Back catalogue: Soundtracks

Review: When a Yeti is killed by a group of Sherpa, a bunch of university scientists travel out to Nepal in the hope of discovering where the creature came from. There, they team up with a rough and ready tracker, and head out from a remote village into the great white wilderness beyond. Avalanches, prehistoric species, and ancient hominids and alien reptiles all follow as the plot thickens and freezes. If you didn't catch The Primevals when it first arrived on screens, we implore you to watch the 2023 animated sci-fi action romp. Stop motion animator David Allen co-wrote and directed it, spending more than 50 years on the development which sadly completed after he died. It's a family friendly epic that looks gorgeous and plays out compellingly, thanks in no small part to the Richard Bland soundtrack. An homage to the great adventure epics that once defined cinema, the score is classic cinematic stuff, a classical overture of bombastic chase sequences, serene harmonies and pin-drop tension.

Review: This is a World Premiere of the recordings of the complete scores from two absolute stone cold classic hammer horror films. Both come from the 1950s There is the Peter Cush starring The Curse Of Frankenstein and Christopher Lee lead Count Dracula, which also featuring Cush in the role of Doctor Van Helsing. Togther they make for one of the many special Record Store Day 2020 releases and are both utterly essential buys and some of the best ever from the soundtrack genre. James Bernard is the man behind the music on both, and it never fails to send chills down the spine. This reissue comes in a special gatefold sleeve with red and green 12" LPs.

Review: Talk about a cultural Tardis, Doctor Who ranks among the most longstanding love affairs British TV viewers have ever had with a work of science fiction, ranking up there with global phenomena such as Star Trek in terms of legions of faithful fans and decade-spanning sagas. After a small blip of obscurity in the mid-late-1990s and immediate post-millennium years, the show rebooted and reconfigured for the 21st Century in 2005, and hasn't left the common conscience since.

The score is certainly something to do with that resonance. As far as theme tunes go, Doctor Who's may not still be the most forward thinking (as it was back in 1963), but it's easily up there in the premier league of iconic. On this live rendition of music from the latter-day Series 1 & 2 that theme remains as impactful, while a talented entourage of players and conductors also help us remember just how consistent the music is overall.