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I personally find not MR (not at all), but the OHMSS score comparatively disappointing, compared to Barry's best Bond scores (very controversial opinion probably). Although it's a really good score, too.
The Living Daylights has a lot of great moments. I particularly like the way Barry builds suspense and tension throughout "The Sniper Was a Woman," and "Mujahadin and Opium" is a very lovely and atmospheric cue. I'm also fond of how the title song is turned into a heroic action theme in "Assassin" and "Hercules Takes Off" (the first time we'd seen this done since The Man with the Golden Gun and Live and Let Die). And @goldenswissroyale, I too love the dramatic fight music heard in "Airbase Jailbreak." Barry's love theme for The Living Daylights was definitely not on par with that of A View to a Kill, and this one wouldn't make my own top 5 Barrys, but it was still a very solid final score for him to bow out on. I also love that Barry himself managed to get a cameo as the orchestra conductor in his final film.
I love both of those elements, and what I like even more than that is that Barry combines those elements so well.
Sometimes the basic keyboard or synth and drum track mix can be a bit repetitive, but I think it really works for the film--which has so much action--and for Dalton's solid yet alert and quick character, plus it reflects the music of the time. I too really like the theme song. Hard to tell Barry had tension with A-ha. It was written he said working with them was like "playing ping-pong with four balls. They had an attitude which I really didn’t like at all. It was not a pleasant experience."
The book The Music of James Bond quotes Barry: "We also found that there was much more of a romantic feel this time, as opposed to any of the other Bond films. The love affair between Bond and the heroine is more sincere. I thought it would be lovely at the end of the movie, instead of going back to the main title song, to have a love ballad, which is the love theme that is used throughout the four or five love scenes used in the picture, with lyrics by Chrissie".
With the film's release and his Bond music done, Barry took out a full-page ad in Variety saying, "Congratulations Cubby. It's been a great 25 years. Your friend, John Barry."
That's always been the thing for me. Even more than a romantic score, this one humanizes Bond. There's just something about the cues Barry plays and when. The score has these calm moments of vulnerability. Bond meeting Kara for the first time at her place, with that gentle flute doing a little "If There Was A Man" and Dalton's genuine attitude of caring, is a great example of TLD taking Bond places we hadn't seen him go in a very long time.
MOONRAKER
Music composed by
JOHN BARRY
James Bond's space adventure proofs to have a score that is considerably better appreciated than the movie it goes with.
It collected nine top 5's: one gold medal, two silvers, two bronzes, two 4th places and two 5th places.
Nine more top 10's were received, four of those were 6th spots. Which means more than half of us considers this a top 6 007 score.
Any bad news? Not really, MR's lowest placement was a single 17th spot.
The original music for MR obtained 167 points.
I read Barry had wanted to write an eight-movement symphonic suite which would go on a double album and from which they could take parts to form the film score, but that didn't work out--maybe that creative inspiration he had helps explain the grandness of the score. He also thought the original recording sounded better than the mix that ended up on film: "I was very disappointed with the dub of Moonraker...Personally, I believe Lewis Gilbert’s ears were out to lunch when he made that dub. I think a director should spend a few days familiarizing himself with what Dolby offers and how best to employ these new balances and perspectives in order to get the maximum effect instead of simply going in cold with a traditional mind." Still, his composing and conducting shine through and for me help make MR a lot of fun to watch.
Say what you want, MR is a technically accomplished film full of talented people on and off stage. But the main reason why I think of MR as not just an acceptable film but an absolute treat is John Barry's heavenly score.
In my personal opinion, Barry was going through one of his best phases. His scores for King Kong and The Black Hole, to name but a few, are two other cases of films that could have been so-and-so but were elevated to something much more thanks to Barry. MR is no exception. In fact, MR is the film that made me realize exactly how important an adequate score truly is. Even when the film misses a few beats here or there, a great score can still provide the connective tissue that makes everything work and click no matter what.
It starts early on for me, when the two thugs crawl out of hiding in the Moonraker shuttle and Barry starts playing ominous yet somewhat "spacey" (as in: related to a space adventure) music. When Bond tries to strap on the parachute mid-air, I love the almost ethereal sound Barry provides. And this film's theme song is yet another musical victory for the composer, not just because it's a very good song indeed, but also because of all its variations, from sensual to exotic, Barry will smuggle into the score.
