Juno Recommends Soundtracks April 2023

Review: Expanding on the ever-present fervour for classic industrial music, CTI's Elemental 7 lands in our laps, a reissue of the soundtrack to their 1982 film of the same name. Devastating and brutal sound effects are paired with haunting vocal performances on this two-suite clanker for the ages, while the accompanying video features cut-up video clips and dancing ghosts, while nods in the titles refer to seances and exorcisms. Don't pass on this one, as it's not just any old soundtrack; underwater worlds and vaporeal explosions make up its more unusual sonics.

Review: One of the major television events of the year so far has surely been The Last Of Us, the zombie apocalypse survivor show adapted from a video game to gut-wrenching, butt-clenching, nerve-shredding, tear-jerking effect. As well as the outstanding acting from the lead roles and the incredibly realised nightmare landscapes, credit must surely also go to Gustavo Santaolalla for his dramatic score, which is now being released by Music On Vinyl as a limited edition green and silver audiophile edition which comes with an eight-page booklet. For fans of the series who want to relive the terror, or simply those who love a great score, this is a must-grab.

Review: It almost (almost) feels pointless to pitch why you should buy Moonage Daydream. After all, David Bowie was one of the 20th Century's best selling and most influential artists. And that legacy continued through the early-21st, when he represented an increasingly rare breed of visionary artist capable of building entire worlds. He straddled mainstream popularity and experimentalism with ease. So, you're probably going to pick up a copy of this on sight and spec alone.
Nevertheless, some context may help. 'Moonage Daydream' is, of course, the title of one of Bowie's most enigmatic and defining tracks, which would go on to form the basis for the concept album The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Now it's also the name of a new documentary about the life and times, and incredible work, of the man in question. In terms of soundtrack, that translates as two discs of rare and iconic material, from 'The Jean Genie/Love Me Do/The Jean Genie' medley (recorded at the final date of the Ziggy tour in 1973), to alternative mixes of tracks like 'Modern Love'.

Review: James Horner's Titanic soundtrack has become a classic in its own right, but it's certainly been a good while since it saw any proper release. Thankfully, it's now the 25th Anniversary of the astonishingly sad film, and as ever, this new reissue sees us reminded of Horner's impressive ability to wrench out just about every tear that could possibly be wrought from our ducts (and they're deep!). Classic string movements and a near-universally recognisable lead motif capture the grandeur and tragedy of the ship's story. Plus, longtime fans will be delighted at the news of an included eight-page booklet on the film and score, a well as a poster.

Review: Not your everyday crime thriller, Man On A Swing (1976) doesn't just follow a detective solving a murder with his very own machismic wits. It rather sees the main character consult a local mystic for help, in what can only be described as a far more holistic and spiritually in-touch mystery than most out there. Lalo Schifrin's OST is as entertaining and stark as this premise suggests, blending every influence from disco to funk to bossa nova into a rather exciting affair.

Review: Legendary composer Ennio Morricone wrote this one alongside Bruno Nicolai, a firmed and someone who he worked with on several occasions. It is one of the albums in his discography that rather gets overlooked, which is not hard to understand given its breadth and depth, but that's not to say it's right. Experimental elements intertwine with his skillful knack for composition as hair-raising violin notes sit next to ominous percussion. Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza and the angelic vocals of Edda Dell'Orso add yet more to this hidden gem.

Review: Depending on your age you might well consider the 90s to be the best ever era for movies. You'd have a fair shout too, and now the Music On Vinyl label gives you a chance to revisit some of them through the power of their standout tunes .This collection has pop, soul, rock, disco and plenty more from giants of the time like Jamiroquai, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, Warren G and Alive Cooper. It all comes across four sides of vinyl and is a great trip down memory lane.

