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DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: 55th ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED & EXPANDED LIMITED EDITION (2-CD SET) Music composed, arranged and conducted by John Barry Title song sung by Shirley Bassey – Lyrics by Don Black Limited Edition of 5000 Units RETAIL PRICE: $32.98 La-La Land Records, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal Music Enterprises proudly present the 55th anniversary remastered and expanded 2-CD re-issue of renowned composer John Barry’s original motion picture score to the seventh James Bond film, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the 1971 film stars Sean Connery, after a one picture absence, as James Bond 007 and is directed by Guy Hamilton, returning for his second film in the series. Composer John Barry continues on his mission of creating classic Bond music, unleashing another epic orchestral wonder, pulsating with thematic motifs, and swirling all the film’s thundering action, spycraft and sensuous romance into an intoxicating, exhilarating knockout of a score. Included within this 2-CD set is the iconic title song “Diamonds Are Forever” by Barry and lyricist Don Black performed by Shirley Bassey in English and Italian! Expanded beyond previous soundtrack editions, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER sparkles like never before within this deluxe presentation. Produced by Neil S. Bulk, mixed by Chris Malone and mastered by Doug Schwartz, the release has been sourced from the original 1" 8-track analog scoring masters. The "Score Presentation" reflects the takes and sequencing used for the film, while the "Original Soundtrack Album" has been newly edited and replicates the takes, edits and sequencing of the 1971 soundtrack. Alternate versions and additional source cues round out the package. Featuring sharp art direction by Dan Goldwasser, with a new front cover designed by Jim Titus, the release also includes exclusive, in-depth liner notes by journalist and author Jon Burlingame. Limited to 5000 units this release is not expected to be around... forever. DISC 1 SCORE PRESENTATION 1:08:39 1. Gun Barrel And Manhunt 3:11 2. Diamonds Are Forever (Film Version) (Performed by Shirley Bassey) 2:52 3. Mr. Wint And Mr. Kidd 2:33 4. Mrs. Whistler And Hovercraft To Holland 2:02 5. Diamonds Are Forever 3:45 6. Tiffany Case 3:47 7. Peter Franks 3:02 8. Los Angeles To Las Vegas 3:02 9. Slumber Inc. 2:22 10. The Whyte House 2:22 11. Plenty, Then Tiffany 2:28 12. Circus Circus (Film Version) 2:49 13. We Lost Her And WW Tectronics 4:06 14. Stealing The Moon Buggy 1:00 15. Moon Buggy Ride (Film Version) 3:19 16. Scaling The Whyte House 1:11 17. Death At The Whyte House 3:45 18. Bond Smells A Rat 1:54 19. Bond Meets Bambi And Thumper (Extended Version) 2:11 20. Breaststroke Lessons 1:06 21. Q's Trick 2:27 22. 007 And Counting 3:32 23. Baja? 2:16 24. Oil Rig Attack 1:37 25. To Hell With Blofeld 1:35 26. Diamonds Are Forever (Extended Version) 2:47 27. The End Of Mr. Wint And Mr. Kidd :55 ALTERNATE VERSIONS 7:31 28. Diamonds Are Forever (Alternate) (Performed by Shirley Bassey) 3:18 29. Moon Buggy Ride (Alternate Segment) 1:59 30. Bond Meets Bambi And Thumper (Alternate) 2:07 TOTAL DISC 1 TIME: 1:16:11 DISC 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM 34:39 1. Diamonds Are Forever (Performed by Shirley Bassey) 2:42 2. Bond Meets Bambi And Thumper 2:06 3. Moon Buggy Ride 3:14 4. Circus Circus 2:56 5. Death At The Whyte House 3:45 6. Diamonds Are Forever 3:45 7. Diamonds Are Forever 2:33 8. Bond Smells A Rat 1:54 9. Tiffany Case 3:46 10. 007 And Counting 3:32 11. Q's Trick 2:26 12. To Hell With Blofeld 1:35 ADDITIONAL MUSIC 14:26 13. Slumber Inc. (Wild Organ) 1:48 14. Hotel Tropicana :40 15. The Whyte House (Extended Version) 4:27 16. Circus Circus (With Overlays) 2:57 17. Water Balloons 3:42 18. Zambora :44 BONUS TRACK 19. Vivo di diamanti (Performed by Shirley Bassey) 2:42 TOTAL DISC 2 TIME: 51:57 TOTAL ALBUM TIME: 2:08:08

I was not sure where to post this, but this appears to be the right place. On @Maestro's latest Substack, Tim has mentioned a key detail about Maestro John Williams' score for Disclosure Day. "As you know, we are extremely close to receiving a brand new John Williams score for a brand new Steven Spielberg film: Disclosure Day, opening June 12. I’ve said it before, but it’s truly a miracle that, in the year 2026, we still share planet Earth with John Towner Williams1—and that, at age 94, he’s just completed a considerable, lengthy new original score for his most important artistic collaborator. I will share what I’m able to about that score when the time draws closer; truthfully, I know very little about it at the moment… which is both frustrating and kind of exciting, because I’m just as anxious as any other John Williams fan to hear (and see) this mysterious new work. If all goes well, I will hopefully be interviewing both him and Spielberg about it at some point in the future…" https://behindthemoon.substack.com/p/one-year-behind-the-moon Thank you, Tim, for all you have done with the Maestro, not just with the biography, but everything you have shared and continue to share.

