One record at a time: 385. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 03 (Music From The HBO Series)

Volume 3 of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's soundtrack to the TV series "Watchmen" is a much more "ambient" and minimalistic than the first two instalments. In fact this music here is so spartan that I have read of people playing the record at the wrong speed without realising it.

This album has none of the raucous or heavily synth driven pieces found on the first two volumes, but cues like "The Waiting Sky" or "A Stronger, Loving World" are still mildly entertaining. 

This album is probably intended to be given your full attention and experienced as a continuos flow of music. However, I can think of better things to do with 45 minutes than listening to a drone. In all honesty, I can't see me playing this record again anytime soon.  

The real genius of this record is the artwork that credits it to "The Nine Inch Nails" with the fictional title "The Manhattan Project". The record itself is a very nice pressing and, unlike many others, mine has no issues on playback. 1/5

One record at a time: 384. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 02 (Music From The HBO Series)

The second volume of music from the soundtrack to the TV series "Watchmen" was issued in a sleeve masquerading as the soundtrack to a fictitious show called "American Hero Story: Minutemen".

The real credits found online tell us most of the cues were created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with two traditional jazz tracks by John Beasley. My copy plays very well and includes a facsimile newspaper clipping included in some pressings.

As far as the music goes it is more of the same really. Standout tracks are "Squid Pro Quo" which begins as an atmospheric drone before launching into a powerful analogue sequence. "Seven Years of Bad Luck" and "He Was Never There" are also very interesting to hear and the creepy "Kicked in the Balls Again" never fails to affect. 

The afore mentioned John Beasley contributions are traditional jazz recordings that fit within the context of the programme, but are of absolutely no interest to me. So whilst this isn't quite as good as the first volume it is still very interesting to hear. 2.5/5

One record at a time: 383. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 01 (Music From The HBO Series)

When I first saw the film "Watchmen" in 2009 I was totally mystified by it. I'm not a comic book fan and I had absolutely no knowledge of the lore required to fully enjoy the film. Clearly this wasn't the sort of show for me.

Yet, ten years later I decided to watch a new TV series based on the same characters. This time around I enjoyed things much more and I'm sure that this was due, in part, to the fantastic music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the band Nine Inch Nails.

Here we have the first volume of the soundtrack that features artwork for a fictional album called "The Book of Rorschach" by the equally fictional band Sons Of Pale Horse. Whilst I have no doubt this fake sleeve approach was artistically satisfying (and nothing I have seen before) it is a bit annoying as you have to look online to see what any of these tracks are actually called.

When I received this album it was quite badly scratched and had all kinds of clicks and pops straight from the manufacturer. After a little resistance the band's official UK webshop sent me a replacement that wasn't scratched, bit it doesn't play quite as flawlessly as I expected either.

The first few opening tracks of this album are atmospheric wonders that set the scene for both the TV series and this record. I can't imagine sitting down and coming up with something as good as the fourth track "Nun With A Motherfucking Gun" and not having the biggest smile on my face. The analogue synths, rapid percussion and throbbing bass combine perfectly on what is one of the highlights of all three volumes of the soundtrack.

Cues like "Kattle Battle" and "I'll Wait" sound like they have been lifted straight from a Nine Inch Nails album and it is clear that Reznor and Ross put just as much effort into their soundtracks as they do for their other work. Another highlight is "The Brick" which somehow manages to sound new and innovative but clearly carries the distinctive DNA of the composers. The music here is much more electronic than more recent Nine Inch Nails releases and I prefer it as a result. 4/5

One record at a time: 317. Mike Oldfield - The Killing Fields (Original Film Soundtrack)

I bought this record quite cheaply from eBay in 2015 and it is in good condition. If you are a fan of Mike Oldfield or the movie "The Killing Fields" then this record will be of interest. If you don't fall into either of these camps then you are never likely to purchase this album.

This LP is a mix of orchestral pieces and cues written using the Fairlight CMI; there's surprisingly little guitar on here really.

