Tag Archives: John Barry

Chaplin

I consider John Barry’s Oscar-nominated score for Richard Attenborough’s 1992 biopic Chaplin to be his last great work for films. His main theme perfectly captures the tragedy-filled life of the cinema’s first genius, and the original soundtrack really didn’t fully capture the breadth of Barry’s wide-ranging, early-Hollywood score. So enter La-La Land, which restored the entire score (including all of Barry’s many interpolations of Chaplin’s own music) and which very kindly asked me to write the essay for the CD booklet. It was a wonderful opportunity to revisit this terrific score.

Mary, Queen of Scots

John Barry’s 1971 score for the Vanessa Redgrave-Glenda Jackson movie about 16th-century English and Scottish history has been released twice before: In its original Decca LP format, and on CD by Intrada in 2008 (with liner notes by yours truly). Thanks to the recent discovery of previously unknown tape reels in Universal’s vaults, the enterprising Quartet label has now issued an expanded edition including all of Barry’s Oscar-nominated score. It’s the third and final film of what I think of as Barry’s historical-drama trilogy (also including The Lion in Winter, 1968, and The Last Valley, 1971), all of them magnificent and worthy of revisiting.

The Sound of 007

The Sound of 007 is a 90-minute documentary on the history of music in the James Bond franchise. Filmmaker Mat Whitecross enlisted me early on as a consultant and on-camera commentator based largely on my book, The Music of James Bond. Over several months I probably did six or seven hours of recording with him, providing background on Monty Norman, John Barry and many of the other composers and songwriters who have contributed music to the series over the past 60 years. I pop up once in a while in the final film, which had the blessing and cooperation of the Broccoli family and Eon Productions. It debuted around the world at the same time on World James Bond Day, Oct. 5, 2022.

“Sound of 007” documentary debuts!

The Sound of 007 is a 90-minute documentary on the history of music in the James Bond franchise. Filmmaker Mat Whitecross enlisted me early on as a consultant and on-camera commentator based largely on my book, The Music of James Bond. Over several months I probably did six or seven hours of recording with him, providing background on Monty Norman, John Barry and many of the other composers and songwriters who have contributed music to the series over the past 60 years. I pop up once in a while in the final film, which had the blessing and cooperation of the Broccoli family and Eon Productions. It debuted around the world at the same time on World James Bond Day, Oct. 5, 2022.

Music by John Barry

I was thrilled to collaborate with my UK friends Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker on this book. They wrote the definitive Barry bios, The Man With the Midas Touch and Hit and Miss: The Story of the John Barry Seven, about this tremendously important British composer. Music by John Barry takes an in-depth look at 42 of his scores; I covered 20 of them, along with writing the introduction (based on an interview I did with Michael Caine) and afterword. My contributions included many of the classics: Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Mary Queen of Scots, Somewhere in Time, Body Heat, Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves and several other favorites that are not as well remembered but equally significant in his oeuvre (Deadfall, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Frances and others). This was a true labor of love, and maybe the most fun I ever had writing a book.

Somewhere in Time

Somewhere in Time has long been a favorite score, not only for John Barry fans but for fans of romantic music from movies who might not even know his name. For this first-ever expansion of the 1980 score for the Christopher Reeve-Jane Seymour fantasy, I interviewed Seymour herself, as she was the person who felt that a Barry score would elevate this “little” movie about love transcending time. I also talked with director Jeannot Szwarc, who detailed his process with the composer, and incorporated a number of things Barry said over the years about it. He often said that he got more letters about Somewhere in Time than any other score he ever wrote. And, indeed, the bittersweet romantic qualities of that music are timeless, and working on this project was a highlight of the year for me.

Midnight Cowboy

John Barry’s Midnight Cowboy score has always been a favorite of mine, so when Quartet Records informed me that they were going to do an expanded edition of the classic, Grammy-winning 1969 soundtrack album, I leaped at the chance to be involved. I wrote a 3,900-word essay that — I am proud to say — is the most detailed look at the creation of that soundtrack (both songs and score) that has ever been attempted. I tracked down director John Schlesinger’s assistant Michael Childers, who amazingly had several photos he took during the recording sessions (and which we reproduced in the booklet) as well as wonderful recollections of the shoot and the music. I was thrilled to receive my second Deems Taylor Award for outstanding music journalism for these notes.

Howard the Duck

I know, I know: Howard the Duck was pretty much laughed off theater screens when it premiered in the summer of 1986. Over time, many of us have mellowed in our view of the film, which has a weird charm and a wonderful performance by Lea Thompson (fresh off her Back to the Future success). But what you may not know is that composer John Barry (who had just won his fourth Academy Award for Out of Africa) wrote a spectacular score, much of which was dropped during post-production. The Intrada label has just released a 3-disc set containing more than 100 minutes of John Barry’s original music — variously noirish, romantic and action-filled — plus the songs by Thomas Dolby and the replacement score by Sylvester Levay. I wrote a lengthy essay for the colorful booklet, and director Willard Huyck was kind enough to grant me an interview talking about the music.

The Grove Music Guide to American Film Music

Nine of the entries in this 2019 collection of pieces about film and TV composers are mine. They were all written in the 2010-2011 period for the distinguished Grove Music Dictionary people when I had more time on my hands. They included John Barry, Bruce Broughton, Jerry Fielding, James Newton Howard, David Newman, Lionel Newman, Mike Post, Laurence Rosenthal and Patrick Williams. While it’s nice to have articles in a Grove Music Guide, it would have been nice if the editors had contacted me about revisions and modifications to the texts (no one did), not to mention consulting me about some of the other entries (the one on Jerry Goldsmith is misleading and the Alfred Newman entry contains errors).

The Legend of the Lone Ranger

As many of you know, one of my special interests over the years has been the music of composer John Barry. He scored just four Westerns during his career. I first met him while interviewing him about one of those, his eventual Oscar winner Dances With Wolves, for Premiere magazine. But in the early 1980s he scored another one, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, and it was a pleasure to write the liner notes for this first-ever CD release of the 1982 LP. Country legend Merle Haggard sings the ballad, “The Man in the Mask,” and lyricist Dean Pitchford contributed some eye-opening reminiscences in a new interview for my essay.