JOHN BARRY (1933-2011)

The legendary film composer John Barry was born in York, England in 1933 and sadly passed away yesterday in New York, USA. From the old world to the new, he almost single-handedly dragged the dreary world of film scoring into the modern era when Ian Fleming's super spy burst onto the big-screen back in 1962. Every action composer since has copied (or payed homage to) his incredibly dynamic style of composing, giving even the most mundane scene a heart-pounding pace and speed. The music from the Bond films is as fresh today as it was back then, and the movies are just that little bit lesser without Barry's big bombastic sound bursting from the screen! (although David Arnold is doing a fine job, and is himself a massive Barry fan).

Of course, as well as the Bond series he is also very well-known for many other classic film scores from several decades, including Beat Girl, The Knack, The Ipcress File, Born Free, The Chase, The Wrong Box, The Quiller Memorandum, Boom!, Deadfall, The Lion In Winter, Midnight Cowboy, The Deep, Game Of Death, Somewhere In Time, Raise The Titanic, High Road To China, Out Of Africa, Dances With Wolves, Chaplin and many, many more.

And let's not forget his amazing body of work for the small screen too. With a list that includes Juke Box Jury, The Human Jungle, Vendetta, The Persuaders, The Adventurer and Orson Welles' Great Mysteries amongst many others.

His contribution to film and television was immense and he leaves behind a library of incredible music that will live forever! John Barry, the composer responsible for me getting into the whole "spy thing" will always retain a special place on the shelves of us collector's.

Thanks for the tunes JB!

Also featured on The Crime Lounge:

THE DEFINITIVE JAMES BOND COLLECTION

ALL JOHN BARRY ALBUM POSTS

JAMES BOND 30th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION

This double disc compilation was sent over by Rocket From Mars at a time when one of the true Greats of film music sadly passed away. I don't think anyone would argue that he single-handedly defined the style of action music when he became the regular composer on the Bond series. How many times over the last several decades have we heard music being described as "Barryesque". This album is one of the better "best of" collections as disc two features some nice rarities including unused versions and radio spots.

VARIOUS ARTISTS : THE BEST OF JAMES BOND 30TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION
EMI RECORDS USA
0777-7-98560-2 2
STEREO
1992

JAMES BOND 10TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM SUPERPAK

Another vinyl gem from one of our field agents Rocket From Mars. Presented here on this two-record set from 1972 are 28 original pieces of John Barry music. Not much to say really, you know the man, you know the music....Enjoy!

JOHN BARRY : JAMES BOND 10TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM SUPERPAK (TWO DISC)
UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS
UXS-91
STEREO
1972

JOHN BARRY PLAYS FILM & TV THEMES

Another very nice album from the LoungeTracks archive now with this great John Barry LP. This one features some nice alternate arrangements of From Russia With Love and The 007 theme. Also featured are the atmospheric classic "Fancy Dance" and the grrovy "Kinky" along with several others. A great Barry collection by anyones standard.

JOHN BARRY PLAYS FILM & TV THEMES : JOHN BARRY
CAPITOL RECORDS
ST 2527
STEREO
1965

THE IPCRESS FILE (MONO)

Although this has been featured previously on the site, here we have the Mono pressing of this classic soundtrack. Not much to say about it as I'm sure everyone knows it by now. Barry in one-channel is better then most other composers in two!

THE IPCRESS FILE : JOHN BARRY
DECCA RECORDS
DL 9124
MONO
1965

JAMES BOND MIX

A big thanks to LF3 for giving us permission to share this mix of his here on the Lounge. This is a superb collection of sixty tracks taken from the original soundtracks of the earlier Bond films. This collection has been skillfully edited and mixed together to give you a 55 minute non-stop Bondathon of all the classic well-known cues, mainly from the John Barry era but also a few others from composers George Martin and Marvin Hamlisch. I've listened to this a few times and have put together these quick covers to help complete the package.

Thanks again to LF3 and also to AFrosty1 for letting me know about this mix.

