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The John Barry Thread


Sharkissimo

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It's a terrific song and agreed about Adele/Epworth, but I've never liked Bassey's performance on that. Just too much. It's needs a more intimate singer. Less glass shattering.

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Yes, yes, but the melody and the lyrics - i don't know if this queasy feel of deception and danger ever was penned more acute, Bassey adds a ton of sultriness that isn't especially needed but not unwelcome, either.

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I think a cover could work, as long as the original harmony was paid attention to, and the singer wasn't that Conchita bloke.

Have you seen the film? Pretty dire stuff. Bryan Forbes was one of our most underrated directors, but he made a fair amount of shit too.

Most people have probably seen this clip, but what the hell.

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Yes, their masterpiece. Four alto flutes (all doubling on piccolos), four cellos, vibraphones/xylophone, and I think five trombones and 1 tuba for the brassier bits.

A little known British film (with a young Judi Dench) is FOUR IN MORNING from 1965. Similar chamber ensemble.

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So what made up the strange brew of Mr Prendergast ? The son of a yorkshire projectionist . Almost a pop star and then by a happy accident arguably Britain's finest film composer . Whilst in the army he had a correspondence course with Bill Russo. Then apparently studied with Joseph Schillinger. Developing a minimalist approach for some of the most over the top films of all time.

His fondness for dry low flutes, Cimbalom, picked guitar, Very high Horns.....and minor major 7ths ( with added 9th's ) . Coupled with that creepy jazz harmony with a touch of wagner made him one of the most recognisable sounds of all time.

was he right to turn down the incredibles because it was "just a cartoon". They seemed to have stolen his music anyway.

I'm just glad i saw him in concert whilst I had the chance.

t

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I need to beef up my Barry collection. I'm open to recommendations.

Ditto. Currently, I only own King Kong (FSM) and The Living Daylights (Rykodisc). Oh, and I picked up Dances with Wolves and Raise The Titanic used a while back, but haven't really listened to them much.

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was he right to turn down the incredibles because it was "just a cartoon".

That's not what I heard. It was more that he either had no desire to write in his Stan Kenton-esque 60s style or simply couldn't. Some over at FSM who supposedly have insider knowledge have said Barry had Alzheimer's in his later years.

For Jay and Koray, I recommend giving THE LION AND WINTER and THE LAST VALLEY a shot. Really fine scores.

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  • 1 year later...

I have a respectable John Barry collection. I need to be in the mood for a lot of his moody, romantic lyricism though.

He's about as divisive as that German bloke most of us love to hate. I know one or two people in real life who simmer with rage at the mere mention of his name and erupt with vitriol whenever his scores are played.

His musical skill seemed relatively novice compared to say Williams or Goldsmith, which led to a rigid musical vocabulary that seemed to hit a ceiling in the 1990s where almost all of his music became interchangeable.

But I enjoy a lot of it.

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Another loss that still makes me sad. The man who gave James Bond his swagger, and could out-romance just about anyone when he was in the groove.

I need to beef up my Barry collection. I'm open to recommendations.

Ditto. Currently, I only own King Kong (FSM) and The Living Daylights (Rykodisc). Oh, and I picked up Dances with Wolves and Raise The Titanic used a while back, but haven't really listened to them much.

Get on the Dances With Wolves thing. Now.

And while you're at it, get Out of Africa, High Road to China, and Lion in Winter—or be prepared to turn in your "Film Score Fan" membership card.

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You're quoting a post from 2014. I've listened to Dances with Wolves many times since then. It's excellent.

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And I have Out of Africa, Lion In Winter, and Body Heat at home... waiting to be discovered.

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I'd recommend you explore them in that order. Body Heat is good, but hardly my favorite. Good music for certain moods. "Chinon/Eleanor's Arrival" from Lion in Winter is flat-out one of Barry's finest moments. Out of Africa, however, is as indispensable as DWW. They played the Overture during the "In Memorium" sequence of the Oscars the year before last. There's never been a more perfect piece for the job.

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I bought Raise the Titanic and tried to listen to it a few weeks ago, but noticed it's just the same theme over and over again, the same way, basically.

I prefer James Horner's prequel score.

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I'm a sucker for Barry's romantic scores--Dances With Wolves, Scarlet Letter, Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time....even if they are a tad repetitive. Raise the Titanic is a hard listen as the theme is repeated without any changes but I actually find it much better than what Horner gave us to represent Titanic--and that's coming from a Horner fan! ;)

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And this thread is woefully short. I know it's a JW forum but John Barry transcends all boundaries.

