Soundtracks

Review: 
'All Star' is the fifth song on Smash Mouth's album Astro Lounge and easily their most well known. It was released as a single in May 1999 but really took off when it was used during the final scene of the 1999 film Mystery Men, then again when it was reached for during the opening credits of the 2001 smash hit animation, Shrek. Eight of the cast members of Mystery Men had cameos in the music video of the song including the likes of William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and Janeane Garofalo and it also got used in various TV shows. Here it comes backed with 'Invisible Boy Song'.

Review: Anime has long been a source of incredibly creative ambient soundtrack music for generations of Japanese artists. 1997's Princess Mononoke is one of esteemed anime company Studio Ghibli most accomplished and notorious work, with a lush and symphonic soundtrack to match. The film has recently been made available on Netflix and now the music gets its own release with beautiful artwork. It was written by Joe Hisaishi and this edition was actually recorded ahead of the soundtrack itself and was solely based on notes by director Hayao Miyazaki on how he wanted the music to sound.

Review: The recent passing of one of the 20th century's greatest cinematic composers, Ennio Morricone, had many scurrying to streaming services to check out the best of his vast catalogue of work. Those who did will attest that his work touched on numerous themes, genres and styles. This compilation provides a more focussed retrospective of the late Italian composer's work. It concentrates purely on cinematic themes and incidental pieces - most from the 1960s and '70s - that could be loosely termed "lounge music". In reality, the assembled material is a mixture of smooth jazz, easy listening and tongue-in-cheek, library style kitsch. There's nothing quite as stirring as some of his more acclaimed works for movies like The Mission, but the music is certainly cheeky, cheery and highly entertaining.

Review: We know now for sure Gerry Anderson and Christopher Burr didn't predict what life would be like in 2020 when they unveiled their science fiction puppet TV show Terrahawks back in 1980. A relatively underwhelming series compared to the success of predecessors like Captain Scarlett and Thunderbirds, one thing it did have was a crazy-big theme tune, which is now yours to love and own.

There's nostalgia in spades here if you recall the original source material, but also a ton of sampling and editing possibilities with the content, too- top billing going to 'Terrahawks Main Theme', which is a pretty typical slice of 1980s high concept keyboard glitter. But there are also two less intense, more narrative-driven cuts, 'Into The Beach' parts one and two, before the synth and tom drum-heavy 'Variations On A Theme' close the set out. Basically, hours of possible fun.