Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: As the name suggests, this album is a full-on dub and reggae re-rendering of soundtrack themes from nearly every Studio Ghibli film - from 'My Neighbour Totoro', to 'Nausicaa', to 'Princess Mononoke' - courtesy of a mysterious troupe known only as GBL Sound System. Production comes courtesy of Dubforce's Ippei Tatsuyama and features vocals from artist Kyoko Abe, making for ear-piquing foray into Japanese dub reworks.

Review: Michael Giacchino, a decorated Academy Award-r winning composer, delivers a commanding yet tender score for J.A. Bayona's moving film The Society of the Snow. It recounts the harrowing true tale of the 1972 Uruguayan flight that crashed in the remote Andes, and the ensuing battle for survival. Amid despair, the film champions hope which is a sentiment echoed in Giacchino's emotionally charged score. Balancing poignancy with optimism, the music navigates a delicate path that amplifies the film's power. Bayona and Giacchino's collaboration yields a cinematic masterpiece that will surely resonate as one of the year's most compelling narratives.

Review: It's pretty hard these days to keep up with all the different new Spider-Man movies, but you should try because somehow they all seem to be pretty good despite it being such a well-worn character. The music, too, always manages to reach new levels as did this, the original soundtrack for the 2017 version, Spider-Man: Homecoming, by Michael Giacchino. It is full of dramatic and wide-screen orchestration, sweeping strings and rousing musical adventure but also the more quiet moments of reflection and tenderness. This version comes with a poster in a deluxe sleeve on blue vinyl.

Review: The 2002 film The Hours starred hefty Hollywood talents Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, and the original score was composed by no lesser titan of his industry than Philip Glass. It is a masterful work from the legendary minimal composer and is here presented across four sides of vinyl by the Nonesuch label. It has plenty of thick, lush strings and lots of tonal suspension with cool piano parts, plenty of heavily pregnant silences and cascading scales that all add plenty to the film itself as well as being a great standalone listen.

Review: Suspiria, one of Dario Argento's defining horror masterpieces, wasn't the first time Goblin had worked with the controversial-yet-acclaimed Italian director. The progressive rockers had, two years previous, delivered the incredible score to Profondo Rosso, and won plaudits at the time for their work - once people knew it was them. It was originally intended to be soundtracked by jazz pianist and composer Giorgio Gaslini, but disagreements on his output left just three of his themes in, but the credits were never updated, leaving Goblin listed incorrectly as "performers" as oppose to writers of the music. While this would have left a bad taste in the mouths of many, evidently that wasn't the case here. Two years later, the band were back with Argento and making this insane collection of sounds, half tracks, atmospheric noises, and cacophonous arrangements. A truly visceral experience, it's an immersive assault on the senses touching on experimental electronics, contemporary classical, gothic, and plain weirdo.

Review: Talk about a cultural Tardis, Doctor Who ranks among the most longstanding love affairs British TV viewers have ever had with a work of science fiction, ranking up there with global phenomena such as Star Trek in terms of legions of faithful fans and decade-spanning sagas. After a small blip of obscurity in the mid-late-1990s and immediate post-millennium years, the show rebooted and reconfigured for the 21st Century in 2005, and hasn't left the common conscience since.

The score is certainly something to do with that resonance. As far as theme tunes go, Doctor Who's may not still be the most forward thinking (as it was back in 1963), but it's easily up there in the premier league of iconic. On this live rendition of music from the latter-day Series 1 & 2 that theme remains as impactful, while a talented entourage of players and conductors also help us remember just how consistent the music is overall.

Review: If you've not seem the movie Oppenheimer chances are you've had your head buried deep in the sand for the past year or so. The multi-Academy Award-winning scientific epic charts the development of the first nuclear bomb and subsequent realisation, on the part of the man who cracked the formula, that such terrifying power should never have been brought into our world. Directed by Christopher Nolan, outspoken critics of the master filmmaker may by now be wondering if he'll ever make another movie with a linear storyline - so much of his output is anything but these days. However, that slightly surreal, disjointed, era-jumping approach to storytelling necessitates a soundtrack that combines stunning classical and more avant-garde experimentations. Which Ludwig Goransson delivered with spectacular effect. Now those tones are yours to own.

Review: Jonny Greenwood is of course best known for his work with Radiohead, but like all members of that particular band he has side projects. The latest was soaring the music for the film The Power of the Dog. The result is a dark, absorbing and disturbing listen to accompany Jane Campion's Western with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead as a difficult cowboy in early 20th-century Montana. It is Greenwood's third movie soundtrack this year alone with Pablo Larrain's "Spencer" about Princess Diana already out and next up Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" arrives before the end of the month.

Review: It has been five long decades since the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving episode first hit US TV screens. Originally aired in 1973, the show proved beyond any doubt that Peanuts was the coolest and most sophisticated cartoon of the day, and that's in no small part down to the original scores, which were the responsibility of Vince Guaraldi, and all of which are worth picking up if you see copies on sale.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has never been available on record before, having only recently been rediscovered in the vaults and then primed for this autumn 2023 debut. Remixed and remastered to elevate some of the details that had been lost in the old recordings, tracks run between lounge jazz and soul funk, with 'Little Birdie' arguably the pick of the lot (and not just because it stands out with those iconic vocals).