Some highlights: Corinne shows Bond the safe, Corinne is pursued by the dogs, Venini Glass, Bond arrives in Rio. But nothing compares to the excellence Barry will bring next: Bond flies over the waterfalls, Bond is lured to the pyramid and especially Flight Into Space. This isn't just "beautiful" music like we'd come to expect from Barry at this point, I'd say this is where he adds an emotional layer rarely seen in a Bond film before and; probably, a little odd in this particular film, but most welcome nevertheless. Flight Into Space in particular is a piece of art, a musical construction that comes in layers, that builds and speaks to us and almost makes us forget that we're essentially watching a 007 spy flick.
If I can have a beef with the film in the music department, it's with the quality of the sound. Following what @Thrasos posted, my feeling is that someone dropped the original recording on tape, wore the tape out, and then somehow used that for the film. Some notes sound "off", some of the music sounds like it was recorded in the '40s. Compared to the "clarity" of the music in previous Bond films, MR seems to have drastically lowered its sound quality standard. These issues are audible on the soundtrack CD as well. Sometimes, when the orchestra is supposed to hold a note, the sound comes with a strange sort of vibration, indicating that it's not all there, that whatever was played during the recording sessions didn't all make it into the final sound mix. Given the quality of the music, that is a shame.
So will we ever get to that dreamed-of release of a full MR score, digitally remastered or whatever? I'm not sure. People have told me it can't be done since the original recordings may not even have survived. And what about someone else re-recording the score, that is if all of Barry's paperwork and notes can still be traced? Some say it'd never sound quite the same. And what about directly prying the score off the film and digitally enhancing it? Well, I guess it's tough to plug up data holes, remove sound effects and re-align the volume. So perhaps MR will forever be that one unfortunate case in the Bond music department, the film with a tremendous score that somehow got lost in translation. But even then, it is and shall always remain one of Barry's best scores ever.
So the last three remaining are, YOLT, OHMSS and AVTAK?
I'm very happy about this top 3—my top 3 Barrys. I suspect we'll see AVTAK, then YOLT, then OHMSS, but then again this game has been full of surprises.
Moonraker is a Top 10 Bond score for me and only behind YOLT, OHMSS, DAF, and AVTAK from Barry. Barry composed some of his grandest and most haunting cues for this film ("Arrival at Chateau Drax," "Death of Corrine," "Rivers and Pyramids," "Bond Lured to Pyramid," "Flight into Space"), and the unreleased "Freefall" from the PTS is a riveting rendition of the Bond theme.
Either of those two would be a worthy winner. They are both in my top four. I am surprised to see AVTAK in the top three here. I know it has many fans here, and it s a great score. It s just that I find many others more to my liking.
YOLT is the Bond score I listen to the most and the first I bought. It’s a delight from start to finish, not to mention it features the best title song of the series.
I ended up giving the edge to OHMSS because of its uniqueness in terms of the sounds Barry introduced and its diversity.
But I agree that YOLT remains the most exquisite Bond soundtrack and a top example of Barry’s genius as a composer and arranger.
Ominous has never sounded more beautiful than on this record.
Anyway, I was wondering, what happened with John Barry for him to make the Moonraker score so good with an evolved style and inspiration? The site filmmusicnotes suggests that the more symphonic style of MR was partly influenced by the success of John Williams’ score for Star Wars two years before--and we know what a big impression that score made at the time--just as the producers picked the film to take advantage of the sci-fi craze at the time. I also think the film locations and settings of the film may've helped to inspire some of the music, and I think especially of Bond Lured to Pyramid. With an expert like Barry, how could you not write such beautiful music as Bond sees the Blonde Beauty in her billowing and revealing gown or robe, suspecting she was the woman he saw at Venini Glass, walking through green jungle with waterfalls and a stone pyramid. I think he uses a flute to mimic bird sounds. Plus I think, during the space scenes especially, you had to go with symphonic music rather than something with a more modern beat like in The Living Daylights.
The last Bond film he worked on before MR was TMWTGG, a full five years earlier. Before that he worked on so many Bond films in rapid succession, with the second biggest space between films being three years between DAF and TMWTGG. Between 1974 and 1979, he scored nine or 10 non-Bond films, including King Kong; Robin and Marian with Sean Connery (also co-starring Robert Shaw); and The Deep, also with Robert Shaw. The same year MR came out, Hanover Street starring Harrison Ford did as well, which he scored, though I don't know which one he scored first. The link below from Hanover Street shows his orchestral and somewhat romantic style in that one too, around the same time. Plus in between those Bond films he did some TV scores. So it doesn't seem like he took a lot of time off for a relaxing vacation and drew inspiration from that. He married his fourth wife in 1978, which may've inspired some intimate, imaginative and expansive themes. They met through Barbara Broccoli.
