On Her Majesty's Secret Service Musical Score

Tracy

OHMSS is easily John Barry's best musical score for Bond, and it's what I consider to be the best Bond score, ever. There isn't a single weak Barry-composed piece, and the only thing that lets it down is Nina's rendition of "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?". Still, even that song (if that's what you can call it) is almost forgiveable when compared with the rest of the score. The OHMSS theme, ski music, Piz Gloria music, Gumbold's safe, and romantic music are just a few of the great cues. "We Have All the Time in the World", though not appropriately introduced in the film, is a classic. The remastered CD includes some of the best cues that were sadly left out on the original. OHMSS's score is hard to live up to.

Luke

I agree. It's probably the only score for a single bond film that is now pictured as nearly another part of the main theme. It's one of the elements that made OHMSS such a good film.

Hugo Drax

While IMO John Barry's best score was for DAF, OHMSS is an excellent musical score.

Like the best musical scores it has a distinctive flavour: the gunbarrel, the title theme. A clever blend of romantic, dynamic and suspenseful cues. Louis Armstrong's "We Have All the Time in the World" is such a beautiful song.

And with reference to your other thread Tracy, I like the "Bond meets the girls" cue.

TGO_

I recently bought the OHMSS score...and I think it is a bit overrated. And also a lot of the score was cut out of the movie, and reused pieces of the score. I find the fact that there are references to We Have All The Time In the World in 3 straight tracks quite annoying. On the plus side, the action cues are great, and the dead serious action motif I always wanted to hear is there.

I would have liked to have the music in film order, but apparently that was not a possiblity.

MrZsasz

While the "Wint and Kidd Theme" and the appearance by "007" put DAF's score just over OHMSS' in my book, it's still a great score. I love how he held off on the Bond theme as long as he possibly could, until the final assualt on Blofeld's complex where he just went full blast on it.

i expect u2 die

I think that the OHMSS soundtrack is great! The best track is track 11 (We have all the time in the world - James Bond theme) because we get the instrumental version of WHATTITW. The other instrumental one is rubbish! I also love track 10 (battle at piz gloria) because...it's just a great action peice! My only problem would be that some tracks like the skiing ones are too similar to both eachother and the main theme. Also, track 21 (bobsled chase) hasn't got any variation at all and is just the same all the way through.

taity

It is a good score, and it matches the movie very well. Fair to call it one of the better scores. Just bought it on Saturday, with TLD - also a good score. Love the remastered stuff.

007Dalton

A great score. I love "Gumbold's Safe", the ski chase, and "Bobsled Chase" especially. Some parts of the ''Sir Hilary's Night Out" are annoying but the score is great. I think they should have the bobsled chase music in the running chase instead of "Do you know how Christmas trees are grown?".

Sweepy the Cat

One of my top 3 bond scores ever

De Bleuchamp

Yes it's the soundtrack of my favourite Bond film.
Bought the LP in 1969/70. Then the remastered version more recently. On my car CD I also enjoy YOLT and DAF music regularly, and recently Casino Royale. It's good to get the little bits of music previously omitted. e.g.-Bond in M's office seeing Tracy in the snow dragged away.
De Bleuchamp.
"Well the methods of the great pioneers have often puzzled conventional minds!"

chrisno1

Interesting how you guys all seem to talk of the music as if it is separate from the film (sorry if i am wrong, just how i read the posts) in terms of how a soundtrack can elevate or destroy a film, OHMSS is right up there with elevation.
When writing OHMSS,Barry pulled out every game plan to ensure he provided a fresh exciting soundtrack for a new Bond. Without his excellent work, the film would lack a lot of its emotional intensity; even the action scenes are enlived by the music, which often in Bond seems merely an accompanyment to the stunts. I dislike the sequence when WHATTITW is used, but thats more to do with the constraints of the film than the strength of the song. Although Barry still hit the highs (the space laser in DAF, most of MR especially the approach to the space station, the "romantic" scenes in OP)he never quite got this good again. Worth noting he also did the OS to Midnight Cowboy in '69 which is a brilliant piece as well.

Napoleon Plural

I honestly don't like the soundtrack that much.

Just don't like the main theme, and being used in the ski scene from Piz Gloria makes the action a bit predictable and unpanicky. Love the helicopter orchestra on the way to Piz Gloria. Otherwise, We Have All The Time is a nice song, I just don't really take to it, esp as I find the Bond-Tracey romance unconvincing. And it's used a lot - even when Bond inspects his room in Piz Gloria.

The sound makes the film feel even more claustrophobic and sometimes a bit square.

youknowmyname

Leave it to you Napolean to ruin all the fun. I on the other hand love the OHMSS score as well. John Barry did a lot of fine work (nods to the DAF score, which is undoubtedly one of the tops) and OHMSS is his Bondian masterpiece. I could listen to the theme all day long, in fact I might. Plus as I just mentioned in another post, WHATTITW was the first dance song at my wedding, a wonderfully romantic piece by Louis (and no, my wife did not get shot by Blofeld as we were leaving for our honeymoon, I assured her parents there would be no danger).

spectre7

I've never met anyone before in real life or on message boards who didn't care for the OHMSS title theme.

youknowmyname

spectre7 wrote:

I've never met anyone before in real life or on message boards who didn't care for the OHMSS title theme.

