A great little soundtrack from Herman's Hermits! The album's notable not only for the great pop vocal numbers – like "Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter", "Ooo She's Done It Again", and "There's A Kind Of Hush" – but even more so for 2 great instrumentals: "Daisy Chain I" and "Daisy Chain II". Track 1 features guitar and tabla, rolling together in a wild psychedelic instrumental groove – and track 2 is kind of a variation, also with a groovy mod instrumental groove! LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the most famous 70s soundtrack work of French jazz musician Claude Bolling – served up here in a double-length CD that's overflowing with bonus material too! First up is the original score for Borsalino – a really lovely little soundtrack for the French film that starred Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo as gangsters in the roaring 20s – set to backings by pianist Claude Bolling that's balanced nicely between the styles of his trad jazz work on record, and some of the warmer thematic modes of the French soundtrack theme at the time! Bolling's piano is always very heavy in the mix – sometimes played with the rhythmic quality of a boogie woogie musician, sometimes more spaciously soundtracked – and augmented by just the right touches of strings. The record was a big Euro hit in the 70s, and still holds up well – and this version features 36 tracks from the film – far more than the original album! Borsalino & Co is the sequel – and features a score that takes off nicely from the first – still echoes of Bolling's piano on many tracks, but also fuller, more dramatic orchestrations at times – and maybe a wider range of jazz instrumentation too. CD features 15 tracks from Borsalino & Co – plus 6 more bonus tracks that include vocal songs by Michele Bach and Le Gang, a big band version of the theme, and a "Borsalino Medley" too. CD

The long-overdue issue of material that was originally recorded for the film Kes back in 1969 – short and lovely numbers arranged and composed by Brit easy talent John Cameron! Cameron's best known for his work in more groove-oriented formats – but this soundtrack is something completely different, and equally great – a set of spare and compelling tunes played by a small combo that includes British jazz players Harold McNair, Ronnie Ross, David Snell, Tony Carr, and Danny Moss. The overall album is quite short, but it features a stunning range of sounds, tones, and colors – with a strong focus especially on the flute work of McNair, easily one of the greatest London players of his generation, and sort of England's answer to Roland Kirk. Titles include "Billy's Paper Round", "Billy Sees Kes In The Tower", "Kes First Flight", "Training Kes", "Billy Asleep In The Boiler Room", "Burying Kes", and "Foreboding". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest 70s soundtracks from the great Stelvio Cipriani – served up here with a huge amount of bonus tracks too! The music here was scored for a Mario Bava horror film, but it often has a quality that's more lean and lovely overall – that current of sex that we always love in Ciprani's best work, and which made him a key force for transforming the Italian bossa and jazz soundtrack style of the 60s into something completely new for the 70s! There's a lot of sweet keyboards in the music – as you'd expect from Stelvio – but there's also some cool rootsy percussion, which creates a nice juxtaposition between acoustic and electric, especially as things get a bit spookier near the end. Titles include "Ultimo Atto", "Solitudine Di Simone", "Teenagers Cha Cha Cha", "Due Amanti", "Evelyn Theme", "Shake Giradischi", and "Un Cadavere Nel Lago". CD features 31 tracks in all – including 11 never-issued bonus tracks! CD

A very wild soundtrack! The film is about The Minx, a crew of lovelies trained in the art of sensual pleasure and corporate espionage – and the original music for the film, by the rock group The Cyrkle, is about as cool as you'd expect from a theme like that! Some cuts are straight trippy rock numbers – in a mode that's somewhere between the Barbarella soundtrack and work on some of the AIP soundtracks on Tower – but then there's also some cool instrumentals, with a mixture of easy instrumentation and 60s rock effects. Titles include "On The Road", "The Minx", "Nicole", "The Party", "Walter's Riff", and "The Chase". Groovy stuff – with a real sexy Euro sound at the best moments! Mono bonus cuts include "It's A Lovely Game Louise", "The Riggin",j "Baxter's Dangerous Game", and "Something Special". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent 70s Italian film score – penned for a political thriller, but handled with a fair bit of sweet and lovely themes! The album's one of the best we've ever heard from Francesco De Masi, and it nicely mixes his usual strong talents for action with a bit more warmth that befits the sexier side of the Italian cinematic spectrum. Sweet strings glide in alongside tighter electric basslines on some tracks – and others feature evocative woodwind bits, haunting piano, and a few more dramatic orchestrations – all wrapped up with really lovely sound throughout, and reissued here in a wonderful new package that really fits the music! There's a few vocal tracks – "Tomorrow Is A Foreign Land" and "Time On My Hands" – sung in English by Melody – and other titles include "The Story Of A Dream", "Running Against The Time", "Cape Town Harbour", "Soldiers Aboard", "Red Clouds", "Ending A Dream", "Suspect & Love", and "You'll Kill Her". LP, Vinyl record album

