I Miss Barry
CmdrAtticus
United StatesPosts: 1,102MI6 Agent
Seen Skyfall several times now and the last time I tried to focus in on some of the
score during certain scenes, and I came away as I have done since Barry's last Bond film - no one does it for me as he did. How many of you who own the soundtracks to the Barry scored films can play most of the tracks in your head?
I can. It took me a while to figure out why and it has to do with Barry's genius of using the repeat motif in his scoring the action, as well as his atmospheric use of
certain instruments to instill a feeling of danger and menace during quieter scenes and using pounding brass and percussion during frentic chases and climaxes.
Take the scene in OHMSS where Lazenby breaks into the office to crack open the safe. Barry uses that wonderful repeat motif, starting with the menace of the bass cello strings, then as the scene progresses and gets more intense he layers on the clock- like chimes to signify the every decreasing time Lazenby has left before the attorney returns, then layers on the trumpets to herald the impending arrival of the attorney, etc..
Take the scenes in Thunderball, where Barry uses woodwinds to not only give the emotional feel of the subdued, quietness of underwater diving but also the quiet scenes of Bond creeping around the interiors at Shrublands. Here again he uses the repeating motif in his tracks.
It's his use of those repeat motifs and the elegance with which he scores the action in all his scenes that cement those tracks in my head so well that when I hear any of them without seeing the visuals I immediately know what scene they are accompanying. I can hardly do any of that with the scores after Barry. His scoring method suits the Bond films so well (the way Bernard Hermann did for the Hitchcock films) that I doubt I'll ever hear another Bond score that will measure up.
score during certain scenes, and I came away as I have done since Barry's last Bond film - no one does it for me as he did. How many of you who own the soundtracks to the Barry scored films can play most of the tracks in your head?
I can. It took me a while to figure out why and it has to do with Barry's genius of using the repeat motif in his scoring the action, as well as his atmospheric use of
certain instruments to instill a feeling of danger and menace during quieter scenes and using pounding brass and percussion during frentic chases and climaxes.
Take the scene in OHMSS where Lazenby breaks into the office to crack open the safe. Barry uses that wonderful repeat motif, starting with the menace of the bass cello strings, then as the scene progresses and gets more intense he layers on the clock- like chimes to signify the every decreasing time Lazenby has left before the attorney returns, then layers on the trumpets to herald the impending arrival of the attorney, etc..
Take the scenes in Thunderball, where Barry uses woodwinds to not only give the emotional feel of the subdued, quietness of underwater diving but also the quiet scenes of Bond creeping around the interiors at Shrublands. Here again he uses the repeating motif in his tracks.
It's his use of those repeat motifs and the elegance with which he scores the action in all his scenes that cement those tracks in my head so well that when I hear any of them without seeing the visuals I immediately know what scene they are accompanying. I can hardly do any of that with the scores after Barry. His scoring method suits the Bond films so well (the way Bernard Hermann did for the Hitchcock films) that I doubt I'll ever hear another Bond score that will measure up.
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I think i've seen Arnold saying that you have to use the bond theme at a specific 'bondian' moment. Use it all the time and its overkill, but moments like the cuff adjusting bit in the PTS to SF are definite times when you really need that PAA PAAA PAAA PAAAAA!! music blaring out. Sadly, SF lacked this and there were too many moments where i was expecting it and alas, just some bog standard scores.
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
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Don't all start throwing things!
The Bond theme is wonderful to hear over the gunbarrel logo & cheekily interpolated hear & there. But as examples, the OHMSS ski chases wouldn't be half as effective with the Bond theme instead of that wonderful main title & Barry's 007 theme is far more rousing. Now it really is a shame that tune isn't used more these days.
Not by me! As stated above, Barry had plenty of other tricks up his sleeve and his action cues are often pretty melodic, rather than just rhythmic. Scores such as TB weave together the film's main themes ("Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and the title melody) with interesting variations on both "007" and the Bond theme without overuse of the latter.
It would be great to hear "007" again in a movie, but IIRC David Arnold said once that wouldn't be likely.
