Stuart Heritage is co-founder and editor of Heckler Spray, an entertainment news website with anger management issues. He is currently unsuccessfully trying to grow a beard.

You Americans have got it right. David Alexrod and Quincy Jones have produced some breathtaking work that manages to be as symphonic as it is funky. And you love them for it. Back in Britain, similar music was being recorded, but its composers are mostly celebrated by stinky-fingered record fetishists who want to spend a month’s wages on ebay trying to buy their stuff.

Roy Budd- Get Carter

Long, long ago, before Michael Caine became everyone’s favorite uncle, there was Get Carter. A nasty, dark story about revenge played out in the bleak northeast of England, it’s also Mike’s best film by quite a long way. The soundtrack helps. Roy Budd, who died in 1993, fused jazz, pop, soul and any instrument he could get his hands on to make some of the most iconic noises film has ever seen. No track proves this as much as the brooding theme tune. And yes, Sylvester Stallone did remake the movie. It was crap.

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The Mohawks- The Champ

Alan Hawkshaw has worked with Dusty Springfield, Serge Gainsbourg, Tom Jones and Barbara Streisand (but please don’t hold that against him). He now makes dodgy panpipe albums and theme tunes for teatime game shows for the elderly, but he used to be the daddy. He was responsible for songs like The Champ. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The whole world has sampled it. And if it’s good enough for the whole world…

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Syd Dale- Number One Spy

In these times of Air and Zero 7, it’s incredible that a tune like this can age so well. This could have been released yesterday, and it would be soundtracking a thousand posh chocolate bar commercials. Six Feet Under have already plundered Syd’s catalogue. Not bad for an old guy that looks like a friendly milkman.

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