STAR WARS v TARANTINO
You’ve seen the films — now find out who wins the battle of the soundtracks
NOW the movie awards season is in full swing, it’s a good time to explore some excellent soundtracks — from dramatic, big-screen scores to albums packed with classic hits.
THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Decca)
ALREADY crowned best score at the Golden Globes and with an Oscar nod yesterday, ennio Morricone’s music for the latest Tarantino epic is suitably grand and moody. From a stately overture to some tension-building strings and horns, it shuns the twanging guitars and whistling of the traditional Spaghetti Western to give fans something fresh.
in addition to Morricone’s first Western music in decades, the album contains Roy Orbison’s 1967 hit There Won’t Be Many Coming Home and The White Stripes’ Apple Blossom — two minutes of bluesy, garage-rock fury.
THE PEANUTS MOVIE (RCA)
A SWEET, spirited soundtrack to a heart-warming film, the Peanuts soundtrack features jazzy piano pieces, orchestral interludes and two sunny new songs from tomboyish American singer Meghan Trainor. The first, Better When i’m Dancin’, revisits the strident, Caribbean soca flavour of Trainor’s recent debut album, Title, while Good To Be Alive is giddy pop. With the movie aimed at children, there’s nothing too deep or difficult here, with rapper Flo Rida enriching the feel-good tone on That’s What i like.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Walt Disney)
HAVING written the music for all six previous Star Wars spectaculars, composer John Williams brings all his experience to bear on another majestic, orchestral score from a galaxy far, far away.
The Force Awakens is exuberant and thunderous, its fanfares and flourishes powered by passing references to the widescreen Star Wars themes of old.
in a break with a tradition that dates back to 1977, this Oscar-nominated album was recorded in los Angeles rather than london’s Abbey Road, but the Force is still strong with this one.
I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES (Sony Music)
like the documentary about Brian Clough’s allconquering, against-the-odds nottingham Forest football team of the late Seventies and early eighties, this soundtrack strikes a winning, nostalgic note.
Boosted by such disco, funk and Philly soul classics as Harold Melvin’s mellow ballad The love i lost and Gloria Gaynor’s never Can Say Goodbye, its 21 tracks double up as a brilliant period playlist. The tracks are largely American, though homegrown soul boys Heatwave and The Real Thing get a look-in.
THE DANISH GIRL (Decca)
FRENCHMAN Alexandre Desplat’s stirring film scores work superbly on the big screen, but pale somewhat once they are stripped of the accompanying visuals.
But having secured his first Oscar last year for The Grand Budapest Hotel, the composer, who also conducts, is on a roll.
His music for director Tom Hooper’s gender reassignment drama will only strengthen his sought-after status, with a series of evocative piano and string pieces lending an air that is poised, but dramatic.
CAROL (Varese Sarabande)
COMPOSER Carter Burwell enlists a small yet stylish ensemble to interpret his music for the screen adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s lesbian romance.
His string, piano and clarinet pieces are haunting, but never hysterical, and the original music is enhanced by a handful of wonderful period pieces that chime with the tale’s Fifties setting.
Among these are The Clovers’ doo-wop drinking song One Mint Julep, Billie Holiday’s easy living and Georgia Gibbs’s tantalising tango kiss Of Fire. A deserved Academy Award contender.
THE REVENANT (Regency)
WITH Alejandro inarritu’s brutal tale of survival tipped for Oscar glory, interest in this pensive soundtrack is bound to heighten.
Working with a Berlin orchestra, the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German musician Carsten nicolai have scored a brooding, sombre masterpiece that includes variations on the film’s central theme.
Reflecting a shared background in electronic pop, they enhance their strings with synths and contributions from Bryce Dessner, of American rock band The national.