Once you dive into even his Bond scores you will realize this rich symphonic idiom was more prevalent than you remember. Scores for historical dramas like Mary, Queen of Scots (1970) and The Lion in Winter (1967) delighted in integrating classical elements (and even period-appropriate instruments) into the instantly recognizable John Barry-style. His first Oscars were won for Born Free (1966), whose lush themes and orchestral textures he revisited in another Oscar-winner set in Africa twenty years later, Out of Africa (1985). In fact, to anyone paying closer attention to Barry’s work from the beginning, this more “classical” style (for want of a better word to describe it) was never far from the surface. Barry’s later albums of all-original material like The Beyondness of Things (1998) and Eternal Echoes (2001) were as close as he would get to full-blown “classical” works, albeit broken up into shorter theme-based movements. While the first album, titled Moviola (1992), featured themes that were already composed within, or close to, this idiom in the first place, the follow-up in 1995 - Moviola II: Action and Adventure - felt more like a shoe-horning together of two incompatible styles, and to these ears was less successful as a result. These later albums were fully entrenched in the style described above. In 1992 Barry began this “re-imagining” of his catalogue with two albums of his classic themes with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which sounded very different from his earlier “re-recorded” compilations from the 60s and 70s. That this style had become predominant was borne out not only in his later scores, but in his newly recorded “John Barry” compilation albums. And everything has been slowed down - way down. Jazz and blues chords articulate a melancholy never too far from the surface. Instead, his dominant mode has become more overtly "classical", with brooding brass choirs set against lyrical strings, piquant winds, all drawn together by long-flowing melodies. Gone are the stylings of his era-defining London mod classics like “Hit and Miss” and “Beat for Beatniks”, let alone his genre-defining “ James Bond Theme” (Barry's arrangement of a melody by Monty Norman). Chaplin - Original Soundtrack: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition John Barry's Late-Period Score Enchants in this Newly Remastered and Expanded Edition from La-La Land Recordsįor anyone more familiar with John Barry’s 50s and 60s discography and his early scores for spy films like the James Bond series or The Ipcress File (1965), encountering his late-career work on films like Dances with Wolves (1990) and Chaplin (1992) can be a bit of surprise.
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