Favorite Score

JennyFlexFan

We've done the tracks, but how do all the scores do comparatively to the others? Here are my top three!

1. For Your Eyes Only - It's just an exciting, over-the-top, exhilirating score to fit a movie that was a bit more serious. It gave it quite a kick and is a great listen on its own.
2. The Living Daylights - Barry's back and better than ever! Though the movie may not be my favorite, this is a beautifully done score by John Barry especially in "Koskov Escapes" and "Airbase Jailbreak". It's also a great sendoff for Barry's scoring of the Bond movies.
3. GoldenEye - No one likes this score except for me. I don't see how any other composer could tackle this movie like Eric Serra did. It highlights the darkness of the Russian settings, the reiterating of "We Share the Same Passions" during the romantic scenes, and some very interesting takes on the action sequences, this avant garde score is quite a favorite of mine.

Least Favorite Three

1. Diamonds are Forever - Like Connery (Sorry Dan) Bond is back, and the score seems tired with only a few moments that really stand out like "Airport Source" and the 007 theme.
2. Die Another Day - While it kind of worked in the movie, (main reason being you couldn't hear it), when listening to the tracks they just seem like rehashes, and while hearing Pipeline was a refreshing change, the other tracks are a bore to listen to with the exception of "Welcome to Cuba".
3. Licence to Kill - Alright, I hate everything about this movie. Some bits of the score work in the movie but the album itself has the abysmal Dirty Love and Wedding Party with poorly edited tracks like Pam, Ninja (which starts off promising), and others.

Honorable Mentions (for good):
OHMSS - Wonderful score, with lush orchestral moments like "Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway", "Gumbold's Safe", "Ski Chase", etc. etc.

AVTAK - Barry seemed to take his inspiration from OHMSS for this gem. The action theme is exciting, the Silicon Valley themes eerie, and the "Stacey" tracks are wonderful and soothing to listen to, highlighting the different parts of the movie.

TMWTGG - This movie, while poor has a very good and underrated score. Hip's Trip and that over-the-top rendition of the theme are marvelous, when transferred to the orchestra the main theme sounds wonderful and pleasing to the ears.

NSNA - While beautifully written and crafted, especially in "Nuclear Nightmare", "Tango to Death", etc. etc. this score seemed out of place in an action movie and suited a caper-type.

Golrush007

My favorite scores

1 - OHMSS: This score is just fantastic. As John Barry put it, this is possibly the most Bondian score ever, because John Barry poured absolutely everything into this score. The list of memorable cues comprises almost the whole tracklist of the cd. Firstly, Barry's OHMSS instrumental theme. A near perfect action theme for Bond, which is used in some very interesting variations in the score. Add to that a near perfect love theme in We Have All The Time in the World. We then also have the glorious Flight to Blofeld's Hideout and Gumbold's Safe. This is definitely the ultimate Bond score.

2 - YOLT: Another John Barry masterpiece. YOLT is actually my least favourite Bond film, but the score is terrific. Once again, almost every cue on the soundtrack is memorable. Once again Barry composed some terrific themes. First of all, Space March, which finds its way into many cues, mainly Capsule in Space. The Japanese theme which accompanies the wedding scene and a few other scenes is also breathtaking. Add to that YOLT main theme and the result is another classic.

3 - LALD: This score is just a lot of fun to listen to. George Martin uses the James Bond theme too much, there is no questioning that. He also composed a secondary action theme as well as the main theme. Not a lot of score was written, but I love every second of it. It is so different to the other Bond scores, and despite not being the most creative score, it is just a delight to listen to. My favourite cues are Tresspasser Will Be Eaten and Boat Chase.

walther p99

Tomorrow Never Dies-it seems like the perfect blend of techno and brass, while die another day was just a mish-mash of bad techno, which only worked in a few tracks

spectre7

YOLT and OHMSS are my favourites. I'm afraid I consider FYEO and GE to be the worst.

SeanConnery007

My favourites are OHMSS, LALD and TLD.
These are simply scores that re-create the essence of the film in music and have excellent cues based on the title song which is important.

My least favourite are MR, OP, GE and DAD.
MR, like the film, never settles comfortably musically, OP is IMHO very bland and lacks punch. GE is too machine like and is not classy and musically elaborate like Barry's scores and DAD is a techno mess.

Honorable Mentions go to FRWL, TB, TND and the newly released CR (which could reach favourite status).

sharpshooter

I enjoy George Martin’s Live and Let Die soundtrack. It’s very laid back, funky, energetic and just fun to listen to. There is suspense but also an exotic Caribbean feel. The title song is weaved in nicely, too. A welcome change of pace indeed.

Panache

Has to be Tomorrow Never Dies for me too all though I do have a soft spot for Live & Let Die. FYEO is my least.

bondaholic007

Casino Royale -{

Perfect, Action / Sadness / Paced, I could listen to the soundtrack and recreate every part in my head.

I spent a whole car journey listening to it :v

Although they are all good these are my favourite tracks on Casino Royale soundtrack
• Solange
• Dinner Jackets
• Vesper
• Miami Airport
• City of Lovers
• Death of Vesper
• The Name's Bond... James Bond

Mister White

1) OHMSS, absolutely the most Bond of the Bond soundtracks.

2) Goldfinger, a true classic and the definitive Shirley Bassey for me.

3) Casino Royale. I feel that with this soundtrack David Arnold finally got it right. His TWINE wasn't bad either. Unfortunately on QOS there are far too many quiet moments again that spoil the listening.

Least favorite:

Dr. No

I realise the calypso themes are in there to set the stage, but it's too much...

