FourScore
Various Artists – The Shack: Music from the Motion Picture – Atlantic
While the best tracks from this soundtrack album to the inspirational film The Shack are the most obvious – the strikingly sung Kelly Clarkson/Aloe Blacc duet “Love Goes On” and the sweetly emotional Tim McGraw/Faith Hill duet “Keep Your Eyes on Me” – the rest of the set holds some pretty impressive country–seasoned tunes as well, including Lecrae’s hook–filled “River of Jordan,” Hillsong United’s prettily encouraging “Heaven Knows,” For King and Country’s slow, haunting cover of “Amazing Grace” and Dierks Bentley’s uplifting “Days of Dark.” ***
Various Artists – Guardians of the Galaxy Deluxe – Mondo
With the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie just arriving in theaters, now is a great time to revisit the first film’s original soundtrack in this new deluxe edition. Featuring exclusive cover artwork from Marvel poster artist Tyler Stout, the 180–gram record version will be pressed on purple “Infinity Stone” vinyl and include all the original tracks, from the movie’s distinctive opening track “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede to David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” to 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love.” It’s the perfect ‘70s tracklisting to this intergalactic throwback hit. *** ½
Yoko Shimomura – Final Fantasy XV Original Soundtrack – Square Enix
Even if you weren’t 100 percent enthused about the music on this collection of tracks that accompanies the latest Final Fantasy videogame, you’d have to agree you got your money’s worth, as it includes four discs and more than five hours of listening time. That said, bonus! The music itself is actually pretty great, as composed by Japanese musician Shimomura, who combines classical influences like Beethoven and Chopin with jazz and modern soundscapes. These broad audio vistas deftly convey the epic journey taken within the game on tracks like “Galdin Quay,” “Crystalline Chill,” “No Time Left” and “An Empire in Ruins.” ***
Various Artists – T2 Trainspotting – Universal
After 20 years, director Danny Boyne regroups all four lead characters from the original Trainspotting movie just as this soundtrack brings back several remixes of songs heard in the first film. When the tunes are this good, that’s okay; you’ll hear a Prodigy remix of Iggy Pop’s uber–distinctive “Lust for Life” and Blondie’s classic new wave hit “Dreaming” as well as Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga,” which perfectly outlines a pub scene in the movie (but we won’t spoil that for you). Additional tracks from The Rubberbandits, Wolf Alice, Run D.M.C. and a new version of Underworld’s “Born Slippy” (“Slow Slippy”) round out this decent collection. ** ½