Uncut

The mighty Nyman's 60th birthday has been marked by six remastered re-releases. One, Decay Music, was produced by Brian Eno in 1976 and has never been available on CD before. Eno's written sleevenotes. It was one of the first significant contributions to 'minimalism', a word which Nyman, writing in The Spectator in the late '60s, was the first to apply to music. After mastering this means of expression, Nyman decided: "I don't believe that the best film scores are the ones you don't notice. I refuse to provide just background.

Even the director of this film, recounting the tale of how road manager Phil Kaufman stole and burned Gram Parsons' corpse, was surprised when Parsons' wife and daughter okay-ed the use of his music. Parsons' "A Song For You" and "Love Hurts" and The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Wild Horses" evoke the era, along with Country Joe and Eddie Floyd. Gillian Welch tackles "Hickory Wind", and Starsailor handle "Hot Burrito No 2" bombastically. But The Lemonheads, Wilco and trend-whores Primal Scream just seek cred by association. Twangy.

This is the perfect album for your inner schizo Francophile hippie. Factually based in the late '60s, but so wilfully mixed up it's very postmodern-ly now, one of its personalities is fuzzily made up of Hendrix, The Doors and the Grateful Dead (plus actor Michael Pitt murdering "Hey Joe" with his band). The other's stylishly into nouvelle vague, with blissful borrowed excerpts from the scores to The 400 Blows, Breathless and Pierrot Le Fou, and warblings from Françoise Hardy and Edith Piaf.

Back with a vengeance, the second of Tarantino's Uma-in-yellow action epics gives good dialogue—excerpts included here. The music's deliberately eclectic, built around a spine of appropriated Morricone. Johnny Cash rumbles through "Satisfied Mind", Charlie Feathers chirrups old-time rock'n'roll, and there's a hidden track from Wu-Tang Clan, "Black Mamba". Malcolm McLaren—presumably Quentin admires his media scams—gives us the sultry samples of "About Her".

Haunting back-porch quirkiness from former Be Good Tanya

Limited-edition deluxe package of film composer at the old joanna

Cliche-free avant word-hop from the Bay Area's finest

German nu-jazz duo draft in classy support for luscious Afro-Latin debut

Exquisitely frosted debut from Toronto's Tony Dekker

Startling label debut for Bay Area singer/harpist