Argyle Soundtrack

For fans of Jerry Goldsmith's score for Ridley Scott 1978 movie Alien, this two-disc Intrada set is the ultimate fantasy. Everything is here and then some. Disc 1 contains Goldsmith's entire score as he originally intended it with every cue in place, including those that were later cut from the film plus his recomposed versions of cues the director made him change (Goldsmith's original main theme, for example, appears without its signature heroic trumpet melody because the director thought it wasn't creepy enough). Disc 2 includes the original soundtrack as issued on LP plus six other bonus tracks of demonstration takes and even the brief except from Eine kleine Nachtmusik used in the film. The stereo sound here is fabulous, the performances definitive, and the liner notes exhaustive. And the score, like the film, is a classic of its genre. With its mixture of the ecstatic chromaticism of Scriabin, the skittering strings of Penderecki, the harmonic waves of Ligeti, and the atmospheric percussion of Herrmann, Goldsmith's score became a template for all subsequent science fiction/horror movies. But as this splendid release so amply shows, the original still can't be beat.

When the new Halloween movie hits theaters in October 2018, it will have the distinction of being the first film in the series with creator John Carpenter’s direct involvement since 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Carpenter serves on the new David Gordon Green-directed installment as an executive producer, a creative consultant, and, thrillingly, as a soundtrack composer, alongside his collaborators from his three recent solo albums, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

Fledgling film composer Harald Kloser laid waste – musically – to the world for Roland Emmerich's environmental disaster pic The Day After Tomorrow, so it comes as no surprise that he's up to providing the soundtrack for the latest "humans in peril" popcorn diversion, Alien Vs. Predator. Following in the footsteps of previous Alien franchise composers like Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, Kloser brings the symphonic dread through a winning combination of orchestral vastness and tried and true action-film dynamics. He also introduces a myriad of electronic elements into the mix that bring to mind the works of contemporaries like Hans Zimmer and Thomas Newman – the "Alien vs. Predator Main Theme" is particularly striking and serves as a continuous creative source for the composer to dip his baton in. There's nothing groundbreaking here, and why should there be? Kloser is just building his resumé, and what better way to do it than scoring big-budget – and hopefully big paycheck – Hollywood pap.

Ultimate Gangster Movie Soundtrack. Double CD 40 track collection of gangster movie phenomenon, featuring Stealers Wheel from Reservoir Dogs, Santana from Carlito's Way, Lalo Schifrin from Bullitt, Nilsson from Casino, Booket T and the MG's.