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Comments
Yes I'm sure you're right: I don't really understand the technicalities of music! :) As you say, the brass usually plays louder so you hear it repeating the same note for the last five notes of the fanfare, whereas the piccolos hear are much louder so you can hear them those five notes as an ascending and then descending sequence.
Maybe the Vegas setting of the film is clouding my judgment, but I do think this gunbarrel has a seedier sound to it than others. I chalk it up to the timbre of the guitar, as well as the strings. I can't quite explain it in more concrete terms, though. That said, I absolutely love the arrangement; this is an issue of how we perceive it rather than whether we enjoy it or not!
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
OHMSS was ranked between 1st and 25th place. It received 8 votes that ranged between 1st and 7th place (including three 1st places), 1 vote for 24th place and 1 vote for 25th place. It scored 188 points.
I ranked it in 6th place. It's a gunbarrel that's highly pleasing to the ears from beginning to end. The shrieking brass that opens the cue is more hysterical than ever, in a good way. I love the great, if subtle change of having the brass melody go up rather than down, a choice which screams "this is Bond on steroids." Then, those expressive violins, the delicious sound of the flute and especially of that synthesizer, whose sound was perfectly chosen. A clever idea for a lead instrument, too, as it sounds modern and marks a difference between this film and the Connery ones. And of course, everything is punctuated by the exquisite sound of the picked electric bass, the low brass and the hi-hat. I probably wouldn't change anything about this gunbarrel, though I admit I would love to have an additional alternate version without the flute, as I'm used to hearing that countermelody appear later in the Bond Theme, and not right away (the flute is barely audible on the right channel, so on occasion, I have taken to listening to the right channel only). However, I understand that in the film, that melody matches the small circle opening into the gunbarrel, and the flute sounds great, so it all works anyway.
You're welcome to share your own thoughts on the OHMSS gunbarrel!
I adore the synth & strings combination and especially the meandering flute that accompanies Lazenby's stroll.
It's Barry at his absolute best and most elegant.
Film/Mono Mix personally. Feels more bombastic than the stereo mix to me personally.
As for OHMSS, this ranking came in at #2. Both mixes are great imo, and I absolutely love the synthesizer that Barry used for Lazenby’s rendition of the Bond theme. In fact, “This Never Happened to the Other Fellow” is a wonderful piece of music as a whole imo.
Fantastic comment, @Revelator. I would love to hear your thoughts on all these gunbarrel arrangements.
You bring up an interesting subject, regarding Barry's experimentation with the gunbarrel music. To me, his most experimental arrangements —to the extent that one can intuit Barry's intentions, but even just looking at the results— are OHMSS and Moonraker. While they are substantially different from one another, I think they share something in common, which is that, by tinkering with certain aspects, they end up exaggerating the qualities found in other, somewhat similar arrangements, achieving a harsh, edgy quality. You mentioned the synthesizer and the bass in OHMSS; I would add the screaming opening brass. And while Moonraker shares a number of elements with the other gunbarrels arranged by Barry in the 70s and 80s, there is a particular ugliness to the opening chords, and a coldness to the brass in the main melody, that sets it apart from the other ones from the same period.
Yes, I definitely agree with this. I wonder what Barry would have made of the film and how he would have scored it.
I'm not convinced by this, but I admire the effort that's gone into it :D
Catching up on the other gun barrels, I ranked Thunderball in eleventh place. It's interesting to note the expansion of the orchestra across FRWL, Goldfinger and TB. This is the most densely orchestrated gun barrel at this point in the series and the high sustained strings played during the opening chords are much more prominent in the mix compared to Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. I still love the harp/double bass combo on the chromatic ostinato, characteristic of Barry's early gun barrels, but I don't think this arrangement brings a lot to the table.
You Only Live Twice was twelfth place for me, although in hindsight I think I like it more than Thunderball's gun barrel. Nerdy trivia point - there are only three gun barrels which aren't in the key of E minor, the original key of the James Bond theme: Goldeneye (G minor), The Spy Who Loved Me (F minor) and You Only Live Twice (also F minor). I always assumed that John Barry transposed the gun barrel up a tone to match the key he'd written 'Capsule In Space' in. At any rate, I think there's more danger inherent in this gun barrel because of the change of key, compounded by the shrieking piccolos and brass in the opening chords. The chromatic ostinato is now played by violas and cellos, which gives it more of an ominous quality.
I'd read this too. I can't advise on the type of guitar played - it just sounds like a muted one to me!
I ranked Live & Let Die in nineteenth place. This doesn't do a lot for me personally :(. I'm not sure the gun barrel works with a funky edge, as I don't think the disco version works in For Your Eyes Only. The electric guitar and trumpet combo on the riff is an odd choice for me, as is the harpsichord/oboe/brass combo on the ostinato. Credit to George Martin for trying something new though and kudos for the inclusion of bongos :D
Diamonds Are Forever is my second favourite gun barrel. What's not to love with this one? After the experimentation in structure and instrumentation of OHMSS, Barry signals that with the return of Sean Connery, we're going back to the classic Bond sound. The electric guitar has never sounded better on the vamp. There's also a startling intensity to the piccolos and xylophone in the opening chords. I love the bass guitar joining the double bass and cellos on the ostinato, punctuated by the tubas. Also, this is the first time we get the signature John Barry tambourine in a gun barrel.
