241 replies to this topic

[sharpshooter]

I've been listening to a lot of Skyfall and SPECTRE the last week. I love both of them.

Me too. Both were real growers to the point they're my second favourite Bond sound after the king himself, John Barry.

[Professor Pi]

 

 

Also been listening to John Barry's "lost" score for The Golden Child, visualizing it as a Shatterhand/Garden of Death score, what with its oriental flavors.  It's better than most of his 80s Bond scores.

You want another "lost" Barry score? When I was a kid I had the soundtrack album for The Legend of The Lone Ranger. Never saw the film, heard it was terrible and a huge box office bomb. But the score was nice. Barry definitely enjoyed scoring Western type movies. I doubt if that soundtrack is available anywhere these days.

 

I also owned The Black Hole album. That one was phenomenal.

 

 

Thanks, dtuba.  I'm somewhat familiar with The Black Hole.  Amazon has The Legend of the Lone Ranger on vinyl, while Intrada has re-issued The Black Hole on CD, and the complete score is on Youtube too.   Amusing trivia, the Legend of the Lone Ranger soundtrack received the first ever Golden Raspberry award for worst musical score.  I suspect it has more to do with the movie than the music.

 

Wait a second ... found the CD of Lone Ranger for ya! 

http://www.monstersi...ohn-barry-p-472

[billy007]

The World is Not Enough

I saw Garbage live at a small College Concert @ University of Delaware 3 months before TWINE's release so I like to think I saw the live premiere of the song before anyone else.

David Arnold's music is haunting,and perfect to this day(especially during the romantic and confrontational scenes with Electra)

[dtuba]

 

 

 

Also been listening to John Barry's "lost" score for The Golden Child, visualizing it as a Shatterhand/Garden of Death score, what with its oriental flavors.  It's better than most of his 80s Bond scores.

You want another "lost" Barry score? When I was a kid I had the soundtrack album for The Legend of The Lone Ranger. Never saw the film, heard it was terrible and a huge box office bomb. But the score was nice. Barry definitely enjoyed scoring Western type movies. I doubt if that soundtrack is available anywhere these days.

 

I also owned The Black Hole album. That one was phenomenal.

 

 

Thanks, dtuba.  I'm somewhat familiar with The Black Hole.  Amazon has The Legend of the Lone Ranger on vinyl, while Intrada has re-issued The Black Hole on CD, and the complete score is on Youtube too.   Amusing trivia, the Legend of the Lone Ranger soundtrack received the first ever Golden Raspberry award for worst musical score.  I suspect it has more to do with the movie than the music.

 

Wait a second ... found the CD of Lone Ranger for ya! 

http://www.monstersi...ohn-barry-p-472

 

Thanks, Perfesser!

[mattjoes]

Yep, I've been giving this some thought, and my favorite is now The Man with the Golden Gun. Ethereal, lush, exciting, suspenseful. Deliciously orchestrated. I really like the song, too, even though Barry didn't care for it (at least he held the score in regard).

[Mr_Wint]

Yep, I've been giving this some thought, and my favorite is now The Man with the Golden Gun. Ethereal, lush, exciting, suspenseful. Deliciously orchestrated. I really like the song, too, even though Barry didn't care for it (at least he held the score in regard).

Good pick! It truly is a majestic score.

[Professor Pi]

Barry only had three weeks to score TMWTGG.  It was his least favorite, but pretty amazing given the time constraints.  "Searching for Scaramanga's Island" is one of Barry's elegantly sweeping locale scores, like "The Mujahadin" from TLD.  It's got some nice touches of the Orient that makes you feel like you're there.  It's not my favorite score, but I've been listening to it this week.  Definitely needs an official "expanded score" treatment.  Too bad they ran out of time for the 40th anniversary remasters.

[dtuba]

Picking Barry's "worst" score is a relative term - he did not compose any "bad" scores. There are some you may like more than others, but IMO they are all phenomenal.

[mattjoes]

Barry only had three weeks to score TMWTGG.  It was his least favorite

Was it, really? I don't recall him saying so, just that it was "very good", although he didn't like the song. If I recall correctly, I read that on The Music of James Bond, by Jon Burlingame.

 

Definitely needs an official "expanded score" treatment.

Indeed it does. Some of the best pieces are missing: The gunbarrel, the Bond theme in Macau, Bond sneaking into Andrea's room, Bond being tended to in the karate school, Bond and Chula preparing to fight...

 

The one monumental failure in the score is the slide whistle. It's silly to hear in the album and ruins the stunt in the film.

[Professor Pi]

"It's the one I hate the most ... it just never happened for me," Barry is quoted in the liner notes of an unofficial expanded soundtrack for TMWTGG I found at elitesoundtracks.com.  That's also where I found the 3 week comment.  Anyway, the 'expanded' cuts have source noises in it and seem to be from DVD surround channels, so consider the source.  Saltzman wanted Elton John or Cat Stevens to do the song, but it was Broccoli's turn to pick the title (they alternated each film.) 

