Wow, Roger - only one Fenton record? Come on!
Where's Mary Reilly, White Palace, The Crucible? I think I understand where you're coming from, though. I feel the same way for several albums, as well. James Newton Howard's atmospheric score to Intersection always gets a lot of plays from me, even though it's not an over-all fantastic orchestration. A lot of his work around that time (early 90s) was always fitting to the screen but often a hard listen on their own - think of things like Falling Down or Flatliners.
Another score that continues to latch onto my psyche is Howard Shore's wacky score to Ed Wood - likely due to the fact that it's such a love letter to old Hollywood scores and films. I relish in all the oddball instrumentation Shore used for the score. And I was very happy to see Burton employ a composer outside of Danny Elfman for a change, even if it was just due to a scheduling conflict.
Also, while speaking of Shore, am I the only one who really enjoys listening to The Game and all its piano plucking? It's a rich and atmospheric score on its own, one of which can be a very long and hard listen outside the picture, but one that I love to throw on ... probably way too often; but again, it's not what I'd call a great composition. I just really respond to its melancholy.
