Star on 45

Composed by longtime J.J. Abrams collaborator Michael Giacchino, who also composed the music for series like Alias, Lost, and Fringe, as well as the previous installment of the rebooted Star Trek, the score to Star Trek: Into Darkness follows the re-imagined franchise out of the realm of sci-fi and into the world of action. Filled with tension and urgency, Giacchino's huge score builds a kind of tension and urgency that feels right at home in this new Trek universe, playing to the film's strength as a thrill-a-minute action adventure and making for a fine analogue to its original series predecessor, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Definitely worth a listen for Star Trek fans, especially those willing to accept this new take on the Trek universe with open arms (and ears).

Star Turtle is Harry Connick, Jr.'s most ambitious album, a four-part suite that attempts to tell the evolution of jazz and R&B to funk and rock. Given such an unwieldy concept, it's surprising how well the album works, actually. Connick can play jazz and R&B with flair, if not much identity. What sinks the album is when he treads too closely to contemporary waters, because he sounds old-fashioned and surprisingly conservative when he works in a rock & roll or funk-oriented idiom. Nevertheless, Connick's revivalism works quite well when he sticks to more traditional forms and that's what makes Star Turtle an entertaining listen.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack that was used in Star Ocean: The Last Hope. It was composed and arranged by Motoi Sakuraba and consists of a total of 71 songs over 3 discs.