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Tangerine DreamThief- Soundtrack, released March 1981 -
| Covers | | | 
CD release UK 1985 | 
CD release Europe 1995 | 
CD release USA 2004 |
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| Tracks | | | |
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| Details | | | | | | Recording date | 1980 | | Recording site(s) | Polygon Studios (Berlin) | | Composer(s) | Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling | | Musician(s) | Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling | | Producer(s) | Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling, Michael Mann |
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| Notes | | | Soon after the 1980 studio album Tangram was finished TD began the work on the soundtrack for the Michael Mann film Thief starring James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky and Willie Nelson (the UK title of the movie was Violent Streets, the German title was Der Einzelgänger, the French title was Le Solitaire). William Friedkin, director of Sorcerer had recommended TD's music to Michael Mann. In the 1981 Electra/Asylum press release for Exit Edgar Froese stated: "It was a pleasure because we had a finished film to work from. When we did Sorcerer we created the music before a foot of the film had been shot. The exotic and shifting moods of Thief fitted in perfectly with the kind of music we played. Making the soundtrack allowed us to play around in the studio a bit and create a piece of music we thought would fit the picture like a glove, yet would also stand on its own." | | | |
Thief was the second big Hollywood film that TD worked on after Sorcerer. Michael Mann was professionally prepared and knew precisely what he wanted. Up to this point, no one had ever used a sequencer for this category of movies. Sorcerer, which was the first film in which sequencers appeared, took place in very strange primeval forest. Many people did not even really notice the exotic music. But Thief took place in a normal thriller setting -- here the music was once unusual. This score was and is one of the most unusual of its kind for American film, and TD received many offers after. Michael Mann, who the band later worked for on The Keep, really helped TD quite a lot on the way when he offered this film to them. | | | |
There were two versions of the album; only the US release from 1981 included the track Confrontation that was composed and performed by Craig Safan. All other worldwide releases featured the composition Beach Scene (itself an extended version of the opening title Beach Theme) instead, though, by mistake, the US track listing was printed on the covers of some of the first releases. | | | |
There have been rumours that Confrontation was composed by Safan but played by TD, as the cover information suggests, but issue #9 of the newletter of TD's now defunct official fan club (TDIFC) clearly states: "During the time Michael Mann was editing and dubbing the movie Thief, TD played some gigs in Italy. Michael rang them in Venice and asked for a final guitar sequence which should close the movie. There was no time for the band to step into an Italian studio to record such a piece of music. What's very unusual for TD, happened. Michael had to ask an LA based guitarist to compose what's called later Confrontation on the record. It had to have playing technique and a TD sound. Virgin records, who did the release of the record outside the States, didn't like the piece or the whole procedure. It was done and taken off the tape. Business as usual!" | | | |
In 1995 Virgin re-released the album on CD in the so-called "Definitive Edition" series, featuring the original front cover artwork. The sound quality of this release, using the Super Bit Mapping technology, is probably the best up to now, but like most of the other releases of this series, it contains some little errors: The track sequence on the CD body is wrong (track 4 and 5 are exchanged), Edgar Froese's name is misspelled Frose in the booklet, the backside insert features the name of Peter Baumann instead of Johannes Schmoelling, and the soundtrack is alleged to be a 'Live' CD on the backstrip. | | | |
In 2001 the movie was shown at the Film Festival Brauschweig in presence of Johannes Schmoelling. | | | |
In 2004 the soundtrack was released in its second version, featuring the original US track listing, on CD for the first time by the amibitioned label Wounded Bird Records, but they had some bad luck: The first pressing featured the same tracks as the Virgin release, as WEA had sent them the Virgin masters instead the Elektra masters by mistake. For the second pressing the track Igneous was cut out instead of Beach Scene. Both mispressing have been redrawn and were finally replaced by a correct pressing featuring the original track listing. According to Wonded Bird, only 67 units of the first pressing got to the public. All three pressings can be distinguished by the colour of the disc (see below). |
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| Releases | | | | | | Australia | - 1981: Virgin/CBS
- Promo-LP [b]: V 2198; white promo labels, gsc
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
| | Canada | - 1981: Virgin/Polygram
- LP [b]: VL 2213; red/green labels
- 198?: Virgin
- LP [b]: VL 2213; red/white labels with different layouts
| | Europe | - 1995: Virgin
- CD [b]: 840 520-2; identical to UK version from 1995
| | Finland | - 1981: Virgin/Polarvox
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
| | France | - 1981: Virgin
- LP [b]: 203 472; red/green labels; +_IGNEOUS is titled §_METASCO in the track listing
- 1983: Virgin
- LP [b]: 70 063; red/green labels
- 1985: Virgin
- CD [b]: CDV 2198; identical to UK version from 1985
| | Germany | - 1981: Virgin/Ariola
- LP [b]: 203 472; red/green labels, imprint on front cover looking like a sticker 'Original Soundtrack zum Film "Der Einzelgänger"', the back cover is missing the complete ligh blue writing including the words 'Side One:' and 'Side Two:'
- LP [b]: 203 472; white/grey labels, cover with imprint and missing blue writing (see above)
- LP [b]: 203 472; red/green labels, cover without imprint (see above)
- 1985: Virgin/Ariola
- CD [b]: 253 472; identical to UK version from 1985 with the German order number on a sticker fixed on the jewel case
- 1993: Virgin
- CD [b]: 786 683-2
| | Greece | - 198?: Virgin/Polygram
- LP [b]: 2473 816; red/green labels
| | Hong Kong | - 198?: Virgin
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
| | Israel | - 1981: Virgin/General Music
- LP [b]: BAN 2198; two green of the red/green labels
- LP [b]: BAN 2198; two red of the red/green labels
| | Italy | - 1981: Virgin/Dischi
- LP [b]: VIL 12198; red/green labels
- 1985: Virgin/Dischi
- LP [b]: OVED 72; red/green labels
| | Japan | - 1981: Virgin/Victor
- Promo-LP [b]: VIP 6974; white promo labels
- LP [b]: VIP 6974; red/green labels
- 1985: Virgin
- CD [b]: CDV 2198
- 1990: Virgin
- CD [b]: VJCP-2520
| | Netherlands | - 1981: Virgin/Ariola
- LP [b]: 203 472; red/green labels
| | New Zealand | - 1981: Virgin/RTC
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
| | South Africa | - 1981: Virgin/CCP
- LP [b]: VIR(L) 3035; red/green labels
| | Taiwan | - 198?: Virgin/Shang Yang
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
| | UK | - 1981: Virgin
- LP [b]: V 2198; red/green labels
- 1985: Virgin
- LP [b]: OVED 72; red/green labels
- CD [b]: CDV 2198
- 1995: Virgin
- CD [b]: TAND 12
| | USA | - 1981: Elektra/Asylum
- Promo-LP [a]: 5E-521; white promo labels with two different layouts, consecutive numbered gsc (some starting with 'A', others with 'S')
- Promo-LP [a]: 5E-521; red labels, numbered gsc
- LP [a]: 5E-521; red labels with two different layouts
- LP [a]: 5E-521; black/red labels
- 8 track tape [a]: ET8-521
- 2004: Wounded Bird
- CD [a]: WOU 521; mispressing, featuring tracks as in listing [b]; light-blue disc
- CD [a]: WOU 521; mispressing, featuring Beach Scene instead of Igneous
- CD [a]: WOU 521; correct pressing; orange disc
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