Back catalogue: Classical

Review: While most celebrated in electronic music circles for his work as part of Yellow Magic Orchestra - not to mention a string of experimental solo works - Ryuichi Sakamoto has long been an acclaimed composer of music for the big screen. As the title suggests, this fine compilation gathers together some of his best soundtrack works. There are plenty of familiar favourites present - check the chiming, suitably cheery theme to "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" and the swelling closing theme from "The Last Emperor" - alongside lesser-known gems such as the lilting strings of "The Sheltering Sky (Main Theme)", the simmering beauty of "Little Buddha: Acceptance" and the jazz-influenced bliss of "Femme Fatale: Bolerisch".

Review: Silva Screen Records continues their vast compilation project here with another tribute to the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, the legendary former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra who passed not so long ago. They have pressed this one up to various formats and this is a gatefold transparent lime green and black splattered vinyl from the acclaimed film scorer. He wrote for epics such as Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky and The Last Emperor. This album takes in plenty of the most standout tracks from those movies, all performed by the Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by Dirk Brosse.

Review: David Shire has one hell of a back catalogue. Active within music since the 1960s, and specifically theatre and film soundtracks in the 1970s, while many of the biggest names behind movie scores have a tendency to explore the same avenues, and therefore wind up creating tunes for relatively similar flicks, in this case that's not really true. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (the original, of course), All The President's Men, and parts of Saturday Night Fever give some idea as to the breadth of his mastery.
The Conversation slips right in there in terms of period and genre, but is, of course, a very different classic to a movie about a New York subway train getting hijacked or social tensions in Brooklyn at the height of the disco era. While largely focused on piano solos, we also get late night dance floor jazz, tense drone, and moody avant-garde, just in case the on-screen action wasn't brooding enough already.