 

It was Barry's first score for Roger Moore's Bond, so the twangy guitar was dropped for the gunbarrel and the more graceful melodies Barry was famous for became prominent in this and later Bond scores (Moonraker, Octopussy).  As I recall from The Music of James Bond, Barry also hated the slide whistle.  I think that was an editor decision.  (I thought about cutting it via mini disc and re-recording to CD-R.) 
 

[sharpshooter]

Moonraker, A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights are top soundtracks. Barry still had a lot to offer outside of his 60s offerings.

[mattjoes]

"It's the one I hate the most ... it just never happened for me," Barry is quoted in the liner notes of an unofficial expanded soundtrack for TMWTGG I found at elitesoundtracks.com.

Ah, that quote. I'd forgotten about it. Anyway, I looked it up and Wikipedia had the source: Barry said that on James Bond's Greatest Hits, a British documentary. As I suspected from the other quote I remembered reading, he was talking about the song, not the score: https://www.youtube....cLcKYMw&t=6m50s.

 

Apparently, the slide whistle was his idea. Just checked the Burlingame book; here's the paragraph on the matter:

As on Diamonds, however, director Hamilton liked an occasional nod to the humor: delicately amusing clarinet for Nick Nack, for example, and wahwah trumpet sounds for Bond attacking sumo wrestlers’ private parts. The worst of them, one that Barry later regretted, was adding a slide whistle to the daring car stunt when Bond and passenger J. W. Pepper do a complete flip in mid-air. “Earlier on, I’d have played it for all it was worth as a really dangerous moment,” Barry said. “I just took the liberty of poking fun at it. It made a mockery of Bond, looking back on it. Even Cubby didn’t like that. But it was me getting to the end of it. If there were any cracks in the painting, as it were, they were starting to appear then.”

 

And the quote on the song and the score:

“I used to like to have time on the songs,” Barry said years later. “For many of the movies, I’d write two or three until I got the one that felt right. [But on Golden Gun] there was no time. It was a crazy rush. I was never happy with it. I don’t think anybody was happy with it. I thought the score was very good, actually, but the song just didn’t happen.”

 

As I said, I like the song, but this version is better than the one they used in the film, even though Lulu gets two phrases mixed up:

 

 

I'm pretty sure there are no saxes on the film version; those low notes add more grit. I also like how Lulu sings a different note at 1:03 (B instead of higher D; "one golden SHOT means another..."). It works much better. The way she sings that whole section is superior to the film version, too (I don't like how she sounds like she's dying when she sings "has come to a glittering END").

Edited by mattjoes, 10 January 2016 - 06:30 PM.

[Odd Jobbies]

I'm surprised LALD has such a low vote! It's my 2nd fave (OHMSS being the best imo)

[dtuba]

 

 

It was Barry's first score for Roger Moore's Bond, so the twangy guitar was dropped for the gunbarrel and the more graceful melodies Barry was famous for became prominent in this and later Bond scores (Moonraker, Octopussy).  As I recall from The Music of James Bond, Barry also hated the slide whistle.  I think that was an editor decision.  (I thought about cutting it via mini disc and re-recording to CD-R.) 
 

It is almost as if Barry thought that the dangerous, sexy sounding guitar theme was for Connery's Bond; the strings are a bit more prim and proper, to reflect Moore's more gentlemanly Bond portrayal.

[bond is back in action]

If anyone is interested, I have a very rare A view to a Kill CD, and A Spy who Loved me Cd complete is anyone would like it.

[sharpshooter]

I'm surprised LALD has such a low vote! It's my 2nd fave (OHMSS being the best imo)

I'll always rank that soundtrack highly, purely for its entertainment value. Lovely renditions of McCartney's title song too.

[DaveBond21]

I really love OHMSS, LALD, AVTAK and TLD.

 

LALD is a bit overly familiar to me now though - heard it too many times - possible overkill.

 

I am listening to SPECTRE every day at the moment.

 

Also Bond 77 from TSWLM and Space Capsule Opening from YOLT.

[sharpshooter]

I have been listening to lots of John Barry the past few weeks.

My key thoughts:

I think OHMSS and TLD are still the best two soundtracks in the franchise. Especially as soundtrack listening experiences. They offer so much. YOLT is magnificent, but it is repetitive in soundtrack format.

After those three, Moonraker remains a thing of beauty. The only downside is the lack of content on the album. Diamonds Are Forever has a bunch of quality tracks that justifies its placement near the top of the tier. It really is criminally underrated due to the film's reputation, which is a shame.

When it comes to Bond music, nobody does it better than John Barry.

[SecretAgentFan]

I agree - Barry cannot be topped or even equaled.

 

Of course, maybe it´s just for nostalgia reasons that i immediately connect Bond with Barry, and every following composer just could not come near that effect.

 

But if there is one other composer who delivered the best (IMO) non-Barry score then it is George Martin with LIVE AND LET DIE.

 

My current favourite Barry-Bonds:

 

- MOONRAKER

- ON HER MAJESTY´S SECRET SERVICE

- DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

[The Dove]

Wonder if we should add the soundtracks to Skyfall and SPECTRE to the poll soon? Or perhaps we can wait until Bond 25 comes out..

