''Thief'' (1981) is the fifteenth major release and second soundtrack album by

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

. It is the soundtrack for the 1981

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neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

Thief Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

'', directed by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films ''Thief'' (1981), ' ...

. It reached No. 43 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in a 3-week run. "Beach Theme" and "Beach Scene" are two different mixes of the same piece. The album version of "Dr. Destructo" is quite different from the film version. An extended version of "Dr. Destructo" was available only on a promo single. "Igneous" is a remix of "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" from the 1979 album ''

Force Majeure In contract law, (from Law French: 'overwhelming force', ) is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such ...

''. Neither "Beach Theme" nor "Trap Feeling" appear in the film. After Tangerine Dream completed the soundtrack, Mann needed another sequence. As Tangerine Dream was on tour,

Craig Safan Craig Safan (born December 17, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is an American composer for film and television, whose biggest scores include ''The Last Starfighter'', '' Mr. Wrong'', '' Stand and Deliver'', '' Fade to Black'', ''Major Payne'', ' ...

composed and performed "Confrontation". The original 1981 Elektra LP released in the U.S. featured "Confrontation", but subsequent releases featured "Beach Scene" instead. During the 1980s, Toronto television station

CITY-DT CITY-DT (channel 57) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT (chan ...

used "Scrap Yard" as their background music when inserting technical difficulties slide cards. Scrap Yard was also used as theme for local television newscasts on KFTY (now KEMO-TV) in Santa Rosa, California and WNDU in South Bend, Indiana. The soundtrack was also nominated for Worst Musical Score at the

2nd Golden Raspberry Awards The 2nd Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 29, 1982, at an Oscar night potluck party to recognize the worst the film industry had to offer in 1981. James Coco, nominated for worst supporting actor for his performance in '' Only When I L ...

Versions

There are currently two versions of the soundtrack available with different track listings and album covers. Version A has the text 'Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' above the title followed by the text '

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

' just below. The text 'Composed and Performed by Tangerine Dream', appears at the bottom. Version B just has "Tangerine Dream" above the title. In 2004,

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists, including Paul Butterfield, Cactus, Herbie ...

re-released version B with "Confrontation"; there were however two mispressings, one with the version A track list, and one with "Igneous" removed instead of "Beach Scene". All had the listing for version B on the CD and cover. In 2013, Perseverance Records released a re-mastered, nine track version that included both "Beach Scene" and "Confrontation", thus correcting the errors on previous releases where both tracks were never on the same disc.https://www.discogs.com/release/5681594-Tangerine-Dream-Craig-Safan-Thief-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack

Track listings

Personnel

Edgar Froese Edgar Willmar Froese (; 6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German musical artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the group ...

– guitar, keyboards, electronic equipment *

Christopher Franke Christopher Franke (born 6 April 1953) is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1987, he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventua ...

– synthesizers, electronic equipment, electronic percussion *

Johannes Schmoelling Johannes Schmoelling (born 9 November 1950 in Lohne, Germany) is a German musician and keyboard artist. He was a member of the prolific electronic music group Tangerine Dream from 1979 to 1985. A classically trained musician, he began playing pi ...

– keyboards, electronic equipment * Klaus Krieger – percussion on "Igneous" (recorded 1978) *

– composed "Confrontation". He has said that it was performed by session musicians.

References

External links

Tangerine Dream - ''Thief'' (1981) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Tangerine Dream - ''Thief'' (1981) album
on

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