Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: When they brought back Tom Cruise's macho fighter pilot for Top Gun: Maverick, they were making no bones about the nostalgia trip. The original remains an endearingly ludicrous slice of 80s action with all the brawn necessary to make it an enduring hit, and the soundtrack more than matches up to that, going nine times platinum, no less. That's a lot of success to match up to, so Maverick pulls out the big guns by tapping up Lady Gaga for the hit-making and Hans Zimmer for the epic Hollywood score. It's tonnes of fun, and it even features Kenny Loggins' classic 'Danger Zone' from the original.

Review: In the John Williams & Hans Zimmer Odyssey, the Orchestre Curieux embarks on a sonic journey through the iconic film scores of two legendary composers. John Williams, known for his sweeping orchestral arrangements in classics like Star Wars and Jurassic Park, contrasts with Hans Zimmer's modern, dynamic and more minimal soundscapes from films like Inception and Gladiator. This orchestral fusion bridges generations of cinema lovers and seamlessly blends Williams' timeless melodies with Zimmer's contemporary flair. The performance promises a cinematic experience, transporting audiences through the rich tapestry of emotions evoked by these masterpieces, all interpreted through the Orchestre Curieux's unique artistic lens.

Review: For many people, the wait for the latest Bond movie to finally be released after long Covid delays has been excruciating. But for a certain group of us, the soundtrack will always be more anticipated, especially when it is by a modern great like Hans Zimmer. On this one, the masterful composer captures all the glamour, danger, high drama, class and suspense you would expect, but all in his own unique way. Johnny Marr, who is also the featured guitarist on the album, helps with the score and of course Billie Eilish's electrifying title track 'No Time To Die' also makes the cut.

Review: For many people, the wait for the latest Bond movie to finally be released after long Covid delays has been excruciating. But for a certain group of us, the soundtrack will always be more anticipated, especially when it is by a modern great like Hans Zimmer. On this one, the masterful composer captures all the glamour, danger, high drama, class and suspense you would expect, but all in his own unique way. Johnny Marr, who is also the featured guitarist on the album, helps with the score and of course Billie Eilish's electrifying title track 'No Time To Die' also makes the cut.

Review: You don't have to be a film score obsessive to recognise the name of Hans Zimmer; the man who has practically created a monopoly out of the craft. While his work on the recent Denis Villeneuve adaptations of Dune has currently ended his creative partnership with auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan (who has since enlisted the exceptional Ludwig Goransson in his stead), during their collaborative tenure, no particular score garnered the adoration and passionate praise that still continues to be heaped upon 2014's sci-fi spectacle Interstellar. Featuring some of Zimmer's most mercurial work to date, swaying from lilting hues of delicacy to bombastic, palpable, otherworldly dread, without ever veering into alienating sonics; the pieces still receives copious applause, instigate enthralling discussion and continue to be repressed to vinyl. In short, the Interstellar score is the outlier soundtrack for every collector.

Review: Hans Zimmer is unquestionably one of the greatest composers of modern times. More specifically, he's perhaps the greatest living film composer, having scored more movies than we could ever hope to list here. Recent credits including the much-hyped and long-anticipated Dune redo, and Denis Villeneuve's rightly celebrated sci-fi epic, Blade Runner 2049.

As you guessed from this web page, The Dark Knight is another title he put his name to, all the way back in 2008. Christopher Nolan's second Batman instalment, arguably the finest in the history of the franchise, really needed something rooted in menacing, unsettling atmospherics, with rousing moments capable of restoring hope even against some near-impossible odds. He did just that, as this evocative powerhouse of a classical album proves. Not exactly easy listening, prepare to be moved in more ways than one.

Review: Let's face it, Hollywood director Christopher Nolan broke the mould with his re-envisioning of Batman. Taking things closer to the original comic books, themselves forced to 'go soft' by censors in the early-1950s, his films payed direct tribute to the saga's direction from the mid-1970s onwards. A trilogy of movies that were visually arresting, tonally dystopian, and viciously unhinged. It's not clear if we'll ever get a superhero (or anti-hero) film series of that class and calibre again, the world on screen so immersive you quickly feel like a Gotham native. A big part of that universe-building comes through the music, which enlists two of the greatest names in the history of soundtracks to help weave the tales. Hans Zimmer has composed for more than 150 films, James Newton Howard in excess of 100. This compilation of their shared caped crusader efforts proves why they're so well respected.

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.