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Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1930-59
Stormy Weather (1943) [Compilation]
"From a groundbreaking Black movie that was based on the life story of dancer Bill "Mr. Bojangles" Robinson came the title song - which established Lena Horne as a world star - and Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin' which became as all-enveloping as Cab Calloway's suit."
2

Elmer Bernstein
The Man With the Golden Arm / Original Motion Picture Sound Track (1956)
"Time was when Elmer Bernstein ruled Themeland, his riff-ridden, almost Wagnerian jazz, bringing fresh aspects to this drug-laden Frank Sinatra vehicle, 'Sweet Smell of Success', 'Walk on the Wild Side', and many others. First, you need this one, then you need the rest."
3

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1930-59
The Girl Can't Help It (1956) [Compilation]
"The first rock film boasting a decent budget, this Frank Tashlin creation lacked a soundtrack album until 1992. Featuring Little Richard, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran, the first track anyone recalls is Julie London's (R.I.P. - ed.) smoky version of 'Cry Me a River'."
4

Miles Davis
Lift To The Scaffold / Original Soundtrack (1957)
"Director Louis Malle's stylish Noir debut, came complete with an improvised soundtrack with Davis, at the very top of his game, making it sounds as if he had invented the smoky French jazz sound on the spot. Cool, super-sexy, and recorded at night."
5

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1930-59
Jazz on a Summer's Day (at the Newport Jazz Festival) (1958) [Compilation]
"One of the great all-time concert movies, available as a joint CD/DVD set. Shot at the Newport Jazz Festival, Rhode Island & Providence Plantation, in 1958, it documents a time when the festival comprised the broadest possible church and Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, and Thelonious Monk could easily slide alongside each other on stage."
6

Johnny Mandel
I Want To Live (1958)
"A broad-strokes Hollywood drama about a prostitute sentenced to the gas chamber made memorable by the Mandel soundtrack, most significantly the sound of Gerry Mulligan's baritone sax - the most flexible instrument on Earth."
7

Jerome Moross
The Big Country (1958) / Original Score (1988)
"The best of Aaron Copland. As a complete work, this soundtrack to William Wyler western is utterly spectacular with nearly every underlying theme offering something to admire, the opening bars especially proving particularly electrifying. The soundtrack was issued in a newly-recorded version in 1998."
8

The Modern Jazz Quartet
Odds Against Tomorrow / Original Soundtrack (1959)
"MJQ pianist John Lewis's original score to this Harry Belafonte gangster flick had the quartet in a big band setting. But when it came time to record, it was decided to merely employ the four-piece's own delicate piano and vibes sound. Quite beautiful."
9

Duke Ellington
Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)
"A score that emphasized Ellington's ability to shape sounds that fitted any given stage yet remained indisputably his own. The compositions underline every on-screen movement yet breathe in an environment well away from the front stalls."
10

Bernard Herrmann
North By Northwest / Original Score (1980)
"Trust thriller maestro Alfred Hitchcock to mess with the chase scene so completely - who needs a car when you can be imperilled by a crop-duster?! A mix of musical suspense and humor was needed to make this work and Herrmann, with his immense harmonic experience, judged the moods to perfection."
11

Elmer Bernstein
The Magnificent Seven (Enhanced CD) (1998)
"Amazingly, there never was a true soundtrack when this Hollywood cowboy epic transposition of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai was first released. The wait went on until 1993, when Bernstein embarked on this reconstruction job. It's a wait that proved well-worthwhile."
12

Georges Delerue
Jules et Jim (1962) [Single]
"The ultimate New Wave movie, scored in typically melancholic style by the Francois Truffaut regular Delerue. In sync with the characters' mood-swings in this bittersweet threesome, it leaps from the jubilant title music to Jeanne Moreau's playful 'Le Tourbilon' to woodwind-laden beauty."
13

Bernard Herrmann
Cape Fear / Original Motion Picture Soundtracks (Tsunami) (1962) [Bootleg / Unauthorized Album]
"Herrmann needed to conjure up the sound of terror and hate to reflect the power with which Robert Mitchum's convict relentlessly pursues lawyer Gregory Peck. That he succeeded can be measured by the nightmares the score (reworked for the 1991 film version) can induce."
14

Billy May
Johnny Cool / Original Soundtrack (1963)
"Joyous big-band stuff, shaped by May, the man who provided Sinatra's most buoyant arrangements. It might have been a routine Mafia movie but the score was anything but, one particular slice of delight being the Sammy Davis Jr. feature, 'Bee Bom'."
15

