Ron Geesin's a British arranger with a host of amazing talents – from early work in the exotica field, to a famous collaboration with Roger Waters – always handled with a mindblowing sense of sound and scope! Here, he delivers a superb score for the film Sunday Bloody Sunday – a dark-themed drama that's given backing by Geesin that's maybe even more illuminating than the images on the screen at times – as Ron captures a moody vibe in perfect ways, but also changes things up a fair bit instrumentally – which makes each new selection feel very different, even though they are unified in mood. Bridget St John sings on the track "Chemical Dreams", and plays guitar on "Motoring Sparkle" – and other titles include "Intriguing Cables", "Sky High Balloons", "Piccadilly Bustle", "Blitzful Memories", and "Affections For String Quartet". Plus, the LP also features great bonus tracks from other Geesin projects – four more tracks from a 1985 documentary on Viv Richards, and six more from a 1970 documentary on mental health, titled "Shapes In A Wilderness" – both a great match for the main score. LP, Vinyl record album

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(Classical, Soundtracks) CD

Includes selections by John Parr, Billy Squier, Elefante, Jon Anderson, Fee Waybill, David Foster, Vikki Moss, and Airplay. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums we've ever heard from Erlon Chaves – a Brazilian arranger who got his start in the bossa generation, later did some more traditional music – but here explodes with this great fusion of European and Brazilian soundtrack styles! The record's credited to the Orquesta St Moritz – most likely a studio group with a European name, for good pedigree – but there's a huge amount of sounds here that rival some of the best modes coming from the EMI/Odeon label at the start of the 70s – particularly the mix of samba and bossa elements with larger funky arrangements, then given a more sophisticated twist – as you'd find in the music of Marcos Valle! Most of these tunes are instrumental, and there's some really wonderful organ work on a number of the titles – on tracks that include "Procura Se Uma Virgem", "Grilo", "Uma Velha Bossa", "Ba Oba Oba", "Vamos Nos", "O Anjo E O Diabo", and "Tema De Amor". (Brazil, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

The jury is sometimes out on the Mick Jagger on-screen performance in the Nicolas Roeg film Performance – but the soundtrack is something pretty separate entirely, and really says a lot more about the spirit of late 60s Warner Brothers Records in LA than it does the arthouse cinema scene in England! The great Jack Nitzsche composed a number of instrumental tracks for the score – maybe his first time in this mode, and prefacing some later 70s successes to come – with titles that include "Rolls Royce & Acid", "Harry Flowers", and "Natural Magic". Other Warner talents get a hand in the music too – as Randy Newman conducted all of Nitzsche's charts, and also sings "Gone Dead Train" – while Ry Cooder delivers bottleneck solos on "Get Away" and "Powis Square". There's also some nice soul-based moments – the cut "Wake Up N*ggers" by The Last Poets, and "Poor White Hound Dog" and "Performance" by Merry Clayton. And yes, Mick does get to sing on one tune – the album's "Memo From Turner" – and the set is completed by Buffy St Marie work on "The Hashishin" and "Dead Dead Red". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliantly overstuffed package of work from Italian composer Riz Ortolani! Una Sull'Atra is groovy little gem from Riz Ortolani! The soundtrack's got an excellent late 60s feel – with tracks that mix electric bass with sitar, flute, organ, and some fuller jazzy arrangements. There's a strong jazz component running through the mix – taking the score past some of the easier campier moments, and giving it a solid overall sound that will keep you coming back to it again and again. Titles include "Sitar In Blues", "Lombard Street", "St Francisco Railways", "St Quentin", "Un Sull Altra", and "Susan & Jane". Teresa La Ladra is an unusual Monica Vitti vehicle – and Ortolani's score features the funky theme "Teresa L'Illusa", alongside some mellower numbers that include "Teresa For Sax", "Teresa", and "Teresa & Blues". The best of the bunch, though, are the CD's 8 tracks from the Tiffany Memorandum – a groovy action score that's as wonderful as the name might imply! The work has a mod, swinging feel that's really nice – one that mixes together Italian "shake" modes of the 60s with some jazzier American touches on the best cuts. Titles include "Beat Fuga Shake", "Tiffany Sequence M8", "Tiffany Sequence M22", "Tiffany 23", and "Notte Al Grand Hotel". CD

