"Play it again, Sam..." - The John Barry Appreciation Thread

edited June 2012 in Music Posts: 20
I don't even know where to begin this discussion except to say that John Barry's death earlier this year was a hard blow to take. I'm sure many others will agree that his passing was fairly devestating. His music, through which he ultimately bore his soul, is a part of our minds and hearts and to know that we won't be exposed to any more of his passion... well, it's still upsetting. I feel pretty rediculous admitting such a thing, especially as I never even met the man, but his music has gotten to me and still gets to me every single time I push play. I was exposed to his music in the first Bond film I watched, Moonraker, and after devouring the music of this series, I soon looked to his other films. The Scarlet Letter, Hanover Street, Swept from the Sea... the list is endless.

So, tell me, what are your favorite scores of John Barry? What score was your first? What was his most romantic cue?
I hope a discussion like this hasn't been posted before. I searched through the forums, but did not come across anything similar... so, here we are. =D
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Comments

  • Posts: 11,189
    I'm actually going to the John Barry tribute concert this evening at the Royal Albert Hall :)

    My favourite John Barry scores were always FRWL



    and

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service


  • Hmm, very difficult to pick a favourite Barry score...they're all distinct and quite good. If I had to pick one above all I'd probably say YOLT.

    The first Bond film I ever saw was GF and one of the things I remember about it was how powerful the score was. Powerful, but not overpowering in a "they're trying too hard" kind of way. Just something that added to the film being unlike anything I had ever seen before. Barry's contribution to creating the "world" of Bond is immeasurable.
  • Posts: 2,491
    damn you @BAIN123 you scored my picks altough everything that he done is my favourite and i completely love them and i can listen to them all day long
  • edited June 2011 Posts: 3,494
    As much as I love each and every Barry score, including his non-Bond material, I give a very slight lean to the DAF soundtrack. I just can't find anything that's even so-so.

    Someday years from now when most of us are gone in body, Barry should and likely will be mentioned in the same breath as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Grieg, etc. He was just as true a maestro and master. The world of music will never be the same again.
  • Posts: 1,497
    Soemthing about that Moonraker score that gives me chills...
  • Posts: 4,762
    I'd say Barry's best work comes in either A View to a Kill or The Living Daylights. I don't care much for his orchestral and melodical soft tunes, except for Moonraker's soundtrack, so I prefer his harder-edged almost "rock" sound. With such tracks like "He's Dangerous" and "Necros Attacks", it's a must that I put AVTAK and TLD up there. MR is a worthy mention too; he really worked some magic there.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,359
    Barry was a musical god! 50% of the music stored on my computer is all John Barry.

    I have all of his Bond Scores and his scores for...
    "The Black Hole, 1979" Very atmospheric and suspenseful. I always play it when I play space themed games.

    and

    "Raise the Titanic, 1980" Another atmospheric score, gives you the feeling of being Underwater along with some light happy tracks. The main theme sounds like a Possible Star Trek theme.

    RIP John, your music will live on for many many generations!

  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,231
    Raise the Titanic, Born Free, Dances with Wolves, Mercury Rising, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Out of Africa, The Specialist.

    All vintage John Barry. Works of art.
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 12
    From Russia With Love, The Living Daylights, Somewhere In Time, The Ipcress File, The Beyondness Of Things, Eternal Echoes, Chaplin, Enigma. John Prendergast Barry is sorely missed. David Arnold is good but even he admits that there is only one guv'nor when it comes to music.
  • Posts: 12,526
    There are so many wonderful pieces of musical magic from John Barry? I just cannot choose one! LEGEND! ^:)^
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 1,817
    Best Bond soundtracks: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Living Daylights.
    Best non Bond: The Lion in Winter and The Cotton Club.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,254
    0013 wrote:
    Best Bond soundtracks: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Living Daylights.
    Best non Bond: The Lion in Winter and The Cotton Club.

    Excellent choice although I would add The Specialist to that. Jazz never sounded so good as during the lovemaking between Stallone and Stone.
  • Posts: 3,333
    I always liked his The Girl With the Sun in Her Hair from the TV commercial for Sunsilk shampoo. This takes me back to when I was a young child curled up on the sofa watching the old black & white telly on a Saturday night. His other great TV work also includes The Adventurer, The Persuaders! and Orson Wells' Great Mysteries.

    Some of my favourites from JB's film work include: The Quiller Memorandum which features a beautiful song called "Wednesday's Child" sung by Matt Munro. If you haven't heard it you should do yourself a favour and check it out. I also love the sublime 14 minute plus "Romance For Guitar And Orchestra" used in Michael Caine & Bryan Forbes Deadfall. I have both these albums on CD. The ones I have on vinyl record apart from all his Bond scores are Midnight Cowboy, King Kong and The Lion in Winter.

    Funnily enough I've always heard bits of "Sacrifice" from King Kong in David Arnold's "African Countdown" featured in Casino Royale. You can listen here if you like...


    For those that haven't heard Romance for Guitar you can hear it here...


    I hope you enjoy the samples I've linked. :)>-
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Probably the greatest piece of music ever written :

  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    Two of the greatest composers of all time lived during our lifetimes, Paul McCartney and John Barry!
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    DB5 wrote:
    Two of the greatest composers of all time lived during our lifetimes, Paul McCartney and John Barry!

    And the greatest actor AND greatest human being of all time : Sir Roger Moore !