Thunderpussy

1, OHMSS
2, YOLT
3, TND

shaken66

In film history, are there any more powerful notes over opening credits than the first five in Goldfinger? To say nothing of perhaps the most powerful song over credits. I'm old enough to remember sitting in a dark theater in '64 and almost getting blown out of my seat! Truly the gold standard (sorry) for Bond, Barry, and action film scores. Without question, David Arnold hit his stride with CR and QOS. CR is the perfect blend of pulsating and melodic music with the almost tragic Vesper and sweeping Barry-esq love themes the high points. QOS is a great colorful action score with just the right amount of electronic juice to drive it. The Pursuit at Port Au Prince and Night at the Opera cuts offer a certain timelessness as a respite to the action. Both scores have taken their hits for not including the great Monty Norman theme enough (LALD, ugh!) but I find the subtle use of it woven through the scores makes its appearance that much more fun and interesting. A real shame that the Film Academy totally disregards the great action scores in favor of esoteric wallpaper music or Bollywood choruses!

PaulBHartzog

I'm new here and working on my own orchestral Bond material. I'm in the process of going through all the scores and will report back shortly, but so far I have to say that I really like Thunderball.

I can't stand the Tom Jones song, and I'm not exactly sure I like the whole score but the instrumental (i.e. "score" version) of Thunderball (which can be found on various Bond and Barry CD's) is quintessential imo.

I'll report back after I listen to some more.

Wint and Kidd far-out

The ones I love the best are Goldfinger, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice.

Rick Roberts

It's hard to pick one since John Barry has done so many wonderful scores. I'll have to go with OHMSS.

Higgins

1. FYEO I still find it outstanding and even became to admire the Fluegelhorn solos "Take me home" and "FYEO"
2. OHMSS
3. Moonraker

Best single track: "Flight into Space" from Moonraker

Osato

I love Barry's scores to AVTAK, YOLT and TMWTGG. Pure Bond, classy, sinister, beautiful, exotic and exciting in turns.

LALD is a fine effort from George Martin.

Must confess I'm not that fond of Kamen, Conti or Hamlisch's scores (for LTK, FYEO and TSWLM respectively).

Arnold I consider to be the poor man's John Barry, but he does seem to have the formula right at last. (Actually I prefer his score to Stargate to any of his Bond ones).

My two cents.

trs007

1. OHMSS

Other favs: YOLT, VTAK, TLD, TND, CR, QOS

Napoleon Plural

I was leafing through these Top 100 best selling albums of the 60s, then 70s and 80s books, for sale in HMV London at the moment for a fiver. Barry's Goldfinger is in the top 100 of the 1960s, which is something bearing in mind it's only got one song, it's not a musical like Sound Of Music. White Album was no.1 for the 1960s, also a surprise (not Pepper). I think Magical Mystery Tour was no 2 or 3, also a surprise (unless they're sneakily counting sales to the present day, that would explain it).

chrisno1

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I was leafing through these Top 100 best selling albums of the 60s, then 70s and 80s books, for sale in HMV London at the moment for a fiver. Barry's Goldfinger is in the top 100 of the 1960s, which is something bearing in mind it's only got one song, it's not a musical like Sound Of Music. White Album was no.1 for the 1960s, also a surprise (not Pepper). I think Magical Mystery Tour was no 2 or 3, also a surprise (unless they're sneakily counting sales to the present day, that would explain it).

Far be it for me to question the great HMV, but really? GF OST one of the BEST SELLING LPS OF THE 60S????
I know it peaked at no.14 in the good old fashioned album charts, and people bought more albums in them days...
but given the Beatles, Stones, Elvis, Dylan, Who, Hendrix and Simon & Grafunkel (not forgetting the OSTs to those mega tasty Julie Andrew blockbusters The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins) acumulated almost 50 (count 'em! 50!) top 5 entries bewteen them......
Something tells me HMV need a new researcher in their publicity department.

Barbel

Well, it did hit No.1 in the US knocking off a Beatles album in the process- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3nfrxqe5ldke

Napoleon Plural

It was at no 80 or so, so not saying it did great. All the others you mentioned were way ahead. At 100 was a comedy album by The Kennedy Family, a spoof on the chic new occupants of the White House which obviously sold before the President's trip to Dallas, then the comedy troupe went quickly out of fashion.

BarryFan

shaken66 wrote:

In film history, are there any more powerful notes over opening credits than the first five in Goldfinger? To say nothing of perhaps the most powerful song over credits. I'm old enough to remember sitting in a dark theater in '64 and almost getting blown out of my seat! Truly the gold standard (sorry) for Bond, Barry, and action film scores. Without question, David Arnold hit his stride with CR and QOS. CR is the perfect blend of pulsating and melodic music with the almost tragic Vesper and sweeping Barry-esq love themes the high points. QOS is a great colorful action score with just the right amount of electronic juice to drive it. The Pursuit at Port Au Prince and Night at the Opera cuts offer a certain timelessness as a respite to the action. Both scores have taken their hits for not including the great Monty Norman theme enough (LALD, ugh!) but I find the subtle use of it woven through the scores makes its appearance that much more fun and interesting. A real shame that the Film Academy totally disregards the great action scores in favor of esoteric wallpaper music or Bollywood choruses!

Here here! Well said, 66- couldn't agree more...

IcePak

1. The Living Daylights
The lush orchestra, the thumping synths, and the great three songs used for the film.

2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
It's a killer tune, the synths work well, and All The Time in the World is a great love song.

3. You Only Live Twice
The lush, oriental theme is wonderfully poetic and lifts the quality of the film immensely.

Other good scores:
For Your Eyes Only
A View To A Kill
Moonraker
The Man With The Golden Gun
Goldeneye
From Russia With Love

A Genuine-Felix-Leiter

For me, TLD, MR, OHMSS, TND and CR are the best Bond scores, with TLD ranking as best, John Barry's final score and he truly saved the best for last.