Fielding's The Bad News Bears and Barry's Diamonds are Forever.

Close Encounters is back in stock too, I’ll probably pick that up.

It'll be a throwback to JW's comedy scores from the 60s. He's been consuming certain substances while writing it.

That face they make when they bring you a mouse head, and you don't eat it. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you hunt like a normal cat? I even bring you a dead mouse to experiment with...worked hard to cut the head off clean at the neck and all...and you...don't want it? What kind of cat are you anyway!?"

Album releases tomorrow. 1 hour and 27 minutes of music Super Mario Brothers Prelude Super Mario Galaxy Yoshi On the Go The Rise of Bowser Jr. Cool Motorcycle Guys You're Coming with Me Trouble in the Pipes Junior and the Koopas Another Adventure Begins Star Shower Under Siege A Master Artist at Work A New World Cuteness for Crime Punishment by Parasol The Worst Place to Bee Taking Care of the Kingdom Isn't Easy The Flight Deck Dino Might Assault on Planet Bowser Your King Has Returned Family is Forever Rebuilding the Castle 1up https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-original-motion-picture/1887400943

Ultimately I'm not very concerned about the movie or score being among the best of their careers, or their recent careers, or among the best of the year. I'm just looking forward to a Steven Spielberg movie with a John Williams score, because it's been too long since there was a new one, let alone with any action and sci-fi potential. I love them because of how they are at their best, but when they're not, it's still them. The aesthetic that comes out of their visual and musical language is inimitable and that alone is always a huge indulgence for me, regardless of what I think of the overall storytelling. Some of these recent Williams scores, I don't revisit too much, but they were all great days when they came out and I had my honeymoon period with all of them. It's such a reliable happy pill. And no matter the movie, hearing new John Williams in a theater always has its moments. Disclosure Day will too. I'm always very happy to have these moments. It doesn't mean these are Top 10 scores, or Top 50. But by all means, I am ready to be blown away too.

https://warmbutter.com/albums/diamonds-are-forever/ Artwork preview.

Hopefully LLL's next version of E.T. will feature a fully redone OST album, ala Jaws50.

I’m going to draw my own on the others to match.

Its the only reason i bought any of them.

Thick and opaque--just like I prefer my gravy.

Length and girth...? What about potency?

Its girth is extraordinary

@Chris Malone what did you do (you mad genius, you)?! It should be next year, anniversary-wise (60th, in this case). Next after DAF 55th should be FYEO 45th and Casino Royale 20th, unless whatever delayed 2025 Black Friday Bond expansions (maybe some kind of actor likeness approvals?) gets cleared up, and we get AVTAK 40th and/or GoldenEye 30th... probably no longer marketed that way (see last year's OHMSS), since we're so far into 2026 now. Yavar

Definitely. It's catalog number 1687, which along with Bad News Bears (1689) are the highest numbers out, so recent adds. Catalog numbers 1677 and 1682 would presumably be the Black Friday titles that still aren't out - plus the still not out 1640 from 2023 BF. Definitely.

We may never know the full intended BF batch. We got Gladiator one year ago tomorrow, so big stuff could happen any time. I do wonder whether they announced today rather than tomorrow, to avoid any April 1st shenanigans.

I want that song to sound as ridiculously dynamic as the LLL Moonraker song.

You pick that up.

Waiting for the Wagner reference...

Glad for any Bond expansion! Looking forward to having the expanded suite broken up and put back into the main body of the score. Also thought the previous release sounded great but wow these samples make it night and day.

My shipping for 18 things was over $100... so yeah, I feel your pain. Having said that, I'm pretty sure the Bond online store which sells directly from the UK wanted to charge me international shipping because I'm in Guernsey (even though postage here is the same cost as domestic post) and it worked out marginally cheaper to order from LLL directly and I'd rather support LLL. I was very glad of my 20% voucher as it covered most of the postage.

