John Barry
ohn Barry is a film
music legend responsible for much of the best loved
film and television music of the post-war era.
Best known for his exciting music for
the James Bond films, he has written music for
over a hundred movies including
sixties classics, musicals, historical dramas, wartime dramas,
film noir revivals,
biopics, modern romances and literary adaptations.
More than a few of his scores are seminal
classics. A large number of the rest are renowned as superior
and almost all are interesting to one level or another.
Barry has won five academy awards and numerous other prizes
during his forty years as a mainstay of the film
music industry.
A brief, critical overview of John Barry’s career
With a twangy guitar-led combo in the 1950s (The John Barry Seven), Barry moved from pop to film scores via Adam Faith’s 1959 vehicle Beat Girl. Though embryonic, none of the music to this point represents anything I care to remember him for! After brilliantly vitalising the James Bond Theme, however, Barry, a cineaste since youth, transformed himself from arguably limited pop musician to fully ranged composer in a short run of highly prolific years. His James Bond scores became classics, as did The Ipcress File and The Knack; Born Free and The Lion In Winter won him academy awards; Midnight Cowboy theme won him a Grammy; and Walkabout will forever be one of the most gorgeous and evocative scores for the art house. His unusual style set him apart: Shillinger composition technique, jazz-based arrangement and churchesque harmony and counterpoint learned at York minster.
In the era between 1963 and 1974, John Barry’s career output was simply phenomenal. The range of films he scored was wide; the range of his music even wider — hit songs, love themes, medieval choruses, avant garde percussions (Dutchman), jazz combos, a classical concerto, 1920s throwbacks, and even a French ballad. He was attached both to the big commercial successes or the era, and some of its most acclaimed art movies. His success drew from astounding prolificism and an uncanny knack for blending melody into the dramatic arc of a movie. He was brimming over with originality at each assignment, and every score was distinctive without fail. I for one believe that it was the most incredible run of brilliance in film music.
The story after 1974 is, if we’re to be objective, less magnificent but by no means poor. Barry struggled to foothold his American career, scoring a string of low quality films such as Young Joe and White Buffalo with form and craft but less inspiration. The era is often dubbed the wilderness years by fans though in retrospect the music of this era is somewhat interesting and there are some notable scores like Robin And Marian and King Kong.
Barry completely re-invented himself with Somewhere In Time in 1980 and went on to write a string of superior scores that tumulted with the academy award winning Out of Africa. His music in this era was notably less energetic than before. He worked almost exclusively with a growing penchant for grandly sized but emotionally interior romanticism interspersed with some brilliant spells of bluesy jazz. After his Oscar, Barry strangely lapsed with poor films like Bells and Masquerade drawing lazy, uninspired scores.
A forced career break between 1998-1991 led to Barry’s astounding, Oscar winning score Dances With Wolves. The promise of a second career rennaisance loomed but was unfulfilled after Barry withdrew from Prince of Tides. Since then, his work has become sparser, and increasingly derivative of what has come before. As we stand today, his work has settled down to be consistently good on average though not especially outstanding or original. He still writes with character and distinction, however, and as always his music is structed with thought and placed with discernment. Unlike so much characterless, indistinct muzak that is pasted over films today, when a John Barry cue strikes up, you feel something. It matters. Some strong comeback scores exist of this era, including Across The Sea Of Time, Cry The Beloved Country and Playing By Heart.
Photo Album
Click on the photograph to see it enlarged.
The Top Twenty
Fancy trying some John Barry albums?
The remarkable thing about John Barry is that could pretty much select any one of his many soundtracks and be assured of a good listen. Barry is a consistent high performer. Even so, if you’re an interested novice to Barry, you’ll naturally wish to know what is the very best. Here are some one-minute long samplers in streaming MP3 format. Click on the art to hear the sample.
Note: these are low-quality samples for buying guidance only, with links to shops below.
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There’s twenty titles there, and yet there are still many great Barry scores I’ve been unable to feature. Where’s The Quiller Memorandum? Where’s Playing By Heart? Where’s The Cotton Club? Where’s The Dove? Yes, these are all superb scores too. I suggest you keep an eye on my Featured Film Music page for more Barry samples.
The Complete John Barry Reviews
In May 2004 I decided to write the most complete set of reviews of John Barry’s scores ever compiled. It will take time to compile these reviews, but bear with me. As reviews are added, they will become live as links below.
Codes:
5 — brilliant — absolutely fabulous — outstanding.
4 — superior — first class.
3 — good — worthy.
2 — hmmm — uninspired or inconsistent, maybe some good bits.
1 — poor — awful, embarrassing.
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1960s |
1970s |
1980s |
1990s-2000s |
Links
- Internet Movie Database Information on John Barry
- John Barry — A Life In Music
- Walter Landgraff's John Barry site
- Laurent Soyer's John Barry site
- Laurent's other John Barry site
- Music From The Movies
- Film Score Monthly
- Varese Sarabande records
- Silva Screen records
- John Barry discussion group
- Movie Boulevard, film shop and former John Barry appreciation society HQ
- Book — A Sixties Theme