"Play it again, John!": Is the best thing about the '80s Bonds their music...?

St_George · February 2012

For many, me included, the '80s Bond films are rather a mixed bag.

Being positive, while there were some great action sequences, AVTAK offered plenty of fun adventure hokum and, unlike in the '70s and every subsequent decade, Eon and the 'Bond family' was stable and kept churning out the flicks. On the flip side, though, Sir Rog was getting older, John Glen's direction was hardly the most inspired and the movies seemed to be losing their ability to be at the head or - most often - ahead of the pack when it came to thrills and spills and innovation, what with Indy, the Die Hards and their ilk stealing their thunder.

However, one constant - or near constant - throughout the '80s Bonds is surely the quality of music they possessed. Maturing, you might say, John Barry contributed scores that were no longer jazz-infected and cool like in the '60s, but were more orchestral-driven, featuring beautiful, mellow, sometimes epic melodies, as well as impressive themes that underscored tense scenes with real menace.

Here's three examples...

Plus, while Bill 'Rocky' Conti's score for FYEO didn't exactly (ahem) 'fly now' in quite the same way, the flick, of course, did offer this belter of a title tune...

Discuss...

echo · February 2012

IMHO, the '80s Bond films were more consistently good than any other era save the '60s. AVTAK is the only true dog.

But yes, Barry's music from the '80s or elsewhere is missed.

Baltimore_007 · February 2012

John Glen dominated the Bond scene in the 1980s in way of Director, it was his decade and no mistake

We entered the 1980s in the questionable hands of Moore as 007, although he did give us a very good outing with For Your Eyes Only, and the poor humor of Moonraker was thankfully left in the 1970s to give us a more serious edged adventure, but that was the only example, and left into the 1990s with Dalton as Bond, who while an improvement on before and bringing back a much needed hard edged reality, License To Kill was seen as a general failure due in no small part to the competition of that summer and the series left on a tired note that decade

The music was a mixed bunch, no great lover of the Easton effort, Rita Coolidge did a nice memorable tune, Duran Duran was appropriate (for the time at least), A-HA and The Pretenders were so so and Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, well the former outdoes the latter every time in the listening stakes

Of the five movies that decade, only For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights can stand up as serious contenders as tangible espionage adventures

OHMSS69 · February 2012

AVTAK is an enigma. The movie is so flawed but Barry's soundtrack it very good and one of the best of the 80's.
"Wine with Stacy"
"He's dangerous"
And the main title song by Duran Duran are tops.

actonsteve · February 2012

I believe the eighties were the best era after the sixties and the best era until Craig came along.

Heres why...

character progression.

I loved the seventies but they were gorgeously dumb on the character front. A succession of bimbos in bikinis played for comedy or button pushing meglomaniacs reciting evil lines. The only character progression we got was in Spy with Anya finding out the murder of her lover at Bonds hands and swearing revenge. The Bond girls of the seventies were bikinied fools or "I am with the KGB/CIA! Lets team up!"

Even the small characters of the eighties had background and motivation. It starts with the cold blooded murder of Melinas parents in front of her in FYEO. And we get that shot of her face with a close up of her eyes showing shock, disbelief, confusion and pain. From then on the revenge motif runs through the film like a steel coil. In later efforts we get Octopussys conflict on whether to believe Bond or jepoardise her lucrative smuggling operation, Staceys fight with Zorin Oil, Kara being used by Koskov to capture Bond while at the same time falling in love with him and Franz Sanchez's paranoid dangerous personality slowly destroying his own empire.

Thats why the eighties Bond rule - they made the effort with the writing and portrayal on screen of the characters.

darren_blacksmith · February 2012

Yes, the loss of John Barry is sorely felt. His soundtracks brought a beauty and grandeur to the films that gave them an enhanced sense of scale and emotion.

TheWizardOfIce · February 2012

I agree that Barry delivered consistently superb scores througout the 80s - something which was underlined by Kamens repetetive and lacklustre efforts for LTK.

The finale of AVTAK when Bond is hanging on the airship is spectacular and most of TLD is very good. OP whilst not my favourite Barry score it is still miles ahead of most of the other non Barry scores.

Cant agree with FYEO being 'a belter' though. Insipid is nearer the mark.

CraterGuns · February 2012

Barry's '80s scores are indeed marvelous, although I dislike the bland "Lite FM" quality of the OCTOPUSSY title song.

Kamen's LTK score isn't bad, just sort of "meh."

Conti's score for FYEO is horrible -- perhaps the worst of all the Bond films. (It sounded dated the day the film opened.)

MrEon · February 2012

I agree with you St George, John Barrys 80's scores are far removed from his 60's/70's scores for Bond!!
Which you'd expect being that the great man had musically moved on, his style had become far more smooth and wider in its scope!!
John Barry had scored a mix bag in the late 70's and into the 80's, and films like "High Road To China - The Golden Seal - Jagged Edge - Out Of Africa - Howard The Duck!?!!, can all be heard in Octopussy, AVTAK & TLD and vice-a-versa!?
I think that AVTAK is the best of this period, it has a very pretty theme in (Wine with Stacey) ,and some great action cues too, always liked the guitar screaming away over the Orchestra, you know what i mean!!
In all a good listen, as is TLD with its pulsing drum beats on the Bond theme and "Necros Attacks & In Flight Fight" a different angle to the new Bond!!

I think we will always miss the sheer quality that John brought to all his scores for Bond, even some of the lesser loved scores!? (TMWTGG??)
He is a hard act to follow and the likes of Conti - Kamen - Serra - Arnold, have all tried and have certainly left there mark one way or another!?
David Arnold has of course had a greater stab at things and at times pulled it off, but i am really looking forward to hearing what Thomas Newman has to offer, and how well it sits in the film!!
Its going to be very interesting.
Roll on October!!!!

thelivingroyale · February 2012

John barry is great, but the best thing about the 80s bonds were: A- timothy dalton, imo the best bond ever, and B- daltons bond films, especially LTK (my favourite film of all time)

00Beast · February 2012

Well, I don't think the music was the best factor, but it is superb and does help the movies definitely. Some of the best music work is done in the '80s Bonds, like FYEO, AVTAK, and TLD. These three got the music down to perfection, which propelled some of the scenes and made them more enjoyable. OP and LTK's scores were a little bland and annoying sometimes, but not shabby either.