Soundtracks — All Formats  

Two different Jimmy Stewart comedy soundtracks from the 60s – both of them nice! First up is Dear Brigitte – an overlooked 1965 score by George Duning – done with a mix of the playful modes you'd expect from the story, and some of those great deeper dramatic touches that Duning used in more serious soundtracks – a really rich mixing of modes with a sound that's much stronger than we expected! Titles include "On To BBs", "The Captain", "Magical Moment", "Puzzled Cap'n", "Hey Dad", "Is It A Trick", and "She Sank". Next is an even groovier record – a rare non RCA Henry Mancini soundtrack from the early 60s – the score to Mr Hobbs Takes A Vacation, done with all the best mix of jazz and groovy elements we love in classic Mancini! Instrumentation mixes a key electric guitar melody with some lighter touches on woodwinds – really getting the most out of the melody with some shifts in timing and tone, juxtaposed with a few numbers that are even more playful! Titles include "Barn Swallow", "Something For Lauri", "Cream Puff", "Up His Nose", "A Month Off", and "Rudders & Sails". CD features 39 tracks in all – including 7 bonus tracks from the Mancini score!

A strange little film from the late 60s – a brit comedy starring Deborah Kerr and David Niven, in kind of a tender and silly comedy about the early years of birth control. About half the soundtrack's kind of orchestral and romantic (surprisingly), but the other half is nice and groovy – with a strong jazz approach handled by a number of British players, like baritone saxophonist Ronnie Ross, organist Roger Coulam, and tenor player Danny Moss. The Mike Sammes Singers sing "Too Soon To Tell", and they're probably also the wordless vocal chorus on the nice jaunty number "The Pill", a groovy little tune that also has some electric harpischord! Other groovy tracks include "Walk With Grace", "For Geraldine", "The Hired Help", "Indoor Outdoor Girl", and "The Morning After".

The soundtrack to the 60s version of Stagecoach – the one with the outrageously beautiful Ann Margaret, Bing Crosby, Red Buttons, Slim Pickens and Alex Cord – with a lavish, though appropriately dust-strewn Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack! This '66 remake may not rival John Ford's landmark earlier version, but it certainly has a wonderful soundtrack going for it. Oh, and also the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Ann Margaret. Wait, did we mention her already? La La Land does a respectful service to Goldsmith's great score, which includes the main title theme, plus "The Stage Is Coming", "The Aftermath", Escape Route", "All Is Forgiven", "A New Passenger", "No More Indians" and more – plus the vocal tune "Stagecoach To Cheyenne" sung by Wayne Newton (!!!) – and 8 bonus tracks. 20 in all.

Two dramatic scores from Leigh Harline – a sometimes-overlooked composer from the great years of Hollywood soundtracks! The Wayward Bus is put together with some really beautiful charts – filled with sadder tones and bluer notes amidst the orchestrations – that wonderful late 50s move to more adult dramatic inflections – conducted by Lionel Newman with a great sense of care. Things are never too overdone, yet build with this really personal quality – a sense of tension that breaks into gentle redemption at the end – on titles that include "Johnny & Alice", "The Old Road/Mirror Mirror", "Lonesome Alice", "Mildred & Johnny", and "A Time For Contemplation". Harline's music for The Enemy Below is a bit more driving – full of the sorts of bold movement and quiet reflection that you'd expect in a submarine thriller – balancing between modes almost as if the submarine itself was diving and resurfacing. Titles include "Radar Contact", "Charting Tables", "Counter Attack", "Abandon Ship", "Ocean Bottom", "Target Safe", "Target Waiting", and "The Enemy Below".

An amazing score to an overlooked Mr Tibbs film – Gil Melle's mighty music for The Organization, a soundtrack that we might like even better than some of Quincy Jones' funk for Sidney Poitier! Melle got his start in modern jazz during the 50s, but by the time of this 1971 movie, he was a hell of a talent for scoring a crime/cop narrative – often willing to take a lot of weird chances with sounds and styles that nobody else might use – eerie elements that are still mixed in with just the right touches of funk and jazz to keep a mainstream ear on the course – a beautiful balance that takes this soundtrack way past any easy cliches of the time! Reedwork is especially wonderful, but there's a great way of recording the keyboards that's totally sweet too – almost a Schifrin-like quality, but a bit more complex. Titles include "Mr Tibbs", "Night Danger", "Annie Lost", "The Whole World", "Virgil's Theme", "Subway Chase", and "The Organization".

