ALEJANDRO AMENABAR
The Others Sony 89705 $17.99
(41:08) Ghost story with Nicole Kidman carries complex, meticulously constructed orchestral score by Amenabar, whom also screenwrites and directs. Equal parts intimate, cerebral, melodic, powerful. Refreshing use of strings with solos for viola, violin and cello. First rate composition!

CRAIG ARMSTRONG
Kiss Of The Dragon Immortal 10862 (1 score track) $17.99
(44:08) Jet Li action movie gets soundtrack of songs plus one track (4:38) by Craig Armstrong. For completists only.

BRUNO COULAIS / AKHENATON
The Magnet OMCD 50810 $17.99
(44:47) All-vocal soul soundtrack composed by Bruno Coulais with rapper Akhenaton, performed by American soul artists like Issac Hayes, Millie Jackson, Dennis Edwards, etc.

STEPHEN ENDELMAN
Bride Of The Wind Deutsche Grammophon 469584 $17.99

JERRY GOLDSMITH
Film Music Of Jerry Goldsmith Telarc 60433 -SACD version- (Cond Goldsmith) $24.99
-Motion Picture Medley/Star Trek/Russia House/Boys From Brazil/ Medley Of Television Themes/Rudy/Twilight Zone: The Movie/etc- Super Audio CD (SACD) release of recent Goldsmith Telarc compilation. This will play on all normal CD players, but to enjoy the multi-channel "DSD Surround" sound, you will need an SACD player for playback.
Planet Of The Apes Masters 1249 $5.99
(35:28) Original landmark 1968 score reissued again. Appears to be a dub of Intrada CD with novelty of being re-sequenced. Since there's a complete version available (Varese Sarabande) this is a "why bother?" reissue.

DAVE GRUSIN
Dinner With Friends Jell 5053 $15.99
(45:20) HBO movie with Dennnis Quaid carries breezy, economical jazz/orchestra score with lots of piano. Cool, mellow tracks at first, richer stuff as it wraps. Effortless listening!

JOHN POWELL
Rat Race Beyond 578209 (1 score track) $17.99
(41:08) Zany "Mad Mad World" comedy with all-star cast has collection of songs and one exciting orchestral suite (7:05) by John Powell.

TREVOR RABIN
American Outlaws Varese 66276 $15.99
(37:47) Jesse James rides once again to lively score for orchestra and electronics. Contemporary action-style blends with western sounds for okay, if not sometimes undistinguished, score.

J.A.C. REDFORD
What The Deaf Man Heard PDS 102 $14.99

RICHARD RODGERS
Carousel Angel 27352 (Remastered) $15.99
The King And I Angel 27351 (Remastered) $15.99
Oklahoma! Angel 27530 (Remastered) $15.99 South Pacific (1958) RCA 67977 (Remastered) $17.99
(46:35) Classic 1958 Rodgers & Hammerstein movie musical has newly remastered CD with terrific stereo, solid dynamic range. Alfred Newman conducts. Magnificent overture never sounded better! South Pacific (2001) Sony 85684 (TV movie) $17.99
(45:59) 2001 TV remake with Glenn Close features all-new recordings of classic Rodgers & Hammerstein songs plus new Main Title (3:31) arranged and adapted by Michael Small.

MARC SHAIMAN
61 Jell 5048 (score album) $15.99
(34:44) HBO baseball movie with Barry Pepper sports standard inspirational baseball movie music. Melodic, certainly uplifting, though you've heard it before.

STEPHEN WARBECK
Captain Corelli's Mandolin Decca 467678 $17.99
(60:21) Epic WW II romance movie set in Italy with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz has moving, often sweeping score by Warbeck. Mandolin (of course) features within large string-based orchestral score. Rich main theme, even sung (in Italian) adds to color. Operatic source music adds to running time. The kind of work that gets Oscar attention.

JOHN WILLIAMS
A.I. WB 48096 (DVD Audio release - same music as the CD) $24.99
Spectacular 5.1 Dolby Digital audio version of important, thoughtful Williams score. Dedicated sub-woofer channel (LFE) and 5 additional discrete channels offer incredible detail to complex, carefully orchestrated score. Requires DVD player to use. NOTE: Some major drawbacks (on our players, anyway): virtually no running time info in either displays or menu box. No total running time, no individual track times, no elapsed times. Since packaging has no running time information anywhere, there's virtually no way to determine lengths of anything. There also appears to be no way to program tracks, so you're forced to endure the vocals or manually skip them as they appear in the menu on screen. Which also means, though marketed as an audio format, you have to have your television running as well! These are major flaws! We'll keep testing since there's a learning curve here, but so far we say thumbs down on the lack of basic features common to CDs (and even DVD videos) however - and this is a major plus - the audio quality (in 5.1 mode) is stunning!! The compact disc becomes a dinosaur in comparison. Guess you'll have to buy Star Wars all over again.