James Bond Soundtracks 1970 to 1989

The 70's and 80's were rough on Bond fans. They switched composers on us every other film and even started switching Bonds! There were times we thought the people at the Bond factory had lost their minds. J.W. Pepper, Jaws, All Time High, Beach Boys music...what were they thinking? As the films got sillier we found ourselves hoping for just a good scene or two. Likewise with the soundtracks.

John Barry was back for a more atmospheric "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), but George Martin stepped in for "Live And Let Die" (1973). Although it took a few listens to get used to the Paul McCartney theme (We know what Mr. Bond thought of him, don't we?), it was a good score that helped introduce Roger Moore to the role.

• The re-mastered soundtracks for Diamonds Are Forever and Live And Let Die with extra tracks are a dream come true! Like the You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service scores they have the unedited original tracks making them different from the first scores released (so don't throw out your old CDs) as well as a lot of previously unreleased material

• B. J. Arnau (who briefly sang "Live and Let Die" at the Filet of Soul in the film) released a single on RCA produced by George Martin no less.

Barry returned with his his magic touch for "The Man With The Golden Gun" (1974).......

but Marvin Hamlish took over for "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977). Mr. Barry was back again for a disappointing "Moonraker" (1979) and Bill Conti scored "For Your Eyes Only" (1981). The re-mastered EMI CD has some extra tracks not included on the LP.

Mr. Barry decided to stick around for three films in a row this time. If "Moonraker" was a low point, "Octopussy" (1983) wasn't much better. There is a Ryko release of this with some pointless dialogue added, but no extra music. The re-mastered EMI release would be the one to get.

The same year "Octopussy" was released, another production comppany got Mr. Connery back in bondage for "Never Say Never Again" (1983). While Michel Legrand's score was not quite what we had hoped, neither was the movie. It's kind of hard writing a Bond score when you can't use the Bond Theme. There's a record out there and a more recent CD with extra tracks.

Mr. Barry was definitely back! ... in our good graces after we heard the score to "A View To A Kill" (1985) with a theme performed by Duran Duran.

Barry's final Bond score was "The Living Daylights"(1987) which introduced Timothy Dalton to the role. It made it easier to accept a new actor in the role with Barry's music behind him. This time the theme was performed by another pop group, A-ha. Completists will want to find the 45 which has the title theme without vocals on the B side. I've heard there is a CD single, but can't verify this. The producers also slip in two more tunes, "Where Has Everybody Gone" and "If There Was A Man" performed by the Pretenders. "Where Has Everybody Gone" has some of that good old Bond sound we'd been missing, but was buried in the film. (One of the bad guys was listening to it on his walkman.) The re-mastered EMI CD has tracks not included on the LP.

After John Barry's departure, Michael Kamen was brought in to score "Licence To Kill" (1989). If nothing else, he should be remembered for bringing an electric guitar back to the Vic Flick Bond riff instead of those strings we'd been listening to. This would be Mr. Dalton's farewell performance and our farewell to 007 for several years while the producers were tied up in court. They slipped a few songs in again. None of them very Bond-like. "If You Asked Me To", performed by Patti Labelle was a nice song and better than the Celine Dion version on the radio. The other ones were a waste of CD space.

That was the end of 007 for a while, but James Bond would return...