This is the “magazine” section of my site. I will regularly post new featured film music here. Every time I re-visit, I add three new featured film scores with an approximately one-minute sampler of sounds from that score in streaming MP3 format.

Click on the cover art to hear the sample.

Note: these are low-quality samples for buying guidance only, with links to shops below.

And don’t forget to look over at the John Barry page for samples of Barry’s fifteen most essential movie scores.

The Quiller Memorandum — John Barry

John Barry made a mark for himself in the spy genre of the sixties, not just the upbeat tone of Bond but the downbeat tone of more gritty thrillers such as this and The Ipcress File. The Quiller Memorandum deals with a loner American agent who falls in love with a potential enemy whilst trying to uncover the base of a dangerous neo-Nazi organisation in Berlin. For the score, Barry wrote a typically thematic score but in a cold orchestration to match the mood of the film. Clever stuff.

Papillon — Jerry Goldsmith

I hate it that people remember Jerry Goldsmith for Westerns, themes from Star Trek and dumb-down actioners such as Rambo and Total Recall. Goldsmith has a wonderful body of work in fine drama. It’s his superior body of work most aptly captured in Patton, Islands In The Stream and this, Papillon. Beautiful themes, great expressions and brilliant drama. Papillon is one of my favourite scores by any composer.

Enter The Dragon — Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin was the sound of the Warner Brothers’ actioner of the late sixties and early seventies. For Enter The Dragon he blended the tense style of Dirty Harry with the jazz of Bullitt and original Oriental motifs. The result is a snappy, enjoyable, cult action score.

The Appointment — John Barry

This dreary drama from Sidney Lumet was, for years, a great unseen Barry film with an unavailable score. Now, thanks to Film Score Monthly, Barry’s complete score is available. It’s an interesting work. Melodic, romantic, but in a very dry and plaintive way. The theme is brilliantly composed, wuth a somewhat Mozartian sound.

Taxi Driver — Bernard Herrmann

Martin Scorcese called his film New York gothic. A brilliant but disturbing study of the time-bomb misfit driven to cathartic violence in seedy New York, Herrmann’s music is a fascinating score that reflects every attribute of this study with chimes, brushes, stark snare drums and the power suggested by brass. It was, sadly, Herrmann’ last score.

Scusi, Facciamo L’Amore? — Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone wrote many scores for the voice of Edda Dell'Orso and the singers of I Cantori Moderni Di Allessandroni. So much so that they could easily merge into one. Yet each score contains its own distinctive theme. Some of the tracks on this score seem short of new ideas, but the album is lifted to top drawer status by the repeated use of one of Morricone’'s most delectable themes in this style — A Lydia.

The Tamarind Seed — John Barry

One of the last great John Barry scores from that incredible run of never-failing brilliance between 1962 and 1974, before the late seventies wilderness years, and before the 1980s renaissance. This tired and ineffective film dealt with the love affair between a secret service secretary and Russian defector, scored with romance, mystery and staccato suspense. This music, sadly, has never been officially released.

Marco Polo — Ennio Morricone

The stunning score from the TV epic is Morricone at his most exquisite — sweet melodies and hypnotic harmonies in Oriental flavour. Again, this music has never been officially released on CD. Let’s hope someone corrects that error one day.

Musica Per Film — Ennio Morricone

A film score is generally a journey of characters in music, and can rarely be appreciated in the abridged form of the compilation album. Nonetheless, there are some special compilations out there, and this is one of them. Some of Morricone’s most wonderful themes recorded by small chamber orchestra.

Petulia — John Barry

The mid-to-late sixties and early seventies were the pantheon years of film music, because the major talents (Barry, Morricone, Goldsmith, et al) were at their most creative; and were knocking out several distinctive scores each year. Richard Lester’s film Petulia deals with a sometimes sad, sometimes funny love triangle. Barry’s wonderful music has yet to appear officially on CD

Vergogna Schifosi — Ennio Morricone

The fantastic Ennio Morricone wrote a marvellously addictive score for this obscure Italian film, released as Dirty Angels in the UK. It was a great rarity on vynil, fetching several hundred pounds. The score has been released on CD with La Stagione Dei Sensi.