Gene Page and Solomon Burke did the music for this obscure blacksploitation film starring Raymond St. Jacques – and although it's not the greatest funky soundtrack you can buy, it's got more than its share of nice moments! There's a bunch of nice instrumentals by Page that are kind of in a mode that's expanded from his work on Blacula, plus a few vocal cuts by Solomon in his "transitional" phase that feature him trying for a hipper sound than on his earlier Atlantic albums. Cuts include "Cool Breeze", "Icbyatht W.T.?", "The Bus", "Fight Back", and "Then I Want To Come Home" – and there's more than a few funky moments to make this one worth while! (Soul, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums we've ever heard from Erlon Chaves – a Brazilian arranger who got his start in the bossa generation, later did some more traditional music – but here explodes with this great fusion of European and Brazilian soundtrack styles! The record's credited to the Orquesta St Moritz – most likely a studio group with a European name, for good pedigree – but there's a huge amount of sounds here that rival some of the best modes coming from the EMI/Odeon label at the start of the 70s – particularly the mix of samba and bossa elements with larger funky arrangements, then given a more sophisticated twist – as you'd find in the music of Marcos Valle! Most of these tunes are instrumental, and there's some really wonderful organ work on a number of the titles – on tracks that include "Procura Se Uma Virgem", "Grilo", "Uma Velha Bossa", "Ba Oba Oba", "Vamos Nos", "O Anjo E O Diabo", and "Tema De Amor". (Brazil, Soundtracks) CD

With selections by Gang Of Four, Survivor, The Flirts with Jan & Dean, Broken Edge, Commuter, Paul Davis, Shandi, St Regis, Baxter Robinson, and Joe 'Bean' Esposito. LP, Vinyl record album

The jury is sometimes out on the Mick Jagger on-screen performance in the Nicolas Roeg film Performance – but the soundtrack is something pretty separate entirely, and really says a lot more about the spirit of late 60s Warner Brothers Records in LA than it does the arthouse cinema scene in England! The great Jack Nitzsche composed a number of instrumental tracks for the score – maybe his first time in this mode, and prefacing some later 70s successes to come – with titles that include "Rolls Royce & Acid", "Harry Flowers", and "Natural Magic". Other Warner talents get a hand in the music too – as Randy Newman conducted all of Nitzsche's charts, and also sings "Gone Dead Train" – while Ry Cooder delivers bottleneck solos on "Get Away" and "Powis Square". There's also some nice soul-based moments – the cut "Wake Up N*ggers" by The Last Poets, and "Poor White Hound Dog" and "Performance" by Merry Clayton. And yes, Mick does get to sing on one tune – the album's "Memo From Turner" – and the set is completed by Buffy St Marie work on "The Hashishin" and "Dead Dead Red". CD

Beautiful music from Chicago, set to another Chicago-themed project – a film based around the Roy stories of writer Barry Gifford! Yet that literary reference aside, the music here has fantastic merits of its own, even if you've never read Gifford at all – a very different, more compositional side of the spectrum from vibist Jason Adasiewicz, yet still music that has a loose small combo vibe as well – serve dup by a cool quintet that features Jonathan Doyle on saxes, Josh Berman on cornet, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums! There's a mix of new tones and modern ideas that take us back to that late 50s time on the Chicago scene when Sun Ra's Arkestra was still in town – and the tunes penned by Adasiewicz are not only superb, but a perfect showcase for his incredible tones on vibes. Doyle is a real revelation too – a player we don't know well at all at this point, but whose sense of timing and presence really makes the whole record sparkle – as does the work of the rest of the better-known players in the group. Titles include "Ballad For Kitty", "River Blindness", "Walkin To Clinton", "Rudy's Basement", "Sand", and "Blue People". (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

From what we remember about the story of this film, the original score was supposedly written by Bernard Herrman, then discarded – although we're not sure if that story's actually true. Whatever the case, John Addison does a surprisingly nice job with this one – and his music for the film is one of the better things about this oft-forgettable cold war thriller. The main theme has a nice dark little melody – one that shows up in the better numbers on the album – and although the overall approach is dramatic, it's handled with a rare flourish that makes it stand alone fine away from the film. Titles include "Premonitions Of Trouble", "Michael & Sarah", "Escape On The Bus", "Pi Bus Theme Variations", "Sarah Alone", and "Love Theme From Torn Curtain", sung by the Johnny Mann Singers. CD

Three film soundtracks from Morio Agata, including the animated film Red Elegy. (Japanese, Soundtracks) CD

