Thief, a thriller by Michael Mann was the second big Hollywood project that Tangerine Dream worked on and one of the most unusual scores for American films.

Heavy guitar sounds combined with sequencer rhythms. Contrasts were created by the use of lyric tunes like Beach Theme.

"Mann had very definite ideas about how the music should sound. We had already composed the music, so we explained to him about recording techniques, mixing, musical terms and so on, then we gave him the tapes, sat him at the mixing desk and said 'O.K. Do it yourself.' He spent three days trying then gave up. Film producers know as much about music as I do about 35mm cameras."
– Edgar Froese

The sheer physicality of the band’s synth score commands attention, nowhere more so than in the nine-minute opening sequence depicting the step-by-step burglary of a vault.”
– New York Times

 
Tangerine Dream - Thief (1981)
Tangerine Dream - Thief (1981)

Description

StatusStudio Album, Film Score
Release date1981
All Music byEdgar Froese, Christopher Franke, Johannes Schmoelling

Tracklist

01.Beach Theme
02.Dr. Destructo
03.Diamond Diary
04.Burning Bar
05.Beach Scene
06.Scrap Yard
07.Trap Feeling
08.Igneous
09.Confrontation
Depending upon the medium, the indicated tracklist will vary in certain details.