Review: Where do you start with this one? Stanley Kubrick's landmark science fiction movie might be best remembered for its soundtrack. Or at least the opening overture, 'Also Spruce Zarathustra', and its bombastic drums and brass that seem to scream "we're going to space and into the unknown". However, as the original score proves upon reappraisal, there's much here that you likely won't remember until you hear it again.
Not least the terrifying, shrill chorus of 'Requiem for Soprano', which almost sounds like humanity crying out for help across the great endless nothing we call the universe. Elsewhere, we have the strange, alien refrains of 'Lux Antena', which invokes similarly fitting mental imagery - spareness, desolation, a singular beacon of noise in the darkness. Or the nervous tension of 'Atmospheres'. A testament to the power of music to make you visualise.

Review: A popular and controversial new TV series, This England, documents the recent history of England's most contemptible prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his Conservative government's reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding the surreality of so quickly dramatizing a very real and bad collective experience (there are theories out there that say turning real traumatic world events into TV spectacles has the useful effect of placating a public that would otherwise grow revolutionarily angry), we still commend the OST by David Holmes here, which matches the urgency and quick-action of the pandemic as it spread across the country. Holmes' orchestral score aims for three disparate themes ('creeping', 'urgency', and 'careful'), which cause the music to rise in tactful intensity, contrasting to not-so-tactful 'traffic light' system to which the public was subject - but which the government somehow weren't.

Review: Space disco might be a recognisable or at least widely acceptable genre term, but its long lost twin 'space jazz' is on the sidelines, relegated to nicher corners of musical history. Thankfully, its memory has been conserved thanks to the late great composer Ennio Morricone occupying one of those corners. 'Space: 1999' was British TV's answer to Kubrick - concerning a fictional account of what would happen if the moon were knocked out of orbit - and Morricone's soundtrack for the Italian theatrical version here forms a veritable part the Italian OST canon. Incredible cacophonous clang-jazz, modular workouts and tom-heavy unidentified flying drums make up this fast but lonesome paean for the cosmos.

Review: The latest in our film soundtracks pot comes from the wondrous Matthew Herbert, the house music producer and musician who's turned his creative focus to making film scores in recent years. 'The Wonder' complements the latest film by Sebastian Leilo of the same name - a recent addition to the mainsteam Irish film canon, it's about a miraculous young girl who has managed to survive without food for 11 months. To bolster the context of the Great Famine, Herbert's music is spectral, pure and sensitive, pushing the outer limits of what a 'cinematic' ambient soundtrack can be conceived to be.

Review: Clint Mansell wouldn't be every director's first choice to soundtrack Black Swan, a deeply disturbing psychological minefield set around a performance of Swan Lake. Making a name for himself with the alt-rock doyens Pop Will Eat Itself, the relationship he later struck up with celebrated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has given us some wild scores - Requiem For A Dream and Pi being two of the most challenging and traumatising, neither of which are very Tchaikovsky.
Nevertheless, as the OST to Aronofsky's Black Swan goes to show, Mansell is more than up to the task. Yes, it's dark, but it's also faithful to the background material: an incredible collection of classical, largely piano-led tracks that are as evocative as they are emotionally-charged, tense as they are serene, and musically highly accomplished.

Review: Grossing over $1.4bn globally, Top Gun: Maverick may not have been the film everyone wanted last year, but it was the film everyone needed. Not least in the cinema. The long-long-awaited follow up to 1986's iconic (for good and bad reasons) tale of naval aviators (not pilots) singlehandedly saved the big screen summer in 2022, and that speaks volumes about where we are right now.

Film is a window on society, and in the aftermath of a pandemic during which we stepped over the line into the future unawares, it seems people really want an old school blockbuster void of cynicism. That's what they got here, and although it has both contemporary pop that won't stand the test of time, and bits from the original motion picture's soundtrack repeated, the score to the 21st Century reboot is perfectly in-keeping. Zimmer ramps up the emotional resonance with tunes like 'Penny Returns', Kenny Loggins does Kenny Loggins, and that theme tune rounds it off.