Demonic sounds, but surprisingly sweet as well – done with this easy-flowing style that's really wonderful – and much more similar to the seductive sound library work of Alessandro Alessandroni, than to some of the starker, darker horror of the time! There's definitely some spooky passages, but they're almost always warmed up in really nice ways – both with keyboards, and with these wordless vocals from the lovely Giulia De Mutiis, who drifts through the record like some sexy ghost. Her vocals almost give the whole thing a more dream-like feel at times – not too atmospheric, but with clouds of sweet sounds that blow through the space in a wonderful way. Titles include "Demon Night II", "Demon Arise", "Dark Dreamer", "Devil's Nightmare", and "Erotic Demon". LP, Vinyl record album

The sound of industry, circa 1969 Italy – which means that everything sounds a heck of a lot groovier than you might expect! Soundtrack genius Alessandro Alessandroni handled the album – and it's completely fantastic right from the very first note – nothing like an industrial album, nor even some of the peppier "industry themed" sound library sets of the European postwar theme – and instead, the music is full of jazzy elements and cool wordless vocals – especially those scatting styles you'd know from Alessandroni's work with I Cantori Modern! Tremendous throughout – and quite possibly one of the grooviest albums the composer has ever given us. Titles include "Moto Blues", "Dialogando", "Circolazione", "Basso Regime", "Vie Motrici", "Escursione", and "Numero Uno". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) CD

An amazing little soundtrack – written in mid 60s Peru by jazz pianist Jaime Delgado Aparicio, but easily on a par with some of the best American or Italian scores from the time! The music's got a really wonderful feel throughout – jazz at the core, but with touches of spy soundtrack scoring and some of the lighter, more comedic modes of the Italian scene. Delgado uses a core combo with heavy piano, percussion, and some great trumpet and tenor – almost with the tightness of the Basso-Valdambrini group – but he also expands the sound with bits of strings and some fuller orchestrations, used to shade in some amazing colors that roll, dip, and turn with the beautiful grooves penned for the set. The whole thing's tremendous, with equally great production that creates some odd twists and turns that further keep things interesting as the album rolls on. Titles include "Elm Embajador Y Yo", "Sexy Surf", "Llegando A La Capital", "Isometria", "Todo El Mundo Me Persigue", "Lucha En El Mar", and "La Arana". Added to the soundtrack is Jamie's 1964 album – Jaime Delgado Aparicio Y Su Trio – a crackling bit of piano jazz from the Peruvian scene of the 60s – and a record that's somewhere between the best of Horace Silver on Blue Note, and some of the Brazilian bossa trios of the time! There's a strong sense of rhythm throughout – round, rolling basslines punctuated by great work on the drum kit – all topped by beautifully lyrical lines from Delgado Aparicio on piano – filled with color, light, and life throughout – and soloing with a depth that's rare for such a young player! Titles include a great version of Horace Silver's "Sayonara Blues", plus "The Climate", "Autumn Leaves", "Walkin", and "Blue Daniel". CD

Music from the film of the same name – with some extracts from the film, too! (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Probably the greatest album ever by the Art Ensemble of Chicago – and also one of their rarest! The album was cut for Pathe Marconi in Paris in 1970, and was the soundtrack to a film that was as obscure as the album. The group's never been finer – and plays with a creative tightness that you'll be hard pressed to find on other record. Some tracks are almost straight jazz – but there's all these wonderful little breakdowns and burst of creative energy that keep the AACM spirit alive and true. The centerpiece of the album is the massive "Theme De Yoyo", a righteous powerful groover that features vocals by Fontella Bass (wife of Lester Bowie of the group), and which has become an all-time jazz dance classic! Other tracks have a sparer soundtracky feel, and a few more are in the experimental vein of the Art Ensemble's other Paris work at the time. Wonderful overall though – and an incredibly righteous album filled with power and imagination! Titles include "Theme De Celine", "Proverbes", "Theme Libra", and "Variations Sur Un Theme De Monteverdi". Very hard to find original French pressing – with different cover image! (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime soundtrack music from Edward Artemiev – not a big name for film scoring on this side of the Iron Curtain, but a really well-remembered talent for his classic 70s work for the films of Andrey Tarkovsky! Side one of this album features wonderful sounds from the film Stalker – music that begins in a sweet electronic mode, but soon gets darker – a weird space that's somewhere between the German elements of Cluster and Tangerine Dream, and some of the more abstract electronics of the underground academic scene! Yet throughout it all, Artemiev has a very visual approach to his sounds – one that steps out nicely on the one track from the film The Mirror, and an extended tribute to the director too. Titles include "Exodus", "Dedication To Andrey Tarkovsky", "Meditation", "They Go Long", "Stalker", and "Train". LP, Vinyl record album