Quote:
To date, Barry's contributions to Bond may be the most extensive interaction between a composer and film franchise in history. (And, until John Williams did STAR WARS, perhaps the most recognizable?)


That's a good point. I haven't liked all of Williams' variations on the original two films -- nor am I a fan of his Ewok theme -- and Barry may have been trying to generate originality in each of the Bond films. But it just isn't the Bond theme(s) that I (sometimes) miss in his scores; it's his lack of... what?... completing a score, I guess is the best way to describe it. He doesn't develop riffs on the "Bond song" as well as the "Bond theme" in some of his scores, and he doesn't generate new themes within the context of the score.
I hate to keep bringing up The World is Not Enough, but Arnold provides the main Bond theme in an exciting up-tempo techno style at the beginning, right after the song. Then he provides a new theme just for Elektra, and in the course of the entire score, he recaps every damn one of them. The score is memorable for its consistent attention to the characters _and_ the opening song (which, by the way, is one of the better Bond openers). I'm not finding that consistency with Barry, which is surprising given the mostly pleasant memories of the Bond canon.

I have very fond memories of both Goldfinger and From Russia with Love scores, as I've seen both films several times on TV. How they play out on a CD remains to be heard, but I'm working on it. Barry's scores generally stand out in my memory, although I have no memory of many of the Roger Moore film scores other than the opening song.

It's gonna take a while before I reach a final conclusion on this subject. I'm just going on what few Barry scores I've listened to thus far.

... Reed