Immediately smitten, Caleb is happy to oblige her request for a ride home for the price of a kiss. Instead of a kiss, Caleb receives a bite as he finds out the hard way that Mae is a vampire. Unable to start his truck, he starts to walk back home but as the sun begins to rise, he gets sicker and sicker. Just as he is about to arrive home, an RV appears behind him and he is pulled inside. His father, Loy (Thomerson), sees what has happened and immediately assumes that his son has been kidnapped. The truth is far more terrifying. NEAR DARK was the first solo directorial feature for director Kathyrn Bigelow. Co-written with Bigelow s friend, Eric Red, NEAR DARK mixed elements of the vampire movie with that of the Western and biker genres. The film also had the benefit of being extremely well cast. Henriksen, Paxton, and Goldstein had all just been in James Cameron s ALIENS the previous year and brought that chemistry with them into NEAR DARK. Surprisingly released the same weekend as THE LOST BOYS, which easily eclipsed NEAR DARK at the box office, Bigelow s NEAR DARK has gone on to achieve the higher critical recognition. Both films tried to redefine the vampire legend by shedding the Gothic trappings that characterized vampire movies for decades and succeeded in different ways. The producers of the film had succeeded in making a unique vampire film and were intent on hiring someone to produce music for the film that also would not sound like a typical vampire film. They turned to the German electronic band Tangerine Dream. At the time of NEAR DARK, Tangerine Dream s line up consisted of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, and Paul Haslinger, who collaborated equally on composing and performing all of their music. Coming out of ambient electronic rock, Tangerine Dream s music is characterized by progressive atmospheres, although in later film projects such as LEGEND, they would begin to experiment more with melodic structures. Their music for NEAR DARK is primarily based on ambiance and tempo, with an emphasis on minimalistic riffing and slowly developed rhythm pads which are built up with progressive layers of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. Previously released on compact disc in 1987 and out of print for many years, BUYSOUNDTRAX Records brings NEAR DARK back to compact disc with remastered sound by Digital Outland.
S**E
I sure miss Tangerine Dream....
Soundtrack to an equally great horror flick from that wretched era of the 1980s. Sure, some of this sounds TERRIBLY dated, but then other tracks have an equally timeless appeal that I shall never part with.Listening to Tangerine Dream one gets the sense that they were concerned about creating actual songs & mood,and not just setting their arsenal of electronics gear on auto-pilot like much of modern day "Electronic Artists". When it works, it WORKS.Moody, contemplative and somewhat melancholy, it achieves it's goal of creating an expansive, moody backdrop soundscape to its low budget vampire film. The reason for the full-on five star review is for the fact that, for the most part, this can stand on its own as it's own piece of work distinct from the film for which it was made. No endless variations of the same couple of cues, here folks - no, this is a fleshed out album of individual songs. Five stars for established TD fans,diverse soundtrack collectors and horror film fanatics alike.
K**N
Near Perfection!
This soundtrack is a rare gem, that's for sure, the movie is even more rare I think. But on to the little review here. As people has stated, there are often too many filler tracks on TD's soundtracks, but not on this one.I saw the movie once a long time ago, and thought the music was perfect for the kind of "horror" movie it was. All songs has their little magic moments and follows the movie in a good way with great atmosphere and mood to it. The best tracks IMO are "Pick Up At High Noon" which is the typical "opening title song, or I you prefer, the killer is watching you song", haunting and atmospheric!!And the second best song is "Good Times" which has lots of guitar playing in it. A fast paced track!.The rest of the album is pretty much very well done. The only bad/boring song I know about on this disc would be "Severin Dies". It doesn't feel TD when I hear it.I would recommend this soundtrack if you are looking for dark and atmospheric TD stuff. Great piece of work! Buy it!
V**M
RIP Edgar
One of the best soundtracks of all time sounds even better on this limited edition awesomely remastered CD. The booklet was lovingly put together and written with a great description of how the music enhanced the movie and vice versa.
B**N
Near Dark
It’s been one of my favorite movies since it first hit video over 30 years ago, I love all of Katherine Bigelow’s films, this is my favorite Tangerine Dream score ever, I miss Bill Paxton
R**W
Dark Dream
Tangerine Dream recorded soundtracks of variable quality through the 1980s. This is one of the better ones. Well worth owning. Sound here is remastered. A decent reissue.
A**N
Near Dark: Great Soundtrack
The cd was in pristine condition and played beautifully. The music by Tangerine Dream was excellent,one if their best music scores. The case and inserts were all in great shape. For nothing negative to say. I was extremely pleased with my purchase.
T**!
FANTASTIC re-release!
A must have for all fans of the cult classic movie by Kathryn Bigelow"NEAR DARK" stars Lance Henriksen, Jenny Wright and Bill Paxton.Soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and it's limited to 2000 units !Digital remastered, best buy ! Love it !For German buyers :Keine Zollprobleme, nach 2 Wochen war er da ohne Zuzahlung !
S**R
Excellent
Tangerine Dream soundtracks really help make the movie, and this one is no exception. Watch the film as well; it is a real hoot with redneck vampires.
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