We've got to admit that we've never seen this film – which stars Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau, and which was directed by Louis Malle – but the lovely look of the ladies on the cover was enough to make us pick up the record! The themes are a mixture of French and Mexican styled ones – and Bardot & Moreau sing together on the tunes "Paris Paris Paris", "Maria Maria", and "Les Petites Femmes". Other tracks include "Cirque", "Theme Victoire Colline", "Dame Blanche", and "Musique De Cachot Jeanne Flores". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty groovy soundtrack – one that goes way past the hit! Sure, this one's always been famous for the wonderful track "To Sir With Love" – done here in 3 versions by the young and lovely Lulu, who also starred in the film. But the record's also got some great instrumentals by Ron Granier – ones that mix in a bit of electric bass with easy instrumentation, in a manner that makes for some nicely gliding and playful numbers. Also included are two vocal tracks by The Mindbenders – rocking numbers with a Brit invasion feel. Titles include "To Sir With Love", "The Funeral", "Perhaps I Could Tidy Your Desk", "A Classical Lesson", "Museum Outings Montage", "Thackeray Meets Faculty Then Alone", and "School Break Dancing". LP, Vinyl record album

David Hess's chillingly great soundtrack to one of the most notorious horror movies of the 70s – Wes Craven's Last House On The Left! Hess's musical pedigree is that of a folk and rock songwriter – and one of the things that makes his songs for Last House On The Left so effective is the way his delicate, tuneful songcraft contrasts with the terrifyingly real sadism and revenge on screen. The other thing that makes it so effective, is that Hess himself portrays the despicable Krug in the film – taking part in said cruelty! The soundtrack has Hess's oddly lovely little songs, along with some incidental period touches, swatches of dialogue and instrumental bits – composed in collaboration with Steve Chapin. This version from One Way Static is totally top notch, too – with liner notes by exploitation cinema and genre veterans Ruggero Deodato, Franco Nero, Ulli Lommel and others. Includes "Little Cows Lookin' For Some Grass", "Baddie's Theme (Instrumental)", "Mari's Birthday Surprise", "Phyllis Spills Her Guts", "Now You're All Alone", "The Chase", "Daddy, Put Your Coat Of Many Colors On", "Mayhem Montage", "Ice Cream Song", "Urban Snatch", "Edude For Chainsaw/Goodbye, Dick" and more. CD

David Hess's chillingly great soundtrack to one of the most notorious horror movies of the 70s – Wes Craven's Last House On The Left! Hess's musical pedigree is that of a folk and rock songwriter – and one of the things that makes his songs for Last House On The Left so effective is the way his delicate, tuneful songcraft contrasts with the terrifyingly real sadism and revenge on screen. The other thing that makes it so effective, is that Hess himself portrays the despicable Krug in the film – taking part in said cruelty! The soundtrack has Hess's oddly lovely little songs, along with some incidental period touches, swatches of dialogue and instrumental bits – composed in collaboration with Steve Chapin. This version from One Way Static is totally top notch, too – with liner notes by exploitation cinema and genre veterans Ruggero Deodato, Franco Nero, Ulli Lommel and others. Includes "Little Cows Lookin' For Some Grass", "Baddie's Theme (Instrumental)", "Mari's Birthday Surprise", "Phyllis Spills Her Guts", "Now You're All Alone", "The Chase", "Daddy, Put Your Coat Of Many Colors On", "Mayhem Montage", "Ice Cream Song", "Urban Snatch", "Edude For Chainsaw/Goodbye, Dick" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic! This is the French pressing of the Michel Legrand score to Jaques Demy's incredible 1965 film The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. Every word of dialogue in the film is sung, and Legrand came up with an amazing array of themes to carry the emotion of the film. Embedded in here are lines that later became worldwide hits – like "I Will Wait For You" and "Watch What Happens" – but in this version, the songs are just themes in the huge pastiche of dialogue and narrative, and they lurk behind the score in a beautiful way. This is one of our favorite all-time soundtracks, and this French version has a very lovely cover with Catherine Deneuve standing amidst some umbrellas! Great 2LP version – with more material than the original LP release! LP, Vinyl record album

An enduring Mancini classic! And although it's probably best remembered for the sleepy theme "Moon River", the score's actually got some pretty fantastic groovy numbers with a very different feel. These include the lovely "Sally's Tomato", one of our fave melodies ever from Mancini, and a very catchy number. Other nice ones include "Moon River Cha Cha", "Latin Golightly", and "The Big Blow Out". LP, Vinyl record album

A great Mancini score for one of the goofiest films of the 60s! Peter Sellers stars as the sitar-playing Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi – next to the lovely Claudine Longet, who makes one of her few film appearances – and the whole thing's set to one of the greatest scores ever by Henry Mancini! The tunes are very groovy – with a few chorus vocal numbers, and some other wonderful tracks that mix together bits of sitar, guitar, and horn blasts – creating a very lively instrumental groove. Plus, the music is played by a tight group of LA jazzmen – with Plas Johnson on tenor, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Jimmy Rowles on piano, and Shelly Manne on drums – all musicians who really make things cook! Titles include instrumental and chorus versions of "Nothing To Lose", plus "Chicken Little Was Right", "Birdie Num Num", "Party Poop", "Wiggy", and "Brunette In Yellow". Swingin! CD

