Bruce EderThis is a lot of soundtrack music -- 258 minutes' worth, actually -- which is understandable, as it covers approximately 40 years in the career of
John Barry. The 40 years isn't quite comprehensive, skipping past Barry's earliest screen compositions for the films
Beat Girl,
Never Let Go, and
The Amorous Prawn, as well as his music for
The L-Shaped Room,
Dutchman,
Seance on a Wet Afternoon, and
King Rat, in favor of the bigger films that the composer worked on during the '60s and beyond.
Beginning with his thunderous score for
Zulu, represented by a seven-minute track here, the collection concentrates primarily on the international side of Barry's career, while also offering little oddities out of his history, such as his 1968 theme "The Girl With the Sun in Her Hair," from a commercial for Sunsilk. The collection runs right up through Barry's music for
Cry the Beloved Country and
Mercury Rising, and ends with the disputed "James Bond Theme" (in what is one of the few relatively flat, unexciting performances in this set). All of this material is presented in new recordings by Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied on a half-dozen cuts by the Crouch End Festival Chorus. They're spirited enough, as is Raine's conducting, and the producers have given most of this collection (apart from obvious small-scale pieces such as "A Man Alone" from
The Ipcress File) a big, lush orchestral sound that makes much of the material seem larger than life and even larger than it looms in the memory (the main title from
Born Free, for example, gets a treatment akin to Mahler's "Third Symphony"); a lot of it works brilliantly, though one isn't too thrilled with his reworking and toning down of the music from
Goldfinger.
Still, the essentials are here, including perennial favorites such as
Somewhere in Time (though one wishes its distant cousin, Barry's score for
They Might Be Giants, was represented here as well) and
Dances With Wolves. What makes this set unusual and exceptionally edifying, however, is the fact that lesser-known Barry scores, such as his superb, lush music for
Mister Moses and later productions such as
Robin & Marian,
Monte Walsh, and
Walkabout (all films that relatively few people saw, though they were [and are] heavily written about) get more generous treatment than familiar fare such as
Goldfinger and
Thunderball. There's also a decent balance between the thrillers, for which Barry -- identified as he was with the Bond films for many years -- is best-known, and gentle, lyrical pieces such as his waltz-like main theme for
The Wrong Box. The result is a collection that opens up the less well-known aspects of Barry's international career and thus can be appreciated even by longtime buffs. The annotation is more biographical than analytical in nature, and the sound is state-of-the-art and a delight to the ear.
Track listing
Disc 1:
1. Zulu (1963) - Main Theme/First Zulu Appearance and Assault 7:43
2. From Russia with Love (1963) - Main Theme 2:15
3. From Russia with Love (1963) - 007 3:09
4. Goldfinger (1964) - Main Theme 2:29
5. The Ipcress File (1965) - A Man Alone 4:02
6. The Knack (1965) - Main Theme 1:47
7. Mister Moses (1965) - Suite [Main Title/Moses in the River/An Elephant Called Emily/The Dam/ « What would I do for laughs ? »] 7:52
8. Thunderball (1965) - Main Theme 2:17
9. The Wrong Box (1966) - Main Theme 2:46
10. Born Free (1966) - Main Theme/The Lions at Play 5:50
11. The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - Wednesday’s Child 2:30
12. You only Live Twice (1967) - Main Theme/Capsule in Space 6:14
13. The Girl with the Sun in her Hair (1968) - Music from the « Sunsilk » TV Commercial 2:42
14. Deadfall (1968) - Romance for Guitar and Orchestra (abridged version) 10:54
Total: 1:02:36
Disc 2:
1. The Lion in Winter (1968) - Suite [The Lion in Winter/Eleanor’s Arrival at Chinon/We’re All Jungle Creatures] 8:14
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - We Have All the Time In The World 3:29
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Ski Chase 4:20
4. Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Main Theme 3:59
5. Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Florida Fantasy 2:04
6. The Appointment (1969) - Theme 2:19
7. The Last Valley (1970) - Suite [Main Theme/Death of the Captain/End Title] 8:37
8. Walkabout (1970) - Back to Nature 3:55
9. Monte Walsh (1970) - Suite [The Good Times Are Comin’/Stocking Feet/Mustangs/Sit Him High/Death of Martine] 11:12
10. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Main Theme 3:05
11. The Persuaders (1971) - TV Series 2:10
12. Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) - Vivre ou Mourir 2:14
13. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Slow Boat from China/The Man With The Golden Gun 2:59
14. The Dove (1974) - Main Themes [Main Theme/Hitchhike to Darwin/Sail the Summer Winds] 6:32
Total: 1:05:14
Disc 3:1. The Tamarind Seed (1974) - Play It Again 2:29
2. King Kong (1976) - Prelude and Love Theme 4:53
3. Eleanor and Franklin (1976) - Main Theme 1:28
4. Robin and Marian (1976) - Suite [Dawn : Morning in the Forest/This Way/John Bursts In/The End] 7:38
5. The Deep (1977) - Main Theme 4:01
6. Hanover Street (1979) - Main Theme 4:51
7. The Black Hole (1979) - Overture 4:57
8. Moonraker (1979) - Miss Goodhead Meets Bond 3:25
9. Somewhere in time (1980) - Main Theme 6:13
10. Raise the Titanic (1980) - Suite [To Cornwall/Dog Attack/The Titanic Uncoverd/Russian Threat/End Titles] 9:28
11. Body Heat (1981) - Main Theme 4:34
12. Frances (1982) 4:12
13. Octopussy (1983) - Palace Fight 4:09
14. The Cotton Club (1984) - Suite [The Depression Hits/Best Beats the Sandman/The Cotton Club] 6:34
Total: 1:09:00
Disc 4:1. High Road to China (1983) - Suite [Wazari Village Attack and Escape/Love Theme and End Title] 8:13
2. A View to a Kill (1985) - Wine with Stacey/Snow Job 4:45
3. Out of Africa (1985) - Main Theme 4:28
4. The Living Daylights (1987) - Hercules Take Off 3:02
5. Dances with Wolves (1990) - The John Dunbar Theme 2:30
6. Dances with Wolves (1990) - The Buffalo Hunt 4:15
7. Chaplin (1992) - Main Theme 2:57
8. Moviola (1992) 4:08
9. Indecent Proposal (1993) - Main Theme 4:43
10. The Specialist (1994) - Suite [Main Title/Bogota 1984/ « Did you call me ? »] 6:29
11. The Scarlet Letter (1995) - Love Theme 3:04
12. Cry the Beloved Country (1995) - Main Theme 4:36
13. Mercury Rising (1998) - The Story Ends 5:57
14. The James Bond Theme (1962) - Symphonic Version 3:03
Total: 1:02:16
Total time: 4:19:08
Enjoy and have a nice day.