[Professor Pi]

Thomas Newman got another Oscar nomination for the score for Passengers.  While I think Craig Armstrong's Snowden, Henry Jackman's Civil War or Michael Giacchino's Doctor Strange was more worthy, it's always nice for Bond alumni to get recognition.  Despite missing the opening logo track, I find SPECTRE a bit more enjoyable then Skyfall, even if it's more derivative.  But I still prefer David Arnold to Newman.

 

Ironically, my first Bond soundtracks were Marvin Hamlisch's The Spy Who Loved Me, Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only, and George Martin's Live and Let Die.  So I tend to rate those higher relative to Barry's scores even though OHMSS is my favorite.  Those scores do a good job of transporting the listener to the movie's locales.

[Grard Bond]

I voted O.H.M.S.S as my number one!

I also like very much From Russia.., Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let die, The Spy who... (but only the original score, not the rerecorded album version), Moonraker and Casino Royale.

 

The worst one is without any doubt Never say never again.

I also not realy like TLD, Licence to Kill and Skyfall.

[sharpshooter]

Back to John Barry - I have to mention Thunderball, which is full of menace, elegance and retro power. 

 

Some of my favourite tracks:

 

Chateau Flight

Gunbarrel/Traction Table/Gassing The Plane/Car Chase

Street Chase

Fiona's Death

Thunderball (Instrumental)

Cafe Martinique

Switching The Body 

Search For Vulcan 

 

So pretty much all of it. An epic film needed an epic soundtrack, and that's what we got. It probably doesn't get enough attention due to YOLT and OHMSS being so sensational with more iconic cues, eg. Capsule in Space, Mountains and Sunsets and OHMSS's Main Title. But even so, Thunderball makes for a classy and masculine ambience. 

[Dustin]

Wonder if we should add the soundtracks to Skyfall and SPECTRE to the poll soon? Or perhaps we can wait until Bond 25 comes out..

We really would like to. Only our problem is the forum architecture doesn't allow for more options within one single poll question. I searched for ways to circumvent this, to no avail; dreadful sorry for the inconvenience.

[Professor Pi]

Nice to see OHMSS 1st with 28% and TLD a distant second with just over 10%.  I often wonder if people know this is how the Academy Awards work too--the winner only needs a plurality, not a majority, to win first place.  For example, it could be that Moonlight had just 11% of the vote, and all the others 9-10%.

 

Note also that the Bond's Academy Award nominated music (LALD, FYEO, TSWLM, SF-the latter a BAFTA winner) isn't high on fans' lists.  Its one musical winner--Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" for Spectre--is, let's say, far from the best Bond title song.  But consider it an award for the legacy as well as weak competition in 2016.

 

Any bets they try to get John Legend to do a title song, given their penchant for hiring other nominees (especially to whom they lost)?

[sharpshooter]

From Russia With Love's score is pretty damned good, especially when you compare it to what we received in Doctor No. James Bond with Bongos has so much retro swag it's not funny. IMO, they couldn't replicate this atmosphere if they tried. Other tracks I really dig are Death of Grant and the Opening Titles. FRWL also introduced the 007 Theme, and I think that counts for a lot. I prefer Barry's other scores, but for a first effort, it's amazing and it immediately set the standard. It only got better from there.

[glidrose]

Note also that the Bond's Academy Award nominated music (LALD, FYEO, TSWLM, SF-the latter a BAFTA winner) isn't high on fans' lists.  Its one musical winner--Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" for Spectre--is, let's say, far from the best Bond title song.  But consider it an award for the legacy as well as weak competition in 2016.

Don't you mean two musical winners? The Skyfall title song also won an Academy Award.

[Professor Pi]

 

Note also that the Bond's Academy Award nominated music (LALD, FYEO, TSWLM, SF-the latter a BAFTA winner) isn't high on fans' lists.  Its one musical winner--Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" for Spectre--is, let's say, far from the best Bond title song.  But consider it an award for the legacy as well as weak competition in 2016.

Don't you mean two musical winners? The Skyfall title song also won an Academy Award.

 

 

Thanks, happy to be wrong on that as Skyfall is the infinitely better song.

[dtuba]

From Russia With Love's score is pretty damned good, especially when you compare it to what we received in Doctor No. James Bond with Bongos has so much retro swag it's not funny. IMO, they couldn't replicate this atmosphere if they tried. Other tracks I really dig are Death of Grant and the Opening Titles. FRWL also introduced the 007 Theme, and I think that counts for a lot. I prefer Barry's other scores, but for a first effort, it's amazing and it immediately set the standard. It only got better from there.

The James Bond Radio podcast recently reviewed the FRWL soundtrack. Highly recommended listening.

[Golddragon71]

From Russia with Love

Tomorrow Never Dies

For Your eyes Only

On Her Majesty's Secret service

The Living Daylights

 

thing about FYEO though, I could have sworn it included the music from the helicopter scene when bond Managed to take control of the copter, fly it over, catch Blofeld and fly him around before dumping him down the smokestack

i could have sworn it was called "I'll buy you a delicatessen In stainless steel!"