Joe Hisaishi – Howl’s Moving Castle (Studio Ghibli Vinyl 2LP with Etched D Side)

The soundtrack to the original Japanese animation film that is the third highest grossing film in Japanese history. The music is by Joe Hisaishi with songs by Yumi Kimura and Shuntaro Tanigawa.

The 2004 Japanese animated film Howl’s Moving Castle was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Sophie (Emily Mortimer) has an uneventful life at her late father’s hat shop, but all that changes when she befriends wizard Howl (Christian Bale), who lives in a magical flying castle. However, the evil Witch of Waste (Lauren Bacall) takes issue with their budding relationship and casts a spell on young Sophie, which ages her prematurely. Now Howl must use all his magical talents to battle the jealous hag and return Sophie to her former youth and beauty. The film is loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

Longtime Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi is one of Japan’s most prolific and celebrated composers, creating over 100 film scores and albums to date, including every Hayao Miyazaki animation since they first crossed paths, with the exception of Whisper of the Heart, which Miyazaki didn’t direct.