It's hard to pare down to just a few! I always loved soundtracks, and as a young adult I would frequently buy the one from a recent movie I loved.

So strictly sticking to the ones I still listen to more than a couple of times a year...

- Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl (Klaus Badelt). I think that scoring the film was almost a rush job, and it does recycle its few themes again and again... but shiver me timbers, it's still a rousing and funny soundtrack, perfect for an adventure film!

- Dune (Toto and Brian Eno). I bought that one while backpacking in Europe, and almost ran down both the cassette and my cheap walkman imitation listening to it.

- Dune (Hans Zimmer). A recent addition, and one that grew on me very slowly... but may I be turned into a sandtrout if I don't go back to it again and again. My wife us also a big fan, and often plays it while practicing her yoga.

- The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore). That's a more traditional soundtrack, but all three films are enriched by its Wagnerian use of leitmotivs that sometimes intertwine (as in the scene where we first see the Witch-King astride a Nazgul, and the ring and Black Riders themes play simultaneously... beautiful stuff.)

- Once upon a Time in the West (Ennio Morricone). That harmonica stole the show. Special mention to My Name is Nobody, also by Morricone, because of the Wild Horde/Ride of the Walkyrie piece; you don't get much more epic than that!

I love the original West Side Story soundtrack.

Glad to see I am not the only one who loves the Wang Chung soundtrack.

My favorite, far outstripping its movie, is Streets of Fire.  I went to see the film on the strength of the music video play, on MTV and hated the thing.  However, the music was awesome and bought the soundtrack.  Nice mix of styles and bands, with the Jim Steinmann signature pieces, the big Dan Hartman hit ("I Can Dream About You,") one from The Fixx (one of my favorite 80s band), The Blasters, Ry Cooder....it's all good (which the film isn't).



The Blasters......



In terms of music scores, I am quite partial toe Eric Serra's work, in the films of Luc Besson, especially La Femme Nikita......

The opening....



Later, after Nikita is out of training.....



Serra was a bass player and mixes in heavy base, strong percussion, synth and light melodies, enhancing the mood of the very visual stylings of the film.  He really makes the romantic scenes, between Anne Parillaud and Jean-Hughes Anglade really delightful.

Serra had been doing Besson's music since Le Dernier Combat, in 1983 and actually appears as a character in 1985's Subway.  In that film, Christopher Lambert is a safecracker, hiding out in the malls, maintenance tunnels and rooms in the Paris Metro system; and, he meets all kinds of people and puts together a band, including Serra.

The Fifth Element would be next in line, for me, especially the Diva sequence and the main theme.  Serra also did the music for the Bond film Goldeneye.  I always wanted to hear him do music for a big budget Modesty Blaise, but Tarantino never got off his ass to make the film.

Excellent call! Nikita had a great score. A favourite of ours during the late '80s. My favourite song by Pagliaro, too!

One of my favourites is the 1967 Casino Royale, soundtrack by Burt Bacharach.

I will probably never forgive this movie for giving the world a distorted image of Conan the Cimmerian, but it has to be said: Basil Pouledoris' soundtrack for the first Conan film was pretty awesome.