May I introduce you to the above Napolean Plural

Donald Grant

youknowmyname wrote:

Leave it to you Napolean to ruin all the fun. I on the other hand love the OHMSS score as well. John Barry did a lot of fine work (nods to the DAF score, which is undoubtedly one of the tops) and OHMSS is his Bondian masterpiece. I could listen to the theme all day long, in fact I might. Plus as I just mentioned in another post, WHATTITW was the first dance song at my wedding, a wonderfully romantic piece by Louis (and no, my wife did not get shot by Blofeld as we were leaving for our honeymoon, I assured her parents there would be no danger).

It's funny you should say that, it was also my wedding song as well. My honeymoon was spent in Nassau, Bahamas. It's great that our wives put up with our Bond fixation. Nevertheless, "We Have All The Time In The World" is a great song, sung by a great master. It was Armstrong's last before he died.

DG

Gebruder Gumbold

There are one or two songs that I hum daily when driving, or when happy, and they are the JB theme, and WHATTITW! I must say that the OHMSS soundtrack evokes such emotion in me, I can see why people cry at operas. It is not only the images of the film, but the emotion in the music that is so moving. And yes, if I ever get married, Louis' masterpiece will be the theme.
Not sure if I want to cover the Aston in flowers, though...

Smithers500

The entire score is without doubt the pinnacle of Bond music + is a large reason of why I class this my favourite Bond film.

I love the action cues but must confess a complete adoration of the "Bond meets the girls" + "Who will buy my yesterdays" music.

There was another cue not on any of the soundtracks, no doubt due to the fact it's about 5 seconds long(!), which is pure Barry, when Bond wakes up in the hotel the night after sleeping with Tracey to find she has left - anyone know what this was called, if indeed it was named?

Barbel

Smithers500 wrote:

There was another cue not on any of the soundtracks, no doubt due to the fact it's about 5 seconds long(!), which is pure Barry, when Bond wakes up in the hotel the night after sleeping with Tracey to find she has left - anyone know what this was called, if indeed it was named?

It's on the remastered version of the OHMSS soundtrack- track 12 from 1:53 to 2:02. Track 12 is entitled "Journey To Draco's Hideaway" and is composed of several shorter cues; I believe this is the last part of one called "The First Night".

sharpshooter

Barry did do a lot of notable Bond scores, but OHMSS is my personal favourite. The OHMSS theme alone makes it my favourite, but the rest of the score is full of sweeping, colourful orchestra that is very hard to beat.

D_Somerset

Definitely my favorite score, as well as my favorite film in the series (yes, I'm one of THOSE people, but at least I don't try to defend AVTAK). Barry wouldn't nail it across the board like this again until TLD.-{

7289

The title track of OHMSS and "Gumbold's Safe" are my favorites. I have never been fond of the "love" theme. I use "Do you Know How Christmas Trees Are Made" to torture the kids with on Christmas.

The best soundrack is FRWL! Too bad alot of the original music was lost and there were no additions on the updated CD.

D_Somerset

7289 wrote:

I use "Do you Know How Christmas Trees Are Made" to torture the kids with on Christmas.

LMAO

sharpshooter

I enjoy the track ‘Journey To Blofeld's Hideaway’ particularly. It is truly a majestic, flourishing sound.

Alec_Trevelyan1993

Would you suggest buying OHMSS on ultimate edition DVD? I haven't seen it in a while

Napoleon Plural

No I would not. The pts has been rehashed. Key in OHMSS and remastered into youtube; someone has done a comparison. The scene on the beach is way too dark. I prefer the normal Special Edition, but wait until the Blu Ray comes out and see how that is.

sharpshooter

The darkened beach scene does not bother me that much, but I hope it’s restored in the Blu ray edition. The video quality in the UE is crystal clear; the print is dirt and scratch free and very sharp - it is nothing short of spectacular.

Hudbannon

I agree that Barry's music for OHMSS is his best Bond score ("Zulu" being his best non-Bond). True, Nina's "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" is a bit weak, but the filmmakers used it perfectly when Tracy suddenly appears on ice skates before a tense and cornered Bond. It is a classic moment. The song also added to the winter wonderland holiday atmosphere of Switzerland.
I bought the OHMSS LP soundtrack back in 1969 when the film came out. That was almost 40 years ago, and I remember thinking then it was the best Bond score ever.

Napoleon Plural

How did you know that; the other soundtracks hadn't been released then? ?:)

Sir Miles

Napoleon Plural wrote:

How did you know that; the other soundtracks hadn't been released then? ?:)

Well....up to OHMSS they had

Shady Tree

I watched OHMSS again this week and what strikes me as especially impressive about Barry's work on the soundtrack is that he uses music to underscore, in a highly dramatic way, the conflict in the movie's value system between violent action and the claims of romantic love. Bond scores have always included romantic interludes as well as full-on action themes, but here the two types of music seem almost to be pitted against each other in a struggle for ascendancy...

One of the most dramatic juxtapositions / transitions of this sort is when the brief but upbeat romantic piece accompanying the early morning skiing enjoyed by Bond and Tracy after their night spent together in the barn gives way, suddenly, to the excitement and menace of the main theme as Blofeld and his men rudely interrupt the golden moment and give chase...

Pure drama, pure cinema... one of my all-time favourite manoeuvres by John Barry!