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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.


Since Barry invented the Bond theme, I think my answer to your first sentence is yes. It doesn't have to be overly repetitive, but at least one recap somewhere in the score should be maintained.

As far as TWINE is concerned, Arnold recaps all three themes -- Bond, the title song, and the Elektra theme at one place or another within the 15-track score.

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I hear the main title, the theme song played frequently in his scores.


Well, like I said to Sam33, I'll give OHMSS another listen. But I didn't hear it in The Living Daylights, and I didn't hear it but once (and faintly) in Thunderball. In fact, the best tracks on The Living Daylights CD are the bonus tracks rather than the main score.

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A theme score repeats the theme in different arrangements throughout a film. One is an action cue, one a romantic cue, etc.


On a general note, I agree with you. It's the lack of a recap that I'm concerned with here. As far as the different cues, I suspect you and I will have to sit down and listen to the same music to make sure we're on the same... er, page/note.
When I listen to any of the Bond scores, I hear the Bond theme broken into at least three different riffs.

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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.


Different themes are okay with me as long as they're recapped within the context of a score -- otherwise the score loses personality in my opinion. As I understand your explanation of leit motif, I guess I prefer the European style best, since I recognize it in the work of Elmer Bernstein, Dmitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa and several other composers.

If I'm understanding you correctly, then Barry does employ the European leit motif in many scores I'm fond of -- Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time, for example.

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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.


At this particular point, I'm leaning in the opposite direction.

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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.


Granted it's a short score -- only 9 tracks on the CD I have -- but he does use more than one theme if you include the Men of Harlech chorale, and there are hints of another that I really like, but it isn't recapped. And yes, Zulu ranks as one of my favorite Barry productions.

Your list is impressive, and gives me direction in future purchases. I forgot to include The Chase as one of the CDs I most enjoy, also one that recaps more than one theme (so it's another in the European leit motif?). The Ipcress File and The Quiller Memorandum are probably going to be my next purchases. I've only heard one or two tracks from The Last Valley and Robin and Marian, and I vaguely remember the theme of The Knack to be quite catchy.

Where do you put King Rat in all of this?

... Reed