It amused me reading the comments about the 'sleaze' of this gun barrel. I'm not sure that's the adjective I'd use to describe it. I think I'd opt for 'garish' instead; obtrusively bright and showy, like the Los Angeles locale of the film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is my top gun barrel and I'm sad it didn't rank higher (how could you vote for For Your Eyes Only over this people?! ;) ). OHMSS marks the first radical departure from the gun barrel template Barry set himself in FRWL. The inversion of the traditional opening chords, electric bass playing the octaves, Moog on the vamp and alto flutes playing part of the be-bop section of the Bond theme (almost like a call and response) all have a slightly un-nerving quality and create an immediate sense of danger. The orchestral palette of the gun barrel is really reflective of the score and of George Lazenby's characterisation of Bond. There's nothing I can fault here!
I imagine some folk were put off by how dated the Moog synthesiser sounds today!
Yes, agreed and I think you're right - you don't hear them again after DAF. I just checked to see if they were subtly in the gun barrel of DAD (which harks back to the more traditional structure), but they're not.
Ooh I missed this, I love that one!
Yes, mattjoes' excellent breakdowns on the composition of all of the GBs on p1 of this thread gives the lowdown on which ones have which elements.
The Number 2 gunbarrel music, our Silver Medalist, is...
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
and the Number 1 gunbarrel music —Our Esteemed Number One, if you will— our Gold Medalist, is...
~~~~~~ GOLDFINGER ~~~~~~
For Your Eyes Only was ranked between 1st and 18th place. It received 9 votes between 1st and 8th place, plus 1 in 18th place. It scored 201 points.
Goldfinger was ranked between 1st and 10th place. It scored 204 points.
I ranked FYEO in 5th place. A very energetic, very dramatic, extremely exciting, distinctive and cool gunbarrel. The riff sounds great on those mighty, quintessential Conti trumpets, and the still-unique choice of having it go up an octave is a genius touch that makes the music even more exciting. That badass distorted guitar playing the vamp, combined with the tense strings, is also great. The only reason I wouldn't rank this higher —apart from the heavy competition— is that I find the low end of the track could have been just a little more interesting. The synth bass sounds cool, but maybe keeping the typical low brass stabs as well would have been better.
I ranked GF in 7th place. Another exquisite-sounding gunbarrel. I love the cross stick/ride cymbal combo, and the vamp sounds gorgeous on those high-pitched silky strings, doubled and harmonized by lower strings. The guitar is also perfect, as is the brass outro. This gunbarrel glitters.
I want to thank everyone who participated in this game and took interest in it, those who voted, those who posted, and those who read the comments. Somehow, we have managed to write over six pages of posts on gunbarrel music, a subject which I thought couldn't be of that much interest to people. I had a lot of fun reading every post. You're welcome to share your thoughts on these last two gunbarrels, or any others. Cheers.
FULL RANKING LIST:
1. Goldfinger
2. For Your Eyes Only
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. Diamonds Are Forever
5. Live and Let Die
6. Thunderball and You Only Live Twice
7. Licence to Kill
8. From Russia with Love
9. The Living Daylights
10. The Man with the Golden Gun and GoldenEye
11. Dr. No
12. Moonraker
13. A View to a Kill
14. Octopussy
15. Spectre
16. The World Is Not Enough
17. The Spy Who Loved Me and Tomorrow Never Dies
18. Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace
19. No Time to Die
20. Casino Royale
21. Skyfall
I like to think the punchiness of the music is what inspired Binder to change the graphics for once, the circle not opening up as per usual but just snapping open on the hard beat. I'm very pleased to see it rank so high.
GF is a total classic one and totally deserving of course, it's the archetype, so much so that it was sampled for GoldenEye (and I still suspect that it was even sampled again for the car chase cue in Spectre- does anyone know if I'm wrong about that?).
I very much dislike FYEO's soundtrack, but Conti's rendition of the gunbarrel is the exception. Very dynamic sounding and I especially like the opening riff and the vamp's arrangement. The raising of the octave is a cool touch, although for some it may veer dangerousely close to Rocky territory. I had it ranked 8th.
GF is the quintessential gunbarrel. No wonder it's the only one that didn't receive any ranking outside the top 10.
If I had to introduce to someone unfamiliar with Bond music what the perfect gunbarrel sounds like, GF would be it, without a doubt.
It's not just the exquisite use of strings and guitar (the best out of any gunbarrel), the music just has a flow to it that I think is unparalleled.
I ranked it 3rd, behind only OHMSS and DN, which I only very slightly prefer on account of them being more unique.
Thank you very much @mattjoes for hosting this fun game and also for your thorough breakdown of each gunbarrel. Very informative, especially for someone like me, who has very minimal musical knowledge.
I enjoyed this countdown.
You mean 1:48 in this track?
If so, I don't think it's sampled, but reminiscent for sure.
You're welcome.
He means that Eric Serra literally took the recording of the Goldfinger gunbarrel and put it in his gunbarrel (that's called sampling).
Listen to the following audio for more clarity. First you hear the GoldenEye gunbarrel in its original key of G minor, then the same gunbarrel transposed to E minor (the typical key of the Bond theme, and in fact that of the Goldfinger gunbarrel), and finally the Goldfinger gunbarrel (once again, in E minor). You can tell the GoldenEye gunbarrel features a filtered, transposed version of the Goldfinger gunbarrel recording.
Check the very first post of this thread for more info on this and the GoldenEye gunbarrel.
Actually I'm thinking of the one at 2.37, but I'm sure you're right.
Fantastic thread! Loved it.
I assume if it was that obvious I would have picked up on it years ago. But even after careful listening I don’t hear it. And I have a pretty good ear for music. Guess I’m missing something.