I can't honestly believe how many of my heroes we've lost the last few weeks. Unfortunately John Barry, the man behind the signature sound of the Bond films has also passed. I must confess, I'm a sucker for the Bond themes. Have been since I was kid...especially Goldfinger. And it was the intro and the song that hooked me. The horns, the snakey mystery of the orchestra, and of course Shirley Bassey....chill inducing....or should I say, "Shocking". By the time it came to Goldfinger, I feel that Barry was at his best. He'd gotten the signature Bond 'sound' down to a science by then and the result was a masterpiece that quite frankly made the score worthy of a best supporting actor Oscar. The Barry sound is 007's co-star...and at times even threatens to steal the limelight....
I would spend the night listening to my 007 Theme Album in honour of John, but unfortunately, my old 1970's Juliette turntable has the flu, or the mange, or quite possibly death...I'm really not sure what the matter is, but she's gone silent and until I can get her fixed or find a new (old) player, well, I'm out of vinyl luck. Boooo, hiiiisssss.
I just heard an old interview of his on the radio today--he really seemed to understand what it is that makes James Bond James Bond, and just perfectly boiled it down to musical form.
ReplyDeleteHe absolutely did. I adore him. To be fair, when I...and I think most people...think of James Bond, it's the Barry sound that comes to mind first. He was so brilliant at what he did and gave 007 his 'mojo'!! ;-D
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