Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, Doug Yule, Maureen Tucker and - a little later - Nico broke the mould with their efforts as The Velvet Underground. The Andy Warhol-managed and produced cult rock icons helped lay the foundations for New Wave and punk about a decade before either sound really started to make inroads in any circles, let alone commercial ones. And, listening back to any of their records now, the music itself isn't just a significant bookmark theoretically: it all still sounds incredible today.

Todd Haynes' highly recommendable documentary charts at least some of that story in a commendable way, more so when you consider it arrived around 50 years after the original lineup disbanded. Using interviews with surviving members Cale and Tucker, alongside archive footage, music and other material, it paints a vivid portrait of an equally vivid band. With tracks by them in question, Bo Diddley, The Primitives and The Diablos, this OST helps colour that picture, and era, properly.

Review: A Charlie Brown Christmas is a stone cold classic Christmas album that now comes with a specially festive gold sleeve. What's here has the air of a sophisticated evening spent enjoying slow drinks in a late night jazz bar. It's sexy and refined stuff, laidback to the point where you can almost see the flames in the fireplace, resulting shadows dancing off the walls. Yes, 'Skating' is far more uptempo, and both 'Hark, The Herald Angels Sing' and 'Christmas Time Is Here' take us to school age Yuletide plays with their vocal choirs. But, on the whole, this might be the most tasteful festive album we'll ever get. So dig in.

Review: Whether you're reading this and thinking Christmas seems a way off, or here because there's a next day delivery and time is ticking, A Charlie Brown Christmas is quite possibly one of the most exquisite scores to the silly season you're likely to come across. Better yet, it's a complete curveball, with this Peanuts cartoon score hardly topping the list when it comes to famous Yuletide music.

Sophisticated stuff, imagine slow drinks in a late night jazz bar. Surprisingly sexy, refined, laidback to the point where you can almost see flames dancing in a fireplace, and shadows licking at the walls. Of course, we do get 'Hark, The Herald Angels Sing' and 'Christmas Time Is Here', taking us back to the best parts of school age winters gone by, both delivered via vocal choirs. But, overall, this is a truly tasteful example of how to do festive well.