One of Hugo Montenegro's greatest soundtracks ever – and one of the grooviest 60s scores we can think of! The album's filled with incredible jazzy tracks – darkly tinged, but bubbling, upbeat, and wonderful – the kind of hard-driving numbers that make a soundtrack like this so great, and which you rarely find in such strong form overall. A few tunes are standards, but even these are handled well – and titles include "Lady In Cement", "Jilly's Joint", "Kit", "The Shark", "Yale's Pool Room", "Ruby's Burlesque", "Again", and "Tony's Theme".

"It's not a sequel – there's never been anything like it." Finally, an awesome reissue of the classically groovy camp soundtrack to "king of the nudies" Russ Meyer's crazy non-sequel to Valley Of The Dolls – one of the greatest exploitation movies of all time! The music is almost unbelievably great for what was essentially supposed to be an X-rated cheapie (little did 20th Century Fox know) – with a wonderfully huge & string heavy score by composer Stu Phillips, insanely groovy, stomping mod rock from the Sandpipers, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the film's busty real-life Playboy Bunny heroines the Carrie Nations/Kelly Affair! "This is MY happening, and IT FREAKS ME OUT!" Titles include the Carrie Nations tunes "Find It" and "Come With The Gentle People", the Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense & Peppermints" and "I'm Coming Home", the Sandpipers groovy "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls Theme", and tons more.

The follow up to the first Mondo Cane film – in case you couldn't tell by the title! Nino did part of the music for the first one, and the style here is very similar – mostly orchestral, but with a few lighter moments that get a little groovy. There's no big hit on this one, as with the first – and tracks include "Italian Wig", "Zio Guida", "Teste Dure", "The Pasadena", "Wigs", "Flamingos", "Tortillas", and "Call Girls".

Mid 60s magic from Johnny Williams – a cool little score to an obscure heist film that starred Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole! The style here is very much like some of Johnny's other best of the time – often playful at points, but warmer at others – a great blend of fuller strings and more whimsical instrumentation that keeps up all the delightful play of the action on the screen. Titles include "Two Lovers", in both vocal and instrumental versions – plus "At Maxims", "The Cellini Venus", "The Prowler", "Simon Says", and "The Can Can".

The music of the French New Wave – brought out beautifully in an overstuffed 3CD set! The late 50s shift in French cinema is arguably one of the most important film moments in the 20th century – and although the movies are best remembered for their directors, stars, and striking images – most of the films also had some pretty amazing music as well! In fact, we've always felt that the music was integral to the Nouvelle Vague – from famous jazz scores, to lovely lyrical passages, to bold orchestral arrangements that also ended up having a huge impact on wider European music as well. This package is the first we've ever seen to really dig deep into the New Wave – and it brings together 80 tracks from dozens of films – a really wide variety of music, provided by artists who include Michel Legrand, Georges Delerue, Paul Misraki, Pierre Jansen, Miles Davis, Maurice Jarre, Jean Constantin, Martial Solal, Michel Magne, Antoine Duhamel, Alain Romans, and others – from movies that include 400 Blows, Jules & Jim, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Les Bonnes Femmes, Une Femme Est Une Femme, Breathless, Weekend, Lola, Cleo De 5 A 7, Le Bonheur, Alphaville, and many others! Some films are represented by a few tracks, others by famous themes – and the package also features a booklet with notes in French and English too.

An incredible soundtrack from Morricone's best period ever! The score has that totally sublime Morricone quality that you'll find on on a small handful of his best works – like La Donna Invible, Photo Prohibite, Le Casse, and Metti Una Sera A Cena – and it's filled with amazingly precise orchestral washes of sound, pierced by smaller solo instruments, tuned with strangely angular qualities. If you've ever wondered why people think Morricone's one of the 20th century's best composers – this is the kind of LP that will open your mind. It's incredibly complex, yet never too academic – and always extremely pleasant and lovely to listen to! We love this one to death and it's an honor to have it in stock! Titles include "L'Assoluto Naturale", "Sempre Piu Verita", "E Facile", "Il Profumo Della Tua Pelle", and "Sembaravi Desiderare".

Magical mainstream Morricone – a sublime score for Sergio Leone's epic tale of gangland growth in the 20th century! Although penned for a wider audience, most of the best Morricone elements are still at play in this soundtrack – a great sense of space and timing, and some key use of spare, isolated instruments – including the pan flute of George Zamfir, an odd choice given the New York setting of the film, but one that comes off beautifully in the mix. Strings back up most of the tunes, but they're never too sleepy – just slightly sentimental, but in a really good way. Titles include "Childhood Memories", "Once Upon A Time In America", "Cockeye's Song", "Childhood Poverty", "Friends", "Photographic Memories", "Speakeasy", and "Poverty". CD also features some bonus tracks too!