Maurice Jarre
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
"David Lean's epic tale of desert heroism was given the music it demanded by Frenchman Jarre. Big themes, a mammoth orchestra, and the latest electronic instruments combined to conjure up Arabia's desert landscapes."
16

Dizzy Gillespie
Soundtrack to the Motion Picture The Cool World (1967)
"Shirley Clarke's movie on the life of a group of Harlem kids in the early '60s came with a soundtrack of abstract jazz colourings. Never officially released, this Gillespie re-recording is the next best thing."
17

Henry Mancini
The Pink Panther (1963)
"Mancini's soundtrack scores to perfection, but it's with the main theme that Hank blows them all away. It has an instant hook intro that breezed through umpteen sequels and into immortality."
18

Burt Bacharach
What's New Pussycat / Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1965)
"Tom Jones's violently odd theme tune is just an appetizer: Hammonds battle it out with kazoos, Manfred Mann cuddles up to Dionne Warwick - this is as close to Austin Powers as the '60s ever got."
19

John Barry
The Ipcress File (1965)
"John Barry invented a new genre - spy music - with the help of John Leach's cimbalom. The sound of the Cold War; spooked, empty, and very foreign. As far removed from the bombastic Bond scores as you could get."
20

The Beatles
Help! [GBR] (1965)
"So the Beatles felt like extras in their own film, smoked pot, and wrote songs to keep their mind off it. Thank God! 'Ticket to Ride', 'Help!', 'Another Girl' - pop music this good has rarely been written for the movies."
21

Krzysztof Komeda
Cul-de-sac (OST) (1966)
"Delightfully abstract Polanski movie in which Donald Pleasance and Françoise Dorléac dress up in girls' clothes and hang around a castle. Polish jazzer Komeda provides a short, perfect score taking jazz to another incredible dimension."

ASTRO NOTE: Why should it be note-worthy to mention Françoise Dorléac dressing up as a girl? She was a girl. A very nimble, talented, and beautiful one.
22

Johnny Dankworth
Modesty Blaise (OST) (1966)
"Dankworth's score to this Terence Stamp-Monic Vitti '60s caper perfectly captures the era's mood. Classic movie music moment: Stamp is tied down in the sun as the faux-garage rock of 'Ice is Nice' plays."

ASTRO NOTE: It is not Terence Stamp, but Dirk Bogarde, who is tied down in the sun to the fuzzbox glory of 'Ice is Nice'. Whilst Bogarde is sweating it out, Stamp instead can be found in a cool bath being attended to by veiled Bedouin beauties. Bogarde is the lynchpin of the picture, at his best, and most comical.
23

Russ Meyer
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966)
"Homicidal go-go dancers chance upon weird family in the wilds. A forerunner to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but breasts, no chainsaw; The Bostweeds' wondrous acid pop, and Paul Sawtell's and Bert Shefter's compelling crime jazz."
24

Bernard Herrmann
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) / Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Tsunami) (1996) [Bootleg / Unauthorized Album]
"Herrmann's agitated string chords echo the book-burning, soma-chomping future in this under-rated Truffaut picture based on a Ray Bradbury book. McCartney admired the string motif (see 'Eleanor Rigby')."
25

Burt Bacharach
Casino Royale / Original Motion Picture Score (1967)
"The most atypical Bond pic had a score to match. Herb Alpert parps a slapstick theme tune but it also has the greatest seduction scene song, Dusty Springfield's (R.I.P.) 'The Look of Love'."
26

Herbie Hancock
Blowup [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (1966)
"Antonioni's baffling homage to Swinging London got a perfect soundtrack. Not just the Beck and Page line-up of The Yardbirds, but also Herbie Hancock's instantly recognizable theme and score."
27

Quincy Jones
In The Heat Of The Night [w/ Glen Campbell & Ray Charles] (1967)
"The film won five Oscars yet failed to scoop Best Soundtrack despite being a Quincy Jones-penned Southern soul delicacy featuring Ray Charles' vocals, Roland Kirk, Hammond organist Billy Preston... and Glen Campbell on banjo!"
28

Serge Gainsbourg
Anna [Original Soundtrack w/ Jean Claude Vannier] (1967)
"Comedy musical, 'Anna', saw king of 60s soundtracks Gainsbourg collaborating with stringsman Jean Claude Vannier to craft the most perfect psychedelic pop. Standouts include the deliciously blank Love is a Violent Poison."
29

Dudley Moore
Bedazzled / Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1967)
"(Along) with Smashing Time, this re-write of Faust remains the ultimate Swinging London film. Pete 'n' Dud swap pop pastiches: highlight is devilish Cook's title song - phased freakbeat which gave the putdown 'You fill me with inertia' to the world."
30

