Mostly mellow numbers, but not without some charm – featuring tracks written by Rod McKuen for a variety of films and TV shows, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and Joanna. Greenslade was McKuen's prime interpreter at the time –and he's recording here on Rod's own label. Titles in clude "Lonesome Cities", "Listen To The Warm", "Mr Kelly/Kelly & Me", "Jean", "Pastures Green", and "The Loner". (Now Sound, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A weird little record from John Barry – the soundtrack to a 1963 television special recorded by Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her early popularity, and featuring Taylor reciting a variety of poems and speeches over music by Barry! There's a relatively high concept feel to the album – as Barry's backings are fairly string-laden and serious, penned to match the mood of Taylor's presentation of material written by William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Pitt, Winston Churchill, and Queen Victoria. And although Taylor speaks on about half the record, the best tracks here are actually the instrumental ones – which have more of the depth of Barry's serious soundtrack work from the time, and manage to have their own sense of presence apart from the star quality of Liz on the set. Arrangements are by Johnnie Spence, and titles include "Elizabeth", "London Theme Jazz Waltz", "Queen Elizabeth At Tilbury", "Queen Victoria", "English Garden", "The Fire Of London", "Lovers & Browning", and "London At Dawn". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest spy soundtracks of the 60s – a very groovy batch of tracks written for Stefanie Powers' brief TV show, The Girl From UNCLE! The music here is better than the male version of the UNCLE franchise – hip 60s spy themes, done in a groovy style for the television audience – often a cool blend of swirling strings, jazzy orchestrations, and some very hip rhythms! Dave Grusin penned the music, and Teddy Randazzo arranged – bringing his 60s soul background into the work in a really great way – emphasizing the grooves even more than on other records of this nature, in a way that's made the set very sought after in the crate-digging scene. There's plenty of nice 60s elements – keyboards, wordless vocals, funky flute, and other hip effects – and titles include "Movin On", "Out Of The Frying Pan", "The Girl From UNCLE", "Sneaky Search", "The Countess", and "Bomb Scare". LP, Vinyl record album

Really wonderful work from the great Elmer Bernstein – from a relatively unlikely source as well! The music here was all composed for the General Electric Theater TV show – a regular anthology program hosted by Ronald Reagan, with a shifting dramatic cast – but one that's scored by Bernstein with all the richness of his best film work of the time – orchestrations that are even more amazing when you consider they were only meant to be heard from the small speaker of a television, and usually just for one time only! The album brings together some of the best Bernstein compositions from a variety of different programs – but there's a surprisingly unified feel throughout, and titles include "Enchante", "Passionelle", "Lavender Waltz", "The Highland Lovers", "David's Love Song", "Progress", "Mariachi", and "L'Amour Tristesse". LP, Vinyl record album