JAMES BOND MIX : COMPILED & MIXED BY LF3
STEREO
2008

THEMEOLOGY

Another top-notch compilation of Barry's best, from his early John Barry Seven days up to Dances with Wolves. Again as well as the usual TV & Film tracks there are a few surprises, including the music from the 70's UK television commercial for Sunsilk shampoo, pure bliss! Great tunes from a Great composer!

JOHN BARRY : THEMEOLOGY

COLUMBIA RECORDS

488582 2

STEREO

1997

BEST OF BARRY

This is a superb collection of John Barry's best themes from Film & TV.

All of these recordings are from his 1972-74 period on the Polydor label. As well as the usual movie tracks we also have some more unusual items like the theme to the classic ATV series The Adventurer. One thing which must be mentioned here is the (as always with Barry) incredible instrumentation and amazing orchestrations. Sit back and let the Guv'ner do his stuff.

JOHN BARRY : THE BEST OF JOHN BARRY

POLYDOR RECORDS

849 095-2

STEREO

1991

THE PERSUADERS !

As you can see from the cover, this LP contains music not only from The Persuaders but also 11 other Film & TV themes by the incredible John Barry.

JOHN BARRY : THEMES FROM THE PERSUADERS PLUS:

CBS RECORDS

S 64816

STEREO

1972

BOND : 13 ORIGINAL THEMES

This is one of many compilations that seem to come out every time a new film is added to the Bond catalogue. This one was released in 1983 to tie-in with the release of Octopussy.

I know it only contains the first thirteen Bond themes but it is a nice little addition to the site and a teaser for my new "Definitive Bond Collection"

13 ORIGINAL JAMES BOND THEMES : ORIGINAL ARTISTS

LIBERTY RECORDS

STEREO

1983

THE PERSUADERS

This is one I've had on my hard drive for a long time, all credit to the person who took the time to rip it. I've added a basic cover to this as it didn't have one. These are recordings taken directly from the television soundtrack and have some background noise and effects, but they are very good quality and it shouldn't spoil your enjoyment of a great album. The music here was composed by Ken Thorne with the main theme by John Barry.

THE PERSUADERS : TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK : JOHN BARRY & KEN THORNE

TAKEN FROM THE TV TRACKS

BOOTLEG

MONO/STEREO

1971

GAME OF DEATH

This film may not be the best film Bruce Lee made, but it was all his own idea and if he hadn't of died shortly after starting it, I reckon it could have topped Enter The Dragon. As it is it fell to Bruce Li to step into his shoes and with some seriously dodgy editing and stand-in shots, it manages to be an entertaining flick.

Before Bruce died he filmed the awesome tower fight scenes and anyone who has the dvd will have seen this sequence edited together for the first time, having been thought to be lost forever. it is easily one of the best fight sequences ever committed to film.

As for the music, well this is 100% Bond score here, supplied by John Barry himself, the movie even has a Bondesque opening title sequence. There is a bonus track included in the file, a mix of the themes from Bruce Lee's films, I found this online so all credit goes to the original mixer.

The cover is one of my custom designs (full view HERE) the original cover was a travesty.

JOHN BARRY : GAME OF DEATH

SILVA SCREEN RECORDS

FILMCD 123

STEREO

1978

JAMES BOND'S GREATEST HITS

Here is a French take on the whole Bond music phenomenon, including some great arrangements and orchestrations. The album is also known by the French title : Originaux Themes 007. If anyone has any good quality scans of this cover, you know where to post 'em.

FRANCK POURCEL & HIS ORCHESTRA : JAMES BOND'S GREATEST HITSEMI/STUDIO 2 STEREO
TWOX 1005
STEREO
1973

THE IPCRESS FILE

OK here we have the daddy of all spy soundtracks, this has been copied many times over the years but here is the original. The distinctive sound of the Cimbalom is what gave the world that "spy sound", although not an action score, this is a real smooth & swingin' album.
This is the remastered release with dialogue clips (adds great atmosphere).

JOHN BARRY : THE IPCRESS FILE

RECORDED AT CTS STUDIOS, WEMBLEY

1965 (RE-ISSUED 2002)

STEREO @320