Doesn't completely surprise me. Even more than Horner, most of Barry's stuff sounds very much the same unless you've built up a larger collection of it and can begin to appreciate the subtle differences. All through my early years of collecting, he was the fourth J, and finished my "composer's stanza"—John, Jerry, James, Barry. I was as heartbroken by his loss four years ago as I was for Jerry's ten years earlier. Sucks that he doesn't get more attention here.

I'm a sucker for Barry's romantic scores--Dances With Wolves, Scarlet Letter, Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time....even if they are a tad repetitive. Raise the Titanic is a hard listen as the theme is repeated without any changes but I actually find it much better than what Horner gave us to represent Titanic--and that's coming from a Horner fan! ;)

I actually agree with you on that, and have long thought that Barry would've been the better composer for that film. Not that I have any less love for Horner, but I think he could've done better, and I know Barry could have (and doubly so if Cameron had made the movie ten years earlier).

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Like Horner, repetitive even (or not), Barry's work is quite moving I find for the most part. Oor something about it that can carry you and just stir the emotions. Though I've heard the theme a few times, when I was listening to my Out of Africa CD for the first time last year the music for the flight just sent shivers. Same with High Road to China or Robin and Marian and once, Raise the Titanic -Memories of Titanic.

And I will never ever, I hope, get enough of On Her Majesty's Secret Service for all my years.

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  • 5 years later...

I love when they do that in CD booklets, it's like a subliminal message... HEY, LOOK AT THOSE SCORES TOO, THEY ARE AMONG THE GREATEST THE COMPOSER WROTE... :lol:

 

DANCES WITH WOLVES

OUT OF AFRICA

CHAPLIN

ZULU

INDECENT PROPOSAL

GOLDFINGER

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

BORN FREE

MIDNIGHT COWBOY

THE COTTON CLUB

SOMEWHERE IN TIME

BODY HEAT

THE IPCRESS FILE

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

 

:up:

 

20210205_080910.jpg

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5 minutes ago, Romão said:

It's missing what is, IMHO, his greatest score, Lion in Winter

 

Of course!

 

But it includes some scores for me to dig for: Zulu (well, done, I just purchased the Nic Raine re-recording!), The Ipcress file (I have to listen to the reissue of the album, which seems to feature the original album + useless dialogues tracks between them [WTF?], The Cotton Club and MaryThe Queen of Scotts).

 

And well, I think my next order will contain the new expansion of Midnight Cowboy...

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56 minutes ago, publicist said:

I vastly prefer The Last Valley score to LitW, though it's of course a rather inferior movie.

 

I can understand that. And they are pretty much sister scores. But there's a simplicity, a lack of ornament, a deprieve to Lion in Winter that makes it a wonderful evocation of the period

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

Of course!

 

But it includes some scores for me to dig for: Zulu (well, done, I just purchased the Nic Raine re-recording!), The Ipcress file (I have to listen to the reissue of the album, which seems to feature the original album + useless dialogues tracks between them [WTF?], The Cotton Club and MaryThe Queen of Scotts).

 

And well, I think my next order will contain the new expansion of Midnight Cowboy...

All fantastic scores and definitely worth a listen. A couple of other CD releases had some annoying dialogue between the music too, particularly Rykodisc releases, such as The Knack.

 

Shame The Cotton Club has very little Barry score on the album. Mostly features jazz pieces instead that were arranged for the film.

 

Walkabout and The Dove would be other scores I recommended not on the list above. The Dove is a great score.

 

1 hour ago, Romão said:

It's missing what is, IMHO, his greatest score, Lion in Winter

Often wondered why this was never included in the Moviola compilations. Otherwise it would be a comprehensive overview of Barry's film scores.

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7 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It's not only the best score that Barry wrote, it's almost the best score that anybody ever wrote. 

 

Look the width available on the page, IMHO could simply not fit!

 

At least, it fit in my collection!

 

IMG_20210205_122205_1.jpg

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Looks like the Lion In Winter OST album is only 35 minutes long  How long is the complete score?  Anything notable in the film that isn't on the album?

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Looks like the Lion In Winter OST album is only 35 minutes long  How long is the complete score?  Anything notable in the film that isn't on the album?

Its been a long time since I've seen the film (Christmas Day, 2016, to be precise), and Romão's right; there's a couple more tracks on the rerecording, but the OST has a more mature, and fuller sound.

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