2001 A Space Odyssey, original soundtrack on MGM record label 1968. Value £55.

I AM OFTEN asked if classical recordings have any value? The short answer is no, but some film soundtracks have a minimal value to film enthusiasts. Despite being 50 years old this film is acknowledged as one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, written by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick who wrote the screenplay. The film was released in cinemas with a 70mm format of a giant screen which made for impressive viewing. The opening overture Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Richard Strauss has been used in many other contexts, such as introductory theme music for television coverage of the Apollo space missions, science fiction, space travel stories as well as stage entrance for multiple music acts, notably Elvis Presley late in his career. The music in this film is renowned for its innovative use of classical music taken from existing commercial recordings. Most feature films have film scores written specially for them by well known composers. Kubrick already had a soundtrack written by composer Alex North who had written the music for the epic film Spartacus. However, Kubrick chose to abandon North's music in favour of the now familiar pieces used in the soundtrack.

Most of the music is inextricably linked to the images seen in the film, mostly in the first half of the film before any dialogue is spoken. The idea was to conjure up an atmosphere of eager anticipation leaving the viewer to wonder what was going to happen next? Usually, when classical music is associated with popular entertainment, the result is to try and trivialise it (who can listen to the William Tell overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger). Likewise for many of us The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss, watching the scene of the spacecraft's orbit landing in the docking station, is not only breathtaking, but just to look and listen to the music raises the passion and stirs the emotions and makes the scene unforgettable.

This album was one of the first to enter the music charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It sold 500,000 copies on its initial release, a ploy that Kubrick repeated on his next film A Clockwork Orange, using variations of Beethoven symphonies. 2001 is not just a classic film but a classic album in every way.