Lalo Schifrin
The President's Analyst (Original Soundtrack) (1967)
"We have an FBI agent in a 'Dizzy Gillespie for President' t-shirt, James Coburn as the coolest psychotherapist ever, and Barry McGuire and Clear Light vocal tracks. Lalo comes to town and gives us a swinging party and brooding paranoia."
31

Ennio Morricone
The Dirty Angels / Original Soundtrack (1969)
"One of the rarest Morricone '60s soundtracks - but what a crazy trip. The textured backbeat is flecked with the sublime vocal tones of Edda Dell'Orso, and the record showcases the dexterity of the I Cantori Moderni vocal chorus. Essential."
32

Bob Crewe
Barbarella / Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1968)
"This '60s retro futurist nonsense made a sex symbol of Jane Fonda. Bob Crewe attempts the same effect musically. The lounge-core dance sound of Black Queens Beads will forever put us in a place when the future was, like, now!"
33

John Barry
Deadfall / Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1968)
"A mediocre Michael Caine heist flick, the centrepiece of which is the Romance for Guitar and Orchestra, which Barry conducts on screen in tandem with the robbery. Most beautiful."
34

Michel Legrand
The Thomas Crown Affair / Original Motion Picture Score (1968)
"Legrand scored many a French 'period' classic in the '60s, with some incredibly experimental and daring sounds. Here, Windmills of Your Mind sits happily alongside a selection of cool, electronically treated instrumentals."
35

Jerry Goldsmith
Planet of The Apes / Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1997) [Compilation]
"Film soundtracks' abstract nature can often seem quite experimental. Planet of the Apes is one of the best of this type, mixing percussion and atonal parping to create a savage and apt movie score."
36

Lalo Schifrin
Bullitt (1968)
"San Franciso, car chases, Steve McQueen, and that music. In the late '60s Schifrin was at the height of his powers, and although he wrote many great themes, two will always remain in the mind - Mission: Impossible and this. Car chase music built to last."
37

Henry Mancini
The Party (1968)
"It's Mancini having fun, that's for sure. But when that means a slick bossa-nova soundtrack that works its ways into a full-blown psyche sitar jam where Shelly Manne and Plas Johnson sit in, who's complaining?"
38

Ennio Morricone
C'era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time In the West) / Original Soundtrack (1968)
"Morricone's deathless masterpiece was recorded before the film was shot. Sergio Leone was so in thrall to his old schoolpal that he built his monument to the West around the score."
39

Quincy Jones
The Italian Job [Original soundtrack] (1969)
"The film may well be a Boxing Day perennial, but the sounds remain a revelation. The crazy funk of It's Caper Time has become a club anthem, while such mellow instrumentals as Something's Cookin' suggest that perhaps Air were fans."
40

Michael Small
Klute (1971)
"Young Detective Donald Sutherland taps call-girl Jane Fonda's phone and falls in love. The soundtrack moves between Morricone-style atmospherics and funky stomps including the guitar-driven Take Me Higher."
41

John Barry
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
"JB worked doubly hard on this, the strongest Bond score, to make up for the deficiencies of short-lived Connery replacement George Lazenby. Includes We Have All the Time in the World, the creepy cocktail piece Try, and the Moog driven title theme."
42

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1960-69
Midnight Cowboy (1969) [Compilation]
"Inspired by seeing 42nd street's lost souls first-hand, John Barry wrote his most evocative film theme. Harry Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin' and Elephant's Memory's Old Man Willow more than complement Schlesinger's Oscar winner."
43

The Art Ensemble of Chicago
Les Stances a Sophie (1970)
"Made as a soundtrack to Moshe Mirahi's obscure French Nouvelle Vague film, this is a brave use of free jazz - a blend of cosmic R&B that really takes you to another place."
44

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1960-69
Easy Rider (1969) [Compilation]
"Hippie heaven. (Hopper), Nicholson and Fonda bike along the road while Hendrix, Steppenwolf, and Roger McGuinn provide the right noises. Rednecks caused mayhem in the final reel, but it was alright, Ma - we were only viewing."
45

Burt Bacharach
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid / Original Motion Picture Score (1969)
"Best known for Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head, this anti-Western was a perfect canvas for post-pop Bacharach. South American Getaway - swingles crossed with bossa-nova harpsichords - is supernaturally fetching."
46

Eric Thompson
Dougal and the Blue Cat (1970)
47

John Barry
Walkabout (1970)
48

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1970-74
Beyond The Valley of The Dolls (1970) [Compilation]
49

Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1970-74
Brewster McCloud (1970) [Compilation]
50


Various Artists - Film Soundtracks 1970-74
Performance (1970) [Compilation]