241 replies to this topic

[sharpshooter]

I also love George Martin’s Live and Let Die soundtrack. It’s very laid back, funky, energetic and just fun to listen to. There is suspense but also an exotic Caribbean feel. The title song is weaved in nicely, too. A welcome change of pace indeed.

[Holy_Colt369]

I liked Serra's soundtrack from Goldeneye. Still by the looks of things if it was a battle of the composers, then John Barry would win by a landslide

Edited by Holy_Colt369, 14 February 2009 - 07:46 PM.

[Ace217]

Definitely, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

[jrcjohnny99]

I am REALLY suprised there's not more love for Moonraker here; it's one of Barry's best scores EVER, never mind just the Bond scores...OHMSS is a close second for me with either YOLT or Thunderball coming in 3rd; I also love TLD as well; great later period Barry.
Of the none Barry scores only LALD and TSWLM impress me pre-Arnold.
I HATE FYEO and GE, cannot understand the love for them. FYEO is simply awful and completely un-Bond like....

I do think Arnold is doing some great things tho; CR was a superb score..

[Qwerty]

I am REALLY suprised there's not more love for Moonraker here; it's one of Barry's best scores EVER, never mind just the Bond scores...OHMSS is a close second for me with either YOLT or Thunderball coming in 3rd; I also love TLD as well; great later period Barry.
Of the none Barry scores only LALD and TSWLM impress me pre-Arnold.
I HATE FYEO and GE, cannot understand the love for them. FYEO is simply awful and completely un-Bond like....

I do think Arnold is doing some great things tho; CR was a superb score..

I'm with ya - Moonraker is a superb score in the series. My favourite, in fact. Shame it isn't better represented on the official soundtrack.

[volante]

OHMSS superbly understated, captures the mood of the film.
It also gave us We Have All The Time In The World.
Try listening to that at a Wedding, funeral or christning without sheding a tear.

[jrcjohnny99]

I am REALLY suprised there's not more love for Moonraker here; it's one of Barry's best scores EVER, never mind just the Bond scores...OHMSS is a close second for me with either YOLT or Thunderball coming in 3rd; I also love TLD as well; great later period Barry.
Of the none Barry scores only LALD and TSWLM impress me pre-Arnold.
I HATE FYEO and GE, cannot understand the love for them. FYEO is simply awful and completely un-Bond like....

I do think Arnold is doing some great things tho; CR was a superb score..

I'm with ya - Moonraker is a superb score in the series. My favourite, in fact. Shame it isn't better represented on the official soundtrack.

Yeah; I was really excited about the re-issues a few years back only to see it re-issued with the same material; word is the orginal tapes were lost/damaged.
A real shame.

[Jeao007]

I voted for the Goldfinger soundtrack because it has a special meaning to me. Some of the fondest memories that I had with my grandfather was of him playing the Goldfinger Record that he had for me. After my Grandfather passed away my Grandma sold the Album in a garage sale. I still heckle her today for doing so.

Edited by JEAO007, 07 July 2009 - 10:30 PM.

[Attempting Re-entry]

Has to be The Man With the Golden Gun for me, having listened to the expanded version of the soundtrack last night.

Some of the music is so very beautiful and breathtaking; there's also some very fun, "Bondian" and kitschy "chase" music as well. Just brilliant.

[Klaus_Hergesheimer]

Even though I voted for OHMSS, I have to give some love for the LALD soundtrack. I think George Martin created a great sound scape to go with the more "urban" setting Bond was in. I like how he carries many of these themes throughout the score in different ways. That being said, I can't vote it #1 because of the random songs that stick out like the funeral march or the ritual song where Samedi is dancing around in the graveyard.

[AMC Hornet]

#1: Live and Let Die
#2: Diamonds are Forever
#3: Thunderball
#4: For Your Eyes Only

[Guy Haines]

These are my "most played" Bond soundtracks, which, I suppose, must make them favourites.

1 Thunderball
2 OHMSS
3 Goldfinger
4 You Only Live Twice
5 Diamonds Are Forever
6 Casino Royale (2006)
7 Quantum Of Solace
8 The Living Daylights.

Bit of a Barry bias there, I admit, but the top five are the films I grew up on and the soundtracks made an impression too. What I like about soundtracks 1 to 5 is that they are all distinctive - you can't mistake the one for the other - even though they were all written by the same composer. "Daylights" was a pretty good "last hurrah" score for John Barry, even though the theme tune wasn't a classic.

"Casino" and "Quantum" are, I think, the best of the more recent scores, despite the self imposed handicap of almost no use of the original Monty Norman theme.

[bondrules]

The Living Daylights.