  • Posts: 3,333
    Glad this JOHN BARRY thread is being revived with some of his great work. For me, James Bond just hasn't been the same since he left the scene.

    On a side note I didn't realise that JOHN BARRY and Nina van Pallandt had recorded 'THE MORE THINGS CHANGE' which was written for, but not featured in the James Bond film, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. I know some people don't like her 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?', but I think it works beautifully as a background score when Bond is being chased by Blofeld's henchmen in the skating ring. Here's the unused song if you're interested (the pic is of Jane Birkin and NOT the singer Nina)...

  • Posts: 163
    John Barry's contribution to those Bond films was immense.
  • DB5DB5
    Posts: 408
    The work he did on "Goldfinger" is my favorite.
  • Posts: 2,026
    Among my absolute favorite non Bond Barry scores:

    Dances with Wolves
    The Lion in Winter
    Midnight Cowboy
    Somewhere in Time
    Body Heat

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,254
    CrabKey wrote:
    Among my absolute favorite non Bond Barry scores:

    Dances with Wolves
    The Lion in Winter
    Midnight Cowboy
    Somewhere in Time
    Body Heat

    Good call on all of those, especially Lion In Winter, one of my favourite Barry scores ever!
    I can recommend The Specialist though, a sensual and at times very jazzy score.
  • Don't forget "The Deep"
  • Posts: 3,333
    I stumbled upon this bit of news today and thought I'd share it with all John Barry fans out there. John Barry's score for King King (1976) Deluxe 2 CD Collector's Edtion has been released by Film Score Monthly. Price $24.95...

    The 1976 Dino De Laurentiis remake of King Kong (starring Jeff Bridges and Jesssica Lange) was one of the first scores John Barry composed after settling in Los Angeles from his native England. Although the composer was forced to write quickly due to production delays, he provided a powerful score that reflects both the film’s exotic adventure setting and the love story at its emotional center.
    An unusual variety of melodic ideas to characterize Kong and a strong romantic theme endow the score with a lush sensuality and emotional poignancy that balances the harsher and more horrific elements. Barry’s music ranges from the primitive dances of island natives to the soft saxophone strains of contemporary romance without missing a beat.

    FSM released the 1976 Reprise Records album master of King Kong in 2005 when no additional material was available. But now, with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures, we are able to premiere John Barry’s complete score newly mixed and mastered from the 2" 24- and 16-track masters on the first disc of this 2CD Deluxe Edition. We again present the album master on disc 2, augmenting it with several film alternates to make this the most complete possible representation of Barry’s effort.

    Informative notes by John Takis, numerous film stills and dynamic original poster art comprise FSM’s colorful 20-page booklet.

    If viewers of King Kong care about the hulking creature, it is in no small part because Barry makes them care. Through his art, painstakingly preserved and lovingly presented on this 2CD set, listeners are able to see past the mask of the monster to the infinitely lonely soul locked within.

    http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/487/King-Kong--The-Deluxe-Edition-2CD/
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    According to the 007 Facebook page:

    "Pinewood Studios have renamed Theatre 7 as the JOHN BARRY THEATRE in memory of the composer who scored 11 Bond films. The new name was unveiled in a ceremony held on Friday attended by members of the Bond franchise."

    352jgv6.jpg
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited June 2014 Posts: 13,356
    This is great news as John Barry is very well deserving of this, a man who has done so much for Bond and film music in general.

    Who was on the guest list I wonder? I now want pictures.
  • Posts: 12,526
    According to the 007 Facebook page:

    "Pinewood Studios have renamed Theatre 7 as the JOHN BARRY THEATRE in memory of the composer who scored 11 Bond films. The new name was unveiled in a ceremony held on Friday attended by members of the Bond franchise."

    352jgv6.jpg

    That is fantastic and without doubt thoroughly deserved! The man was a legend! Hopefully their will be more pictures revealed soon on MI6 for us all to see who was in attendance?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,254
    fabriccio wrote:
    Don't forget "The Deep"

    I couldn't even if I wanted to. That film has Jacqueline Bisset and two of her remarkable talents to pull me in time and again. ;-)

    Oh yes, and John Barry too. :-)

  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited July 2014 Posts: 5,080
    I've finally found the music that plays during in AVTAK when Zorin heads towards the Golden Gate in the blimp. It is not "clean" and the quality is dodgy in places, but as it was not included on the soundtrack release, this is the best I could find.
    It is quite possibly my favourite Barry track. It gives me goosebumps!

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,359
    John Barry was a master of his craft. Ever score he's ever done conveys strong and raw emotions. He knew how to compose music to connect to the audience. I wish more composers today were more like John Barry.

    My favorite Barry track would have to be "Bond Lured to the Pyramid."

    It's so grand and majestic. It's otherworldly. John's music inspires me even in my own music compositions. He was a legend and will forever be one. Rest in peace John.
  • edited August 2014 Posts: 1,661
    The AVTAK soundtrack doesn't have the 'Bond fight in Stacy's house' music. It's a shame it's not included as the build up to the fight is classic moody Barry. When the fight starts the music goes into the 'He's Dangerous' theme albeit with a different ending when Bond hands the vase to Stacy! The brass bit: "baa baa baaa baaa... baaa baaa baaa baaa baaa" is brilliant. The entire fight music is as 'John Barry Bond' as it gets! :)
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