Latest releases reviewed.

THOMAS NEWMAN Jarhead Decca **

In a scene from Sam Mendes's Gulf War-set film, a helicopter blares morale music (Break on Through by The Doors) and a character asks: "That's Vietnam music. Why can't we have our own?" Thomas Newman responds with original compositions and a clutch of well-known tracks. Newman also scored Three Kings and, as expected, there are lots of testosterone standards involving stomping beats and squealing guitars. These laconic pieces are indistinguishable from each other, and classics like Naughty By Nature's Down with OPP and T-Rex's Get It On eclipse Newman's worthy but uninspiring score. Inexplicably, some of the best songs are omitted from the CD, including Nirvana's Something in the Way. If they had been included this would have been a great stand-alone soundtrack. Sinéad Gleeson