[Satorious]

This was a complete no brainer for me - it had to be OHMSS. Bubbling underneath is TLD, which is also an exceptional piece of work. It takes some doing to beat Mr Barry when he was at the top of his game (which for me was mid-60's-early 70's!) - and somehow he seemed to raise to the challenge on this one. Sending some love out for both YOLT and DAF too - also exceptionally brilliant scores!

[MajorB]

Has to be The Man With the Golden Gun for me, having listened to the expanded version of the soundtrack last night.

Some of the music is so very beautiful and breathtaking; there's also some very fun, "Bondian" and kitschy "chase" music as well. Just brilliant.

There's an expanded version?? Is it, shall we say, unofficial?

[Virgosy]

"From Russia with love", wonderful !

[darthbond]

1. Casino Royale - I loved how it plays like a cool spy-thriller with some Bond hints in it. If he had a soundtrack, I'm sure Mr. Bond would pick this one.

2. From Russia With Love - The sweeping strings and some cool orchestra techniques make this one a standout.

3. The Living Daylights - Same for this one. The bass underlying give this an edge that certainly makes this one memorable.

4. Thunderball - The stylish jazz mixed with the orchestra has always been a favorite of mine. I love the pizzicato strings bit while Bond gets revenge on Count Lippe.

5. A View to a Kill - I've had a fondness for this one. Though it functions like most Barry Scores, the themes that this has defiantly give me the impression that Barry tried a little harder on this one than the previous ones.

Honorable mentions: OHMSS, LTK, MR, TWINE, and GF

darthbond

[Major Tallon]

OHMSS, by a considerable margin.

[TCK]

It's a very difficult question because I enjoy two kinds of soundtrack. The clasic ones, like From Russia with love, Thunderball, You only live twice, On her Majesty's secret service etc... and the special ones, like Dr No, For your eyes only or Goldeneye. Special soundtracks because they are different from Barry's musics, and they create a kind of unique atmosphere thanks to a different musical genre : "simple" in Dr No (almost of all the musics are composed with Underneath the mango tree theme, but it's very impressive, suspense etc...), more disco in For your eyes only, and more experimental in Goldeneye.

Well, since I have to make a choice, I would say Dr No because it has lightness, simplicity and efficacity in my opinion. But it's very difficult.

[J B]

I'm going to have to vote for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This soundtrack is definitely John Barry's best in the series, in my opinion, but it is of all the Bond soundtracks as well. My reasoning is that it has several great action tracks, as well as a great balance of more romantic pieces. The title song is also very emotionally driven, and one of Louis Armstrong's finest. Wasn't it also his last?

Other soundtracks I really like are these: You Only Live Twice (exotic Japanese influences into an otherwise traditional Bond soundtrack, it works well for the movie), Thunderball (very action-driven, and it goes along well with the oceanic theme of the film), Dr. No (The first version of the James Bond theme and great Caribbean music as well), and From Russia With Love (I like the exotic Eastern European and Romani vibe of some of the music).

Three honorable mentions would be GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Live and Let Die.

[Lt. Garfield]

OHMSS for sure, for me.

[Miles Miservy]

Too dated. That one & Moonraker are just DRIPPING in disco.

[AMC Hornet]

As someone who survived the disco era relatively unscathed, it rankles me every time I hear someone describe Moonraker's reprise theme and/or the For Your Eyes Only soundtrack as 'disco.'

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Moonraker was filmed partly in Brazil. If you don't samba, then I guess you'll have to think of another way to kill five hours there. True, disco was based on samba (just ask Fez on That Seventies Show) but that doesn't automatically make everything with an uptempo beat disco.

I hated disco. I love the FYEO soundtrack. I found tracks like A Drive in the Country, Submarine and Runaway to be very energetic and refreshing. As with most of the soundtracks I can follow in my mind's eye what was happening on the screen while I'm listening.

What I find hard to follow are tracks like African Rundown and Miami Airport - interminable pieces which sound the same throughout. As much as I admire David Arnold's talent - and I do hope EON uses him again - I much prefer his shorter tracks like Blunt Instrument, Time to Get Out and Pursuit in Port-a-Prince.

That's my tuppence.

Edited by AMC Hornet, 11 May 2011 - 09:59 PM.

[gkgyver]

Diamonds Are Forever

The essential Bond score. The brass, the lush strings, the classic title theme, the jazz vibe, the sparkling percussion, unique action cues, the 007 theme, the Bond theme, the best villain theme, Shirley Bassey, and casino music.

No Bond score features all those elements in such a brilliant package like Diamonds Are Forever. And it has a very distinct tone.

IMO, Barry never surpassed this one.