A great Mancini score for one of the goofiest films of the 60s! Peter Sellers stars as the sitar-playing Indian actor Hrundi Bakshi – next to the lovely Claudine Longet, who makes one of her few film appearances – and the whole thing's set to one of the greatest scores ever by Henry Mancini! The tunes are very groovy – with a few chorus vocal numbers, and some other wonderful tracks that mix together bits of sitar, guitar, and horn blasts – creating a very lively instrumental groove. Plus, the music is played by a tight group of LA jazzmen – with Plas Johnson on tenor, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Jimmy Rowles on piano, and Shelly Manne on drums – all musicians who really make things cook! Titles include instrumental and chorus versions of "Nothing To Lose", plus "Chicken Little Was Right", "Birdie Num Num", "Party Poop", "Wiggy", and "Brunette In Yellow". Swingin! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful soundtrack to one of our favorite American films of the 60s – the amazing Two For The Road, scored here beautifully by Henry Mancini! Mancini does a wonderful job of hitting the perfect blend of sentiment and whimsy to match the movie – offering some tunes that have a solid, serious feel – mixed with lighter numbers that make for nice mood changers, both on record and in the film. An orchestra is used on most numbers, occasionally with some European touches, given the setting of the movie – and a chorus performs one version of the theme, alongside two other instrumental ones. Titles include "The Chaser", "Something Loose", "Congarocka", "Happy Barefoot Boy", "The Lovely Life", and "The Donk". LP, Vinyl record album

The world premiere of this sweet 70s soundtrack from Franco Micalizzi – a great batch of erotic-tinged tunes originally penned for an Italian film about teenage lust! The music has a warmly gentle quality that's similar to some of Ennio Morricone's work in this mode – tunes that alternate between soft strings, stepping instrumentation, and even bits of vocals from the lovely Edda Dell'Orso, sounding a bit sweeter here than on some of her spookier soundtracks! The tunes float very nicely in the breeze – sometimes hanging bit a single piano note or two – sometimes getting a bit more drive from rhythms that verge on funky, but hang back just a bit. And as with any of the great Morricone scores from the time, there's a few key variations on the themes that spin out beautifully as the set rolls on – creating a great sense of sonic interplay! LP, Vinyl record album

Lovely lovely work from Dudley Moore – known to most as a comedic actor, but also a heck of a jazz pianist, and head of his own groovy trio during the 60s! The tunes mix together soul jazz and bossa trio styles – all dancing together in Dud's incredibly light-touched style on the ivories – and the set's got some great original numbers – including the groover "Poova Nova", the slow stepper "Sooz Blues", and the cuts "Lysie Does It" and "Take Your Time". (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A lovely little soundtrack to this French travelogue film – scored by Jean Prodromides with a feel that's as light and whimsical as a journey in a balloon! Instrumentation is mostly orchestral, and often heavy on the strings – but there's also some playful woodwind passages that are quite evocative, and which almost have a neo-classical feel in their deft portrayal of little pictures in sound. Orchestrations are directed by Andre Girard, and our favorite part of the soundtrack is the main theme – which drifts in and out of some of the other tracks, always holding the music nicely to home base. Titles include "Poursuite En Bretagne", "Generique", "L'Envol", "Les Alpes", "Provence", and "Camargue". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally wonderful little record, and one with a very unlikely origin story too – given that the music was originally composed to highlight the different creative departments at the Rochester Institute Of Technology in the late 70s! The music is all jazz on side one – done in this warmly groovy way that reminds us a lot of our favorite Australian jazz of the time – very illuminating, with a vivid sense of image within the music – but never in a way that's forced, stiff, or held to any sort of rigid structure. The group on that side features producer Jeff Resnick on keyboards, plus great trumpet from a young Jeff Tyzik, piano from Sonny Kompanek, and tenor and flute from Ramon Ricker. Side two is a bit more electric – with a mix of different keyboards from Resnick, who also dubs over some soprano and alto recorders, and makes a bit of space for some especially lovely work on flute and saxes from Dick Griffo – all with a style that echoes side one, but with more emphasis on keyboards. The whole thing's pretty darn great – with a sound that's even more vivid than its lost history! (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A really lovely soundtrack – with some great minimalist pieces by Sakamoto, which rival some of his best work on the Merry Christmas Lawrence soundtrack! The David Byrne tracks are surprisingly great, too – especially the main theme. LP, Vinyl record album

A trio of really lovely soundtracks from the great French composer Philippe Sarde – each of them a magical illustration of his wonderful talents! Mille Milliards De Dollars has a fantastic use of piano throughout – jazzy, but warm and sentimental around the edges – really the dominant instrument amidst some lighter orchestrations, and used in ways that make for some of the most tuneful, seductive moments in Sarde's legacy from the time! Conte De La Folie Ordinaire is an unusual film – one that stars the great Ben Gazzara in a set of scenes adapted from the stories of Charles Bukowski – set to music by Sarde that often evokes a sense of place in the story, with both Mexican and bluegrass elements in the songs. Last up is Le Crabe-Tambour – Sarde at his most dramatic, scoring for a military thriller – and using lots of brass in very offbeat ways! CD