But I love Moonraker and had it somewhere in the top ten. Happy to see this finish. Even more delighted to see that AVTAK made the top three! I expected lower top ten for that one.
Goldfinger
In the soundtrack album, there are two tracks that employ a musical device that I don't think was used in other Barry scores. I'm talking about having brief, loud brass outbursts in an otherwise quiet piece, as if to suggest a hidden danger that could erupt any minute. This concept is applied in Auric's Factory and Death of Tilly. The score is full of highlights but the latter track might be my favorite. I've always liked the irregular intervals between the brass bursts. It's such a simple composition, but so effective. In that sense, it reminds me of the music in YOLT that plays when Bond dresses up as the assassin and gets taken to Osato Chemicals.
From Russia with Love
A bit of trivia that I love to spread around, and which I believe I read on the Film Score Monthly forums, is that a French vinyl release from back in the day includes a track titled Mort de Krylenko, that is, Death of Krilencu. This track is of course sadly absent from the common soundtrack album.
For me, one of the highlights of the album is Girl Trouble, with those sinister xylophone phrases. James Bond with Bongos is another splendid track. Note how the vamp of the Bond theme is played on low celli, while in later scores it is often played on a higher octave (look no further than the Goldfinger gunbarrel music for comparison). It gives it a subtly different feel-- lower is more sinister, roughly speaking. Another highlight are the Opening Titles, and in particular, the sublime transition between the end of the From Russia with Love theme and the beginning of the Bond theme. I also wish they had included in the album the cue that is heard right after the titles; it's quite beautiful.
The unreleased music of the train scenes (re-recorded as The Zagreb Express in another album) is ingenious in how it translates the shots of the train into a repetitive, mechanical sound.
Diamonds Are Forever
This score has my favorite version of the 007 theme (the one from Moonraker is in second place). I love the arrangement; it sounds so rich and grand. The xylophone/piccolos/brass phrases always make me think of the Looney Tunes, which is appropriate for the lighthearted tone of the scene.
Live and Let Die
I wanted to address this comment:
This comment made me think of something I read on the Goldfinger score, I don't remember where, but the point being made was that that theme isn't treated as a motif for the character (not all the time anyway), but as the main theme for the film. There is a fluidity to its purpose, and part of its purpose is to be musical connective tissue to tie the score together. I don't know what George Martin or anyone else was thinking when they decided to use the Bond theme in that taxi scene in Live and Let Die, because I wasn't there when it happened, but strictly as a viewer, I can see some kind of parallel between that decision, and the decision to use the Goldfinger theme in the way I mentioned.
And in another sense, the Bond theme works for me in that taxicab scene, because the scene is about building intrigue and danger, even excitement at seeing how large the villain's operation is (with someone on every corner to report the taxi's whereabouts) and at seeing Bond entering the lion's den. There is a larger-than-life quality to it all that goes well with the Bond theme.
I don't find the theme is played with a lack of imagination. The opening 30 seconds, before the guitar kicks in, offer some pleasant if subtle changes, as does the modulation or key change toward the end. But the real distinctive qualities of this version have to do with the instrumentation. It is very rich and detailed, as the terrific mix of the 2003 album allows us to hear. I'm partial to the oboe/clarinet accents heard over the guitar (echoes of the later Barry arrangement of the Bond theme, with brass accents over the string/woodwind melody). I also like the high flutter-tonguing flute in the background which emphasizes the fifth of the chord.
The arrangement is, of course, perfectly seventies, and fits the locale like a glove. It sounds cool and a bit sinister. I also find its expressiveness enhances the subtly comedic tone of the scene.
The Living Daylights
Exercise at Gibraltar and Ice Chase feature a brilliant new version of the Bond theme. The first three minutes of the former track also offer a terrific set of bite-sized themes that perfectly lead into each other and create a suspenseful mood.
I agree with this. The transition from one part into the other is very satisfying.