So... who knew that a band specialising in performing music from Wes Anderson movies existed? Anyone? Well, they do and they are called... wait for it... Wes Banderson. No notes. Anyway, they started a small tour of the UK * in Guernsey a couple of weeks ago and so went along... not like you get many film music concerts over here (by which of course, I mean none) and I gotta say, it was a whole lot of fun. Basically they played through a whole load of tracks from WA movies, all arranged for their jazz ensemble, primarily based on a range of percussion, keyboards and guitars, but with some of the band swapping to sax, violin, vibraphone and probably a couple of other instruments. Each track was accompanied by a montage of clips from the particular movie projected above them (rather than the scene that went with the particular track), overlaid with psychedelic swirls and patterns, and timed to fit the length of each piece. It worked really well and probably better than just the music alone. There was an awkwardly hilarious moment after the first track when nobody clapped - in common with quite a lot of what they played, the piece finished rather abruptly and I think everyone assumed they were about to launch into something else. Fortunately the band leader/compere (chap on in the right in the pic) dealt with it brilliantly by making a joke that the audience had won a standoff with the band. After that, we knew when to clap and all was well. Alas there wasn't a programme and I didn't make a note of the track list, but it felt like about half the tracks were from The Life Aquatic, one of the WA scores I don't have (but will be acquiring) both from the tracked music by Sven Libaek as well as some of Mark Mothersbaugh's original music. Otherwise, I think Mothersbaugh featured more heavily than Alexandre Desplat, although the tracks from Fantastic Mr Fox and Grand Budapest Hotel were great and worked really with the ensemble. I guess if I were to quibble, the style and arrangements meant that some tracks came off as fairly similar. Conversely, the Desplat tracks stood out more, notably Fantastic Mr Fox. His music translated well to the ensemble but also remained identifiably Desplat. I was too lame to go ask them after if they got original scores from the composers to make the arrangements or if they worked them out by ear. For such a niche project, it must have required a fair amount of licensing for the music and the movie clips. Alas they don't have an album out (which I guess may come down to licensing) but I hope they record one at some point. It would be a great companion to something like Michael Giacchino's Exotic Themes albums, although this is generally a bit more peppy. Great stuff, and well worth checking out for a quirky alternative to another concert of JW's greatest hits (great though they always are to hear in concert!). *well British Isles... Guernsey is not part of the UK... to quote Muppet Treasure Island, let's not get sloppy, just because we're singing.

As much as I'd like to support La-La Land Records by ordering directly (and avoid waiting for the 90 day exclusivity period to end), USPS international shipping (the only option) is brutal as always: $30.50 just for this release, or $52.50 if I add the Bad Boys & Bad Boys II bundle. The equivalent shipping prices at Screen Archives are $13 and $25, respectively. Silly. The Italian version of Diamonds Are Forever included here as a bonus track was also released last year on an album of Shirley Bassey rarities:

12 down, 13 to go. Karol

Ordered today: Karol

Excellent! I opened https://lalalandrecords.com/ for an unrelated reason just now and got a big (pleasant) shock. Also one of my favourite Bond scores. I gather there wasn't much missing from the 2003 expansion, but I'm looking forward to hearing Chris Malone's new mix. Mostly I'm just happy that things are moving again - it's been 7 months since Thunderball and I hope that's an anomaly.

Mark Burgess examines some pre-Star Wars film composers who made its score possible, many of whom are represented on the Chandos label: https://celluloidtunes.no/those-magnificent-men-and-their-flying-melodies/ As always, feel free to discuss this, or any other topic, on our messageboard.

It is a banger, which is the thread title. So, it works.

I mean, I'd *buy* the coasters if they gave us that option.

Lovely autograph. Dominic Frontiere is probably the most famous Dominic in the world of film scoring. He’s not credited as having worked on Fiddler on the Roof but it doesn’t have to be related.

Hold on for tomorrow...

That's actually quite good!

Are you saying his acting capabilities are limited?

Get out.

I was at one of these concerts and I swear the conductor was humming loudly along to some of the pieces, very audible on the Jaws theme and Raider's March. It was very strange - maybe he didn't do it every night. Haven't heard the CD yet. I liked the program overall and the host gave very good context to all of the pieces (so even casual fans could follow, haha).

Those of you saying Star Wars are correct. I’m surprised hardly anyone is mentioning Princess Leia’s Theme, and no one is mentioning the Rebel Spaceship Theme, and the Cantina Band. Which are absolutely bangers. Add to that Luke’s Theme and the Force Theme and it’s possibly only overshadowed by The Imperial March from Empire. Yoda’s theme… maybe. But that Rebel Spaceship theme is as much Star Wars as Luke’s Theme.

The latest Marshals and Landman, of course. I also ordered a pair of the Levi’s 527 Slim Boot Cut jeans that Billy Bob Thornton wears for overnight delivery. Come to think of it, I’ve owned this exact style in the past before. Daniel Day Lewis was recently interviewed wearing a 6666 shirt, the Texas ranch owned by Taylor Sheridan in Texas and one of the prospective spinoff shows he’s attached to. It’s looking like DDL will appear at some point.

Well, finished it. My biggest problem is the fact that ritardandos are hardly observed at all. Yes, I'm willing to admit Berlin might have taken things to the extreme, but this just isn't enough. Far and Away is particularly weird. Before the traditional suite is performed, they tacked on a love theme statement for solo recorder. Why? What they SHOULD have done is replaced that ridiculous oboe with same recorder in the beginning. The mix is both detailed and strangely… compressed? The album sequencing is, for the most part, pretty great, but the applause has been removed EXTREMELY CLUMSILY. Born on the Fourth of July and Song for World Peace are the best tracks, but on the whole, I don't really need more of this conductor, I think.

The Indiana Jones Saga was always about the tragedy of Mutt Williams.

At Beauxbatons they call it Platform Royale with Cheese.

It's got to be Empire Strikes Back. I mean, from start to finish (with perhaps the exception of the Dagobah scenes) it's all action and more importantly it's all memorable action music. The Battle of Hoth, the Asteroid Field, the Cloud City escape, the Duel, the ending - it's simply incredible how much it does for the film!

Temple Of Doom