Exactly. The other composers use the Bond theme because they know the audience needs it as a touchpoint to the series, but they can overuse it or put it in the wrong spots. What was genius about Barry is that he knew the trick was to come up with a solid main theme song that he could play with in other parts of the film - either drawn out with woodwinds and strings for romantic or more emotional areas, or blasted out for the action scenes.
Right..his "beauty & menace" mix is why it gels so well with the films..it's what Bond is all about.
Yes I can also play the music in my head, as I play them on the CD player in the car every day, and after a bit change the soundtrack selection. I have OHMSS and Octopussy at the moment.
With Octopussy I like the military snare drum at the beginning, the slow march Bond theme in the Acrostar scene.
OHMSS has every track perfect. Always jump to track 2 with the DBS at the beach road.
Yes the safecracking slow build-up music is a full 5 minutes long, building to a crescendo.
I think track 19-Who will buy my Yesterdays begins with a sliding cello note which I love.
The use of the Moog synthesisers in OHMSS was brand new cutting edge-not been done for film music.
Bleuville. "Merry Christmas 007" and "I will be back in an hour!" -Gumbold.
The title to this thread says it all - I MISS BARRY!
Yes, the OHMSS score is wonderful. I'd been listening to the original release since it came out, was happy to hear Nic Raine's versions of some of the missing pieces 30 years later (!), then thrilled at the pretty much perfect 2003 re-release.
One minor point- Barry had in fact used synths earlier, on "The Lion In Winter" score, though far less prominently than on OHMSS.
Arnold's more successful scores were for the Bonds where he wrote or co-wrote the main title ('The World Is Not Enough' and 'Casino Royale') for the same reason that he was then better placed to distribute around the movie in question melodies/motifs linked to its keynote song. In general, though, Arnold's over-reliance on The James Bond Theme and on over-produced contemporary 'noise' disappoint - as does his reluctance to go for a full-on linear repetition of repeated motifs, Barry-style. (My single favourite Arnold piece is 'Inside Man' from QOS.)
Having said that, and despite the fact that I think for the most part his scores were shamefully pedestrian, Arnold has shown flourishes (albeit very sporadic) in his most recent scores that wonderfully mimic Barry at his best. I'm thinking in particular about African Rundown from Casino Royale, which superbly uses the Chris Cornell main title theme, and Night at the Opera from Quantum of Solace, which in it's repetitive motive and buildup is wonderfully evocative of the already commented-on genius of 'Gumbold's Safe' from OHMSS. So Arnold can do it - he just seems to be very sporadic and inconsistent, and his action scores for the most part are so 'meh' and generic that they could come from any brain-dead Hollywood actioner. He is a 'B' composer in my mind.
I had an open mind on Skyfall, and while I really missed Barry (particularly for the 50th anniversary), I quite liked Newman's take - it was distinctive and he did not try to ape Barry like Arnold does - he went for his own interpretation of a Bond score. That was brave - as brave as Bill Conti on For Your Eyes Only or Eric Serra on Goldeneye - and whatever you may think of those two scores, they were memorable and different. I can still clearly remember the disco beat to the ski chase in For Your Eyes Only (painfully dated but still immediately memorable) or the Bond theme drum interpretation in the pre-titles opening scene of Goldeneye with Bond and Trevalyn (one of the best interpretations of the Bond theme I've heard). Similarly, in Skyfall, I will clearly remember 'New Diggs' when Bond visits the new MI6 headquarters, and 'Grand Bazaar-Istanbul', where Bond steps out into the streets in the pretitles, and 'Shanghai Drive' in the Mercedes in China, or 'The Chimera' with Berenice on the boat or 'Severine' - Berenice's theme. All superb stuff, as it's memorable unlike most of Arnold's tripe.
If Newman can be made to 'channel' Barry, with more orchestra in the score, I think he will be able to craft a fantastic score. He kept it a little modern this time around - but it was his first try. If he's back again (likely if Mendes is back) I think we're in for something special - as long as there is a little more orchestra in the score.
Roger Moore 1927-2017