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OT: John Barry is silent ...


Caligvla

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He was one of my favorite film composers with such a long and remarkable career ...

 

http://broadwayworld.com/article/007_Composer_John_Barry_Dies_at_77_20110131

 

Among my favorites were the soundtracks to "Somewhere in Time ... " -- which I'm currently working on a medley of -- as well as "The Black Hole" and of course, the James Bond soundtracks ...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12323565

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My first ever purchased soundtrack album was Barry's KING KONG score. His composition on INDECENT PROPOSAL still brings tears to me eyes, as does DANCES WITH WOLVES.

 

 

Regarding Bond openings, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE had no singing! It's all Barry and it's quite catchy:

 

 

[video=youtube;N8XNBpIkQpU]

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Another one of my favorite composers departs :(

 

Of course, all his compositions are fantastic, but in particular - "The Persuaders theme" has haunted me with its beauty since I watched the episodes as a child in the mid '70s. The wonderful piano, huge synthesizer bass and hypnotic cimbalom melody have moved me since then, and still do

 

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All of the above, seconded with MUCH feeling. I always felt John Barry never got his true props. I felt he wasn't taken as seriously as, say John Williams, because he "just wrote James Bond scores".

 

Which of course he didn't . . . Dances With Wolves, Born Free, Midnight Cowboy, Out Of Africa Cry, The Beloved Country, Peggy Sue Got Married - the list goes on, and its nearly endless variety speaks to Mr. Barry's brillaince and versatility.

 

He even nearly succeeded in making the God-awful "Raise The Titanic" watchable/listenable, and as Clive Cussler himself might say, THAT took some serious miracle-working. :) (After all, Cussler so hated RTT that he refused to allow another of his books to be filmed for two decades)

 

Barry and Williams were, IMO, THE pre-eminent and most influential film composers of at least the second half of the 20th century, if not in the entire history of motion pictures.

 

Just try imagining "Goldfinger", or any of the other early 007 blockbusters, without Barry's pulse-pounding blend of brass, jazz, jive, pop and rock.

 

Monty Norman's (depending on whom you would believe) "James Bond Theme" was branded "mining disaster music" by the first Bond director, Terence Young. Then Harry Salzman handed it to Barry to arrange. The result was arguably the most instantly recognizable, gooseflesh-inducing signature theme in all of filmdom. And Barry was always ahead of the curve. Who was the first composer to use a synth in a major film soundtrack? John Barry (On Her Majesty's Secret Service).

 

And, no disrespect to Mr. Williams, but Steven Spielberg, who has used John Williams almost exclusively in his films, has professed that his favorite title song is (was? times DO change) a John Barry composition - Diamonds Are Forever.

 

John Barry was - and continues to be - a huge influence in my musical development, and he has been the inspiration to at least two generations of film composers.

 

We shall not see his like again.

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It IS the movie ... Although the cast (Robert Forrester, Anthony Perkins, Maximmillian Schell, Ernest Brognine !!!) is pretty awesome as are the visuals and the overall concept ) ... I can almost guarantee you with the $166-million-domestic boxoffice succes of "Tron:Legacy" someone at Disney is going to see the similarities between remaking Disney's first PG-rated film and its second ...

 

I for one would love to see a more science-based approach esp. concerning the visuals ... in 3-D ...

 

How would you top THAT score, though ... ?!?

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Oh man this does hurt. Another of the great ones is gone. I was just listening to Somewhere in Time, and thinking how cool it is to have such beautiful music to listen to. We at least have a huge score legacy to remind us of what truly good film music there can be.

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It's an absolutely gorgeous film visually and aurally ... And for me one of the most emphatic artistic statements in favor of heterosexual romance ... For me, the whole thing is just unreal ... I cry EVERYTIME I watch and listen to that film ... Part of the film's appeal to me though is that I'm never sure if I want to f-ck Jane Seymour -- OMG !!! -- or BE her ... or just be Robinson looking in through a peephole, smiling and falling wanking to floor ...

 

"RICHARD ... !!! RICHARD ... !!! REEEEEEEEEE .... CCCCHHHHHAAAAAARRRRRRRDDDD ... !!!!!!"

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ah was wondering if Black Hole was worth a listen. (obv doesnt seem worth watching)


OHMSS has that great "All The Time in the World" sung by Louis armstrong

 

 

Black Hole, King Kong, High Road To China... pretty bad movies with a pretty memorable score. I appreciate the his famous Bond scores (especially Goldfinger) but he has some very underrated scores from films that were flops. 'Somewhere In Time' is magical.

 

Surprisingly I'm not really a fan of "Out of Africa'. I felt like it was a retread of earlier themes.

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Surprisingly I'm not really a fan of "Out of Africa'. I felt like it was a retread of earlier themes.

 

 

You know, I felt the same. While listening to some of the cues, I felt that I was hearing demo tracks for "Moonraker", "Octopussy", and "The Living Daylights".

 

I find myself wondering at the same time . . . one of my fave Eastwood films "The Eiger Sanction" was scored by John Williams early in his career . . . while he did OK with it, I can't help wondering what John Barry's epic, sweeping orchestrations would have done for all those mountaineering scenes. Or, for that matter, what a post-Jaws Williams would have done.

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You know, I felt the same. While listening to some of the cues, I felt that I was hearing demo tracks for "Moonraker", "Octopussy", and "The Living Daylights".


I find myself wondering at the same time . . . one of my fave Eastwood films "The Eiger Sanction" was scored by John Williams early in his career . . . while he did OK with it, I can't help wondering what John Barry's epic, sweeping orchestrations would have done for all those mountaineering scenes. Or, for that matter, what a post-Jaws Williams would have done.

 

 

Eiger Sanction is a pretty forgotten and underrated flick... and I agree, Williams score is alright, but John Barry would have killed it. I think there was a danger in using Barry to score a flick at times... the movie became indellible with his stamp because his scoring (while majestic and beautiful) usually evoked some sense of majesty. Almost in the same way Jerry Goldsmith or James Horner's score mark a picture. But imagine all of the good movies with bad film scores that could have been instantly enhanced had he contributed.

 

It's interesting that David Arnold is considered a protege'. I really don't like him so much. Imagine the 2005 remake of KK with John Barry's score... I think that would be in interesting mashup.

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