On Her Majesty's Secret Service Musical Score
Tracy
the VillagePosts: 369MI6 Agent
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.
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Comments
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.
I would have liked to have the music in film order, but apparently that was not a possiblity.
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!"
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.
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.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
May I introduce you to the above Napolean Plural
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
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Not sure if I want to cover the Aston in flowers, though...
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?
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".
The best soundrack is FRWL! Too bad alot of the original music was lost and there were no additions on the updated CD.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Roger Moore 1927-2017
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.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Well....up to OHMSS they had
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!