[Section 26 Paragraph 5]

Sorry, I do DAF was a good score but it was by far Barry's worst in the Bond canon. Like everyone else involved in the film, it kind of felt like he phoned it in (but of course being John Barry, its still strong)
Now, on to my favorites

#1 OHMSS
The best Bond score ever featuring the blazing instrumental title track (my favorite). John Barry at his finest. The tension in "Gumbold's Safe", the soft melodies of Bond and Tracy's theme from "We Have All the Time In the World", the silly jazz when "Bond Meets the Girls" as Sir Hilary, all these serve to elevate a rather pedestrian performance by Lazenby into one of the all time great movies, Bond or otherwise
#2 The Living Daylights
A very close second by a razor-thin margin. This is John Barry's swan song and what an exit it was. My favorite Bond film, mostly because it has my favorite Bond music. Examples: the way a-Ha's title theme is mixed into tracks like "Murder at the Fair" and "Assassin and Drugged", the beautiful mixture of drum machines and orchestras in almost every track, entirely appropriate themes for Kara and Bond ( "Into Vienna", Bond Approaches Kara") with tenderness but tension when necessar, and Barry's ability to capture the ethereal nature of Afghanistan in "Mujahadeen and Opium" and how "Afghanistan Plan" brings it all together. I could go on all day about each track...
#3 You Only Live Twice
Not a huge fan of the film but Barry's score is able to make Japan come to life with well placed and sublime cues, none more epic than in Nancy Sinatra's title theme. The epic space and Blofeld lair themes are superb as well. "Bond Averts World War III" captures these in one track. This is a must-have album for any lover of movie scores, bond or otherwise. This is the soundtrack was when Barry truly mastered the Bond sound. He only refined it slightly in the above two entries.
#4 The Spy Who Loved Me
John Barry this soundtrack is not, but that doesn't stop it. Marvin Hamlisch captures the tone of the most fun Bond film of them all with the most fun and playful soundtrack and its no wonder why this was nominated for both best score and best song (shame it was up against Star Wars). "Nobody Does It Better" is as the lead singer of Radiohead put it "the sexiest song ever written" and "Bond 77" is pure disco magic with that James Bond edge, playful but dangerous. Shoutout to the cues in Egypt that were simultaneously modern but classic "Mojabe Club"
#5 Casino Royale
James Bond is back with a vengance, and so is the music. I know many here are not fans of David Arnold and I agree that very little of the music since Barry has been appealing save this masterpiece. The iconic Bond theme is absent until the very end but you hardly notice with this score that carries with it such beautiful cues such as "Vesper" , "Solange" and "Trip Aces", action packed cues such as "Stairwell Fight" and even the overlong "Miami International" which carries both urgency and tension, and haunting cues like "Death of Vesper". Also love how he weaves in Chris Cornell's excellent title song into various cues ala Barry at his finest.

Honorable Mentions: From Russia With Love, Moonraker, Goldfinger, TMWTGG (he really figured out the Asian vibe) and the cues "He's Dangerous" and "Golden Gate Fight" from AVTAK (epic guitars with Barry class)

Seeing how much I adore good Bond soundtracks its no surprise that I think the best Bond movies are, in order, FRWL, TLD, TSWLM, GF, CR, and OHMSS. Notice any similarites with my list of soundtracks

Edited by Section 26 Paragraph 5, 20 July 2011 - 07:42 PM.

[Section 26 Paragraph 5]

I might also add that the score to Goldeneye 64 is an honorable mention. Its about 20 times better than the actual score that was in the movie. Don't ask me why or how, you'll know when you hear it

[mr_white87]

With no doubt The Living Daylights... Check the "Hercules Takeoff" - you gonna love it.

[Ozzman313]

With no doubt The Living Daylights... Check the "Hercules Takeoff" - you gonna love it.

Same here.

[larrythefatcat]

I just couldn't resist voting for OHMSS... it's definitely one of Barry's masterworks. Tracks like "Try" and "Piz Gloria" are just amazing and perfectly enhance the film's (at times) epic feel. Even the horrid Christmas song makes me crack a non-sarcastic smile. I absolutely love the music of TLD, as well, but I just can't resist the chords of OHMSS's main title. Propellerheads can only be blamed so much for making my addiction to that song even worse.

Otherwise I agree with some posters about giving LALD some love, but I mostly just love the theme so dang much. Otherwise, Burt Bacharach's Casino Royale has its moments, but it's just too obviously 60's.

[robertcampbell]

Toss up between "YOLT" and "OHMSS"-I think this was John Barry at his peak and finest.I felt that during "TMWTGG"-his enthusiasm have already snapped and the energy and power was not there.After "MNRKR" the producers have to bring in Bill Conti to put back the zing."The death of Aki" still remains my favorite track.I dare anyone to listen and not be moved by the stirring melody.