The Final Conflict — Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith won an Academy Award for his music for The Omen, written on a theme called Ave Satani. For Damien — Omen II, Goldsmith reiterated but with electronic input to add to the demonic impression. For The Final Conflict, Goldsmith wrote completely new material including a fanfare for Damien Thorn, and a wonderful religious pastorale for the second coming. The film was terrible, but the score wonderful.

L’Assoluto Naturale — Ennio Morricone

When I first heard Ennio Morricone’s 1969 score I was struck by the most fantastic, catchy theme. I kept wanting it to come back, and it did, in different lengths, cuts and accents. I can’t remember the last time I loved a single theme so much that I just couldn’t stop playing it. That’s what’s happened here. See if that theme infects you too!

Assault On Precinct 13 — John Carpenter

Assault On Precinct 13 represents something I normally hate — the pure synthesizer score. For this film of relentless pressure, however, the simple hooks that Capenter wrote are simply compelling. Hardly a classical masterpiece, but the score has an understandable cult following.

La Donna Invisible — Ennio Morricone

While John Barry continues to be pretty inactive, exploring the back catalogue of the great Ennio Morricone continues to be exciting. La Donna Invisibile, available on Italian Dagored records, is one of his great sixties scores. The film stars the beautiful Giovanna Ralli, known to John Barry fans for her appearance as Fé in Deadfall.

Enigma — John Barry

When it first came out, I dismissed film and score as polished but not especially inspiring. On its second round, however, it’s hardly out of my CD player. It’s a mixture of wartime romance and tense drama as Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott race against time to crack the famous German code machine. For the Enigma itself, Barry composed a particularly hypnotic and mysterious piece.

A Fistful Of Dynamite — Ennio Morricone

Quite simply one of the most outstanding and joyous scores of the great Ennio Morricone. The score journeys from an ecstatic melody is sung by Edda Dell’Orso through a hilarious burping song to tender love theme and heartbreaking music of plaintive remembrance. This CD is a must in any film music collector’s drawer. It is the essential Ennio Morricone album.

Moonraker — John Barry

Sometimes, great music accompanies terrible films. Moonraker is arguably James Bond at its worst, but it didn’t stop John Barry writing a stately and elegant score to match the film’s luxurious, wide, expansive spaces.

Playing By Heart — John Barry

For this film about couples seeking to rekindle their love, John Barry fixated on a key notion. The principal couple (Sean Connery and Geena Rowlands) were lovers of Chet Baker, so Barry’s score employs Chris Botti for a reflective, romantic theme in the manner of Baker called simply Remembering Chet.

Psychomania — John Cameron

Everyone has a guilty pleasure. Mine is this slightly cheesy but creepy British comedy-horror from 1971 about a group of middle-England biking youths who commit suicide, some in the most comic ways, so they can return to be delinquent without consequence. The very capable John Cameron wrote a ghostly funk score. The album contains much you’ll want to skip past, but there are some classic 1971 sounds here!

Swimming Pool — Philippe Rombi

Philippe Rombi is a major breath of fresh air in film music. This erotic murder-mystery score for the film by Francois Ozon is a classic neo-Herrmann score in the flavour of Pino Donaggio. Super stuff.

Metti, Una Sera A Cena — Ennio Morricone

Another delicious score from the pen of Ennio Morricone. The film is also known as Love Circle and One Night At Dinner, and featured Florinda Bolkan, known to Barry fans for her appearance in The Last Valley.

Vertigo — Bernard Herrmann

Bernard Herrmann’s magnum opus is, arguably, his score for Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic suspense film. Three recordings exist, the original (conducted by Muir Matheson); a re-recording by Varese Sarabande records (conducted by Joel McNeely); and a re-recording by James Conlon, available only with Douglas Gordon’s book, Feature Film.

The White Buffalo — John Barry

This is hardly one of John Barry’s most interesting or in-demand scores. There is even a sense that Barry might have scored this film in a hurry, since it is largely derivative of scores written just prior — The Deep, King Kong and The Day Of The Locust. It is nonetheless a dramatically interesting score boosted by a sad and noble theme. It has been just released as a limited edition on the Prometheus label.

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