I remember watching that film as a kid and being completely sold on the cues for the elevator fight, the space laser sequence, and the final oil rig battle (though that theme had been used by Barry before). There was so much thematic variety in the music, traces of elegance mixed with brashness, and those harmonic building blocks of Barry just can't be beat!

For some reason, with that film and score, I knew I had to own the music on album. However, this was before any of the CD re-issues of the original LP albums so the closest I found was a re-recording of that "007" theme on a budget Bond casette compilation. But it was all I had, so I was happy at the time.

(Tomorrow Never Dies! Sheesh! LOL!)

This was back before we had a cd player, so these were some of the first scores I ever heard!

Q: does the LP of Thunderball have tracks not on the CD?

It was only years later that I found out that the "theme" was actually composed by John Barry and not Monty Norman at all. The two films though that really got me into the music were "You Only Live Twice" and "Diamonds are forever" which I saw as a double bill back in 1973. Ijust remember there was something really fantastically "exotic" and "different" about the music. In my 8 year old head, I just felt it was as "exciting", "punchy" and "flamboyant" as Bond himself!!! From then on, I started to notice the music in all the "Bond" movies continuing with "Live and Let Die", "Man with the Golden Gun" etc etc. I look back now and feel privileged to actually have been able to see some of the early Bond Connery movies in the Cinema way back in the early 70's at such a young and impressionable age.

Gae NP Star Wars

]

I agree that the DR NO album is a letdown, though the whole of Monty Norman's score for the film is a disappointment on its own. The suite recorded on Silva's Bond Back In Action Volume One is all I need of it.

Barry's music is still exotic and unique today! That's what I find ironic. It's rare that it is ever topped in terms of unique action/adventure scoring techniques, but Barry's style is highly personal and individual so it would be difficult for another composer to replicate.

I did sort of expect the younger collectors to lean towards Arnold, since he is more in line with their modern perception of film scoring. When I started collecting Bond scores (and scores in general), my favorites tended to be the ones composed in the late 70's/early-mid 80's. Basically, the Moore & Dalton eras. But now that I'm around 30 years old, my favorite Bond scores tend to be from the 60's films, especially OHMSS and YOLT. LIVING DAYLIGHTS, though, is one of the more recent Bond scores (relatively speaking) which will always be in my top five!

So, one night my X brought home DR. NO, and said it's time to experience the world of Bond!
Suffice to say, I was hooked after that....that very weekend, I rented the next three films, picked up the CD for FRWL( I still don't have the CD of DR.NO, since the score was a total joke to me), and the 2Cd Anniversary set.

The only piece I had been exposed to before all this, was the string arr. of We Have All The Time In The World on the MOVIOLA album, and thought it was the greatest thing....then when I got around to OHMSS, this cemented my love of 007(obviously, dig the screen name!lol), since I find the film and score the best of the series, emotionally, comically, and action-wise.

The Arnold scores are good, but a bit overblown, like the films he is scoring, but this is what Bond has always been about, so it's a catch-22 for me I guess.

And I LOVE the fact that ABC Night At The Movies is replaying these during prime time, something that exposed many fans(Hi Roger Feigelson!) to these films in the 80's.

It's taken me a long time but I actually enjoy Arnold's efforts with Bond though he'll never really replace Barry for me!

As was said earlier, there's something about Barry's music for Bond, there's an excitement, a larger than lifeness and most importantly (and this is really sadly lacking in Arnold's music) an erotic sexyness in the sound that few if any composers have been able to emulate, dammit, even Barry's ACTION music is sexy!

Just for the record, the first Bond film I saw on it's release was Diamonds Are Forever when I was a mere 10 years old (if you know your dates you should be able to work my age out )! However, I first saw Bond a year or so before on a double bill of Thunderball and You Only Live Twice

TV's Frank, ditto on that awesome variation on the "007" theme that Barry did for the finale of Thunderball. That's my favorite version of it.

Yep, wouldn't you know it that 'my' Bond film/score has the distinction of including the ghastliest piece of music known to man...Xmas trees,yada yada. Horrendous.

There is a ton missing, but I'm sure that all that legal biz will get settled someday, and we'll have the full monty!

Huzzah!
Sean

(Obviously this would be long ago pre-CD era.)

quote:

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Originally posted by Timmer:
While watching Goldeneye the other day I temp tracked the 'Tank' sequence with John Barry's muscular 'Golden Gate Fight' from A View To A Kill and it worked magnificently! ...and showed just how limited even John Altman's effort was in this film.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Christian Madsen:
A rerecording of John Altmans version is available on the Silva Screen compilation "Bond Back In Action 2" performed by The City Of Prague Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Nic Raine.

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...and Altman himself was mortified at how bad it sounded compared to what he wrote and recorded for the film.

The balance of action, romance, locale, comedy, drama in OHMSS is unbeatable!

Don't understand your 'variety' tag though Bulldog, do you mean film, score, both, or what?

NP: Pearl Harbor (Hans Zimmer)