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Sure, he's responsible for the main themes that have become... dare I say it... iconic. But it appears to me that he hasn't been true to those themes in the films I've listened to.
Dave Arnold pays more homage to Barry's themes in World is Not Enough than Barry does to himself in the aforementioned scores.


I'm trying to understand what you are saying. Are you saying that Barry should repeat the James Bond theme more frequently? That is the only theme that David Arnold pays homage to in TWINE of which I'm aware.

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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 don't know. I hear the main title, the theme song played frequently in his scores. A theme score repeats the theme in different arrangements throughout a film. One is an action cue, one a romantic cue, etc. For the ultimate theme song Barry album try the soundtrack to THE KNACK.

Or, are you lamenting Barry's lack of leit motifs? Unlike the European school of film scoring that Hollywood favored for decades, Barry generally didn't employ this style wherein each character and, sometimes, individual buildings, objects, locations, sets get their own theme. He wrote individual cues for various sequences, often incorporating the main theme, but generally didn't re-use these themes as a means of identifying a character, place, etc. The early Bonds are full of different themes.

A few years back I listened to all the Barry soundtracks in my collection and decided that, as a whole, his best work was done in the Bond films.

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After all, he's the guy who was responsible for Zulu, Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time, The Whisperers and a number of other excellent pieces.


ZULU is mostly a theme score featuring the one theme used over and over. If you love that theme, like I do, then it's just dandy. If you don't, then you're in for a disappointment. Also, there isn't much music in ZULU despite its length and he certainly doesn't follow the leit motif technique, although he could have done so easily given the number of characters, the opposing forces, the locations, etc.

SOMEWHERE IN TIME and THE WHISPERERS are not among my Barry favorites. OUT OF AFRICA has some very nice pieces but I associate this with his slow-motion period of scoring. Actually, elegiac might be a better term for these slow, graceful pieces he seemed to favor as time went on.

Actually, as he went on, some of his Bond cues featured slower tempos timed to counterpoint the action on the screen, playing out majestically and slowly against the onscreen action.

My favorite Barry recordings are:

BEAT GIRL
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
GOLDFINGER
THUNDERBALL
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
MOONRAKER
VIEW TO A KILL
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
ZULU
THE KNACK
THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM
THE IPCRESS FILE
THE WRONG BOX
THE CHASE
PETULIA
DEADFALL
THE LION IN WINTER
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
THE LAST VALLEY
ROBIN AND MARIAN
GAME OF DEATH
BODY HEAT
THE SPECIALIST

There are others that I like bits and pieces of or just the main theme (THE DOVE, THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER) but I've tried to leave these off the list. And there are others I ought to revisit like OUT OF AFRICA, DANCES WITH WOLVES, CHAPLIN, RAISE THE TITANIC, KING KONG (which I haven't played in 20 years; I'd rather have a CD of this) and THE BLACK HOLE.

I've got about 20 others that I just don't care for much. This isn't always Barry's fault because we're talking album releases, not necessarily what's actually in the movies themselves. As time went on he had several album releases that featured other music than his own.