Moonraker
I really like this score. I just want to focus on a single moment. It's the one where Bond spies on Goodhead at the Venini Glass museum. I've always liked the music here. It's so full of emotional depth that it clearly goes beyond the immediate action it is meant to be scoring, and plays off of the setting, with the aged walls and ancient columns of the building evoking a wistful mood.
I want to get back on recreating the unreleased music of the Goldfinger score on virtual instruments. As a warm up exercise, I recreated the Moonraker piece I mention. You can listen to it here, and download it if you wish (crossposted in the lost music thread):
https://mega.nz/file/4UAnWYLQ#n9lE2dwUiC6XfFaIuFpuG8V-L6cxWF6BlJoM98tcSqo
Last but not least, I wanted to ask our fellow users, what do you think of this film's arrangement of the James Bond theme? The one heard in the gunbarrel, the freefall scene and the gondola chase. I've talked at length about it before, but I was wondering how other people felt about it. I recall some YouTube comments saying that the gunbarrel music sounds like circus music, or that the orchestra was out of tune, or was cleaning the wind instruments. Not big fans of it, obviously.
As to MR’s gunbarrel, I actually quite like it with its distinctive and instantly recognizable arrangement.
Would actually be cool to have a future topic, ranking the different gunbarrels.
Proud to say my daughter and I can instantly recognize each gunbarrel within 2 seconds of it being played.
This is a fantastic post.
Never seen Hanover Street but the opening of this cue is the exact same as the opening of "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond."
It also sounds not all that dissimilar from Until September. Barry definitely had fallen in love with and developed a particular sound from the late 70s through the mid 80s.
I like the MR arrangement too. You might want to check out this topic I created a while ago on the music of the gunbarrel sequences: https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/18881/a-detailed-guide-to-the-music-of-the-gunbarrel-sequences/
And great idea about ranking the gunbarrels. @GoldenGun, there's something to take into consideration.
Thank you.
Yes, especially for romantic music. The prototypical romantic arrangement of the later Barry era has chords played on strings/brass, with arpeggios on top usually played on violas/celli/harp, and then the melody on top of all that.
I'd missed your post before but I can see we were thinking along the same lines. This score has Barry exploring in depth the emotional possibilities of the film, receiving inspiration from it while at the same time blessing it with his own inspiration and imagination.
Luckily, we got word a few months ago that they're safe and sound.
Even without the paperwork, a re-recording or recreation can be done by ear. It's never going to sound exactly the same as the original, and some people reject those efforts on that basis. To each his own. I love listening to the music. It's beautiful, and even in "sketch" form, as a plain MIDI file, there's much to appreciate. In fact, the more basic sound of a MIDI file allows one as a listener to focus on the essentials of the arrangement and composition, beyond the specifics of how it was recorded and mixed.
I think technology is definitely going to reach the point where it will be able to get around sound effects. It's only a matter of time. And it's going to be wonderful.
I find this quote by Barry on the score of Raise the Titanic is illuminating in regards to his approach to scoring in general:
The last thing in the world you must have been expecting was someone to do an entire new recording of RAISE THE TITANIC!
Barry: That was kind of surprising. I did enjoy doing that score, although the movie didn’t get the audience they thought they were going to get. But there was some interesting stuff in that movie. Take the idea of that story, forget about the movie – just the idea of going down there and bringing this historic thing back up to the world, that alone is fascinating! You could write a musical suite on the emotions of that, without a movie. It’s an interesting, haunting theme of a past generation, of something that happened in the world, in the history books. The mind jumps all over those very fertile thoughts of what that would be like, before you actually get into the movie. So I think that’s the kind of weight, hopefully, you bring to the movie. Those are the thought processes that go behind the composition. There’s a point of view there that hopefully is intelligent and uplifting and has a certain mysterioso ambiance about it, about the history of the whole piece.
I have good hopes now. Thank you, @mattjoes. :-)
A VIEW TO A KILL
Music composed by
JOHN BARRY
AVTAK claims 3rd place with one gold medal, two silvers, three bronzes, four 4th places and one 5th place. Seven more top 10's were realised.
There was one bottom 5 to be noted, a 22nd spot, making AVTAK the highest placed entry that also received a bottom 5 spot.
That's only a small sidenote though, since the original music for AVTAK reached an impressive total of 170 points.
No awards or nominations that I found out about, another example of John Barry's amazing 007 work being shamefully overlooked (sorry to express a personal sentiment here, but I'm quite sure I'm far from alone on this one.)