Back catalogue: Soundtracks

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: A selection of fifteen pieces from the soundtrack of the cult anime Dragon Ball Z, on a limited 2xLP edition, fully licensed, including the main opening track 'CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA'. This soundtrack accompanies the anime's key moment in which Dragon Ball Z resumes five years after Son Goku's wedding. Radditz, a mysterious warrior, arrives on Earth to find Goku, who learns that he comes from a planet of warriors from a planet of warriors, of which only four remain. The plot is based on a succession of increasingly strong opponents to be fought, but there's often a quest or travel motif that adds interest beyond the duels. All this, and more, is bolstered by this electrifying soundtrack edition.

Review: It's astounding to think that Mother 2 was released in 1994. A landmark moment for the SNES video game system, it arrived five years after its predecessor, and as such enjoyed the benefits of what was then a next generation platform. Felt in terms of graphical and gameplay capabilities, suffice to say the upgraded hardware was also capable of capturing much more engaging and imaginative music. Here we are, almost 30 years on from when this sequel first captivated people, and the score itself gets a re-release on vinyl. Again drafting Hirokazu Tanaka and Keiichi Suzuki as composers, the pair would later explain how much more freedom they had due to the technological progress made between this and its predecessor. Translated into a music review, think deep, atmospheric ambient constructed from many layers of sound. A futuristic sonic trip into the far reaches of the cosmos that still holds up within the genre today.

Review: One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy whose body becomes elastic after eating a "Devil Fruit". Luffy decides to become the Pirate King and find the One Piece, a legendary treasure hidden on Raftel Island. Stampede is the fourteenth feature film in the franchise, and follows Luffy and his ragtag band of pirates, known as the Straw Hats, to the pelagic Pirate Fest, where many games, entertainments and trials await. With a soundtrack composed by the One Piece series' mainstay Kohei Tanaka, we're met with an excitably fitting counterpoint to an already frenzied anime spectacle.

Review: When you look back at the first PlayStation several landmark releases spring to mind - Resident Evil, Tekken 2, Crash Bandicoot - the list could go on much longer and should definitely include Wipeout and Wipeout 2097. Both were renowned for combining high pace, futuristic visuals with contemporary electronic club music from some of the biggest producers and acts at the time. Less remembered, in Europe at least, is the Ape Escape series, an intense party-platform title which arguably has the greatest dance music game score of all time. Comprising six tracks from that saga, this compilation of Soichi Terada's soundtracks emphasises that bold point. Opening on the crisp, punchy techno drive of 'Specters Factory', we find ourselves in suitably spooky jungle ('Haunted House'), rumbling dnb ('Spectors Castle') and roughneck hardcore bass ('Coasters'), among other made up genres. A collection which resembles Terada's amazing 1996 album, Sumo Jungle and makes a case for the Japanese enigma as one of dance music's most underrated geniuses.

Review: Legendary hip-hop DJ, producer and rapper Joseph Anthony Hernandez (better known as Tony Touch) has been busy agin. He's created plenty of superb mixtapes in the past, not least his 50 MC's series, and here he puts together a soundtrack like no other which finds him invite some major and diverse hip hop icons to collaborate. In doing so they look deep into hip hop's golden era in The Mixtape, a movie with plenty of well known classics all reworked by Def Jam titans like Jeezy, Dave East, Teyana Taylor, Jadakiss, Fredo Bang and more.

Review: Given 'Africa' has been the soundtrack to university athletics union night's out for the last 40 years or so it's safe to say Toto are a band that really deserve more in-depth attention. As this mind-blowing soundtrack to the cult science fiction film Dune goes to show, there's a lot more to the outfit than the chart-friendly glam-riffdom of their most famous single.



Brian Eno's name gives a sign of how arty things get, but in truth he's only responsible for a fraction of this adventurous listen, which is packed with movie soundbites to set the scene among fantastical landscapes, rather than realism. From classical overtures ('Leto's Theme', 'Trip To Arrakis'), through tense incidentals ('The Box') and crystalline synthdom ('Prophecy Theme'), it's only really on the credit-worthy 80s pop balladry of 'Take My Hand' that we get the stadium payoff Toto fans are used to, completing an epic journey.

Review: The most beautiful themes of the famous science fiction universe Star Wars created by the American director George Lucas are now gathered together on this exclusive vinyl record. First conceived as a cinematic trilogy in 1977, the franchise now counts films, series, novels and other goodies taking place «a long time ago in a galaxy far far away» in which a conflict between Jedi knights and Sith warriors is forever waged. The infamous soundtrack composed by John Williams, notably inspired by Wagner's operas, has gone on to influence the greatest of film musics and is veritably etched into the brains of anyone who's ever set foot inside a cinema. On this majestic record, the soundtrack's star pieces are herd performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. May the force be with you!

Review: This expansive 70-track collection spans the Dragon Age game series, including songs from Dragon Age: Origins (2009), Dragon Age II (2011), and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) throughout discs 1-3. As a bonus, the fourth disc features seven tracks chosen from DLC plus an additional nine fan-favorite bard songs from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Deluxe package features all-original artwork by Dragon Age concept director Ramil Sunga and lead UX artist Danny Richardson, created exclusively for this album set. The beautifully detailed artwork presents a pictorial timeline following the lore of the Dragon Age series, beginning at the dawn of the golden city, throughout the city's fall and culminating in its re-emergence as the black city, seat of the old gods.