ALAIN GORAGUER Vinyl & CDs

Review: Earnest, atmospheric, romantic-gothic guitar pieces from Alain Goraguer, whose Rare Soundtracks & Lost Tapes hears a collection never heard before on vinyl. Goraguer is best known as a collaborator and ghostwriter of Serge Gainsbourg, as well as the scoring composer for the surrealist sci-fi animation film Fantastic Planet. At around the same time of the making of these two indelible compositions, Goraguer also wrote two similar, but less publicly-oriented scores, both of which appear on this record in a back-to-back fashion. An array of breathy flutes, eerie backing synth counterpoints, and shaky percussions all combine to cloud the glasses on this beautifully bittersweet album-length hypnosis.

Review: La Planete Sauvage, or Fantastic Planet to give its Anglicised name, is a landmark of animation. In technical terms, it's perhaps not the most advanced film to have come out in 1973, but the creative vision, storyline and atmosphere of Rene Laloux's film remains an enduring influence, and that's helped no end by Alain Goraguer's surrealist, expressive score. As the film celebrates its 50th anniversary, Decca are pulling out the stops for a high-end reissue that remixes and remasters Goraguer's score from the recently discovered multi-track tapes, including seven previously unreleased pieces and three alternative mixes.