One track that does feature Mike's guitar more prominently is "Étude" which is also one of the better known pieces from the record. Whilst not successful when released as a single, this song was used on a commercial in the early nineties and became a little more prominent as a result. It also seems to feature on most "Best of" compilations that have been released.

"Evacuation" was realised on the Fairlight and probably sounds better when heard alongside the visuals. There are some fine melodic elements, but the hard edged samples can be jarring at times. The delicate melody of "Pran's Theme" is very impressive and there are some fine arrangements by David Bedford on pieces such as "Requiem for a City".

The cues on this record are highly accomplished and I suspect the only reason Mike didn't score for more films was that he was simply too busy. However, soundtrack albums tend to be less entertaining when isolated from the visuals and this one is no exception. 2/5

One record at a time: 139. Eurythmics - 1984 (For the love of Big Brother)

Prior to its release, there was a suggestion that this record would not be attributed to Eurythmics as the music had been commissioned for a feature film. As the film was produced by the Virgin Group, the soundtrack was released on Virgin Records outside of Eurythmics' exiting deal with RCA.

However, the resulting score was so despised by the director of the film that he used it begrudgingly and even went as far as creating a 'directors cut' using an orchestral score that excised Dave and Annie's contribution.

So should "1984 (For the love of Big Brother)" be considered oeuvre? Given the finished product carries the Eurythmics moniker and the fact that lead single "1984 (Sex Crime)" is featured on the band's official greatest hits compilation suggests Dave and Annie accept it as canon. To me this is Eurythmics' fourth album.

Whilst a large portion of the music is instrumental, it is imaginative and oozes a suitably malevolent atmosphere. Dave described it as: "The kind of record you put on when you're in a weird mood." Here I will be playing a copy of the original UK vinyl that I acquired from eBay in 2015 - but I'm not feeling any more weird than usual.

"I did it just the same" provides the perfect introduction with its funky bassline, Oberheim DMX drum sounds and Annie's amazing ad libs. "Sex Crime (1984)" is a bit of an anomaly because it is a fully formed pop song that doesn't really conform to the expected soundtrack mould. As a result of this discordance, the title track was cut from the film and was only featured in the trailer. Here I can have some sympathy with the director as I imagine it would be hard to incorporate an uptempo song into scenes dominated by bleak dystopian landscapes and unkempt protagonists.  

When I first heard the CD of this album, "For the love of Big Brother" was definitely my favourite song. Initially I thought the sitar must be a sample but it transpires that Dave took to using an electric sitar in 1984 so I assume he used it here. This track is somehow otherworldly and in a genre of its own making - it is a thing of dark brooding beauty.

"Winston's Diary" is a short ambient piece with some Yamaha DX7 harmonica noodling over the top and is fairly inconsequential. The next rack is the more substantial "Greetings From a Dead Man" which features Annie's much sampled backing vocals. Here Dave allows himself to use his guitar and some percussion to help frame the Sequential Circuits Six-Trak patches. "Julia" is a sparse ballad that sees Annie's vocal doubled on a vocoder with passages of punctuation from a piano. This is a nice song but was a very strange choice for a single and it proved to be unpopular with the record buying public. I may be wrong, but I think this song is the last time Annie played flute on an Eurythmics record.

The rhythmical "Doubleplusgood" makes from some welcome relief but Annie's faux English accent in the verses is a little disconcerting. Personally I find the repetitive samples at the end of the song very irritating - but this sort of nonsense seemed to happen regularly when artists first discovered samplers (see Yazoo "I Before E Except After C", Paul Hardcastle "19" etc.).

The (wholly justified) misery returns with "Ministry of Love" which trundles along with atmospheric bleeps, discordant stabs and some amazing vocals. The horror of "Room 101" is depicted by Dave's wailing guitar and some twinkling synths before a storming DMX beat kicks in and the door is slammed shut. 3/5