JOHN BARRY

I wonder if Steven will go? I know he's not a big fan of Barry but it's not far from him.

p.s. I Phoned up the box office about the Philip Glass concert here in Bristol 'ticket returns' and was politely told that there was no point in trying because there was a list of over 60 people before me.

:like:

I'm looking at that score on the YouTube film (good thing they filmed it!) , and except for a phrase here or there I can't for the life of me distill the James Bond theme from it (and yes, I can read music).

I'll have to try on an enlarged screen to see what I missed (if anything), but this seems ...weird.

Didn't Barry once run a newspaper ad that showed the score Norman handed him and the score of Barry's final theme?
The comparison showed that Barry took some inspiration from Norman, the basic structure and one or two ideas. It also showed that the majority of those elements that make up the iconic theme came from Barry.

Volker

Martijn, is this the YT film you're talking of?

I can't read music and am very intrigued.

EDIT: I'm repeating myself

Ian McDonald of The John Barry Appreciation Society on FB had this to say...

I telephoned dear old Mont a few months back, and asked him 'who composed the 'orchestration' around the guitar riff'.........he wouldn't answer the question other than to say 'I was attacking his integrity' ...I persevered and he became so agitated ( i kept calm and polite - hard for me!!) that after calling me a FB he put the phone down. Now, what does that tell you.................well, this much: it IS worth contacting him to ask that question and to get an answer, because that is something 'ol Mont clearly does not want to do.

Arnold has said he wanted to use it but never found the right moment.

As for the guitar riff, I'm really not sure? There's no doubt that the basis for it is Monty's but it's that whole be-bop thing that is most likely Barry's doing, everything fits with his style at that time and earlier recordings of his point that way.

Legally it's 100% Monty Norman's theme, I've never thought that was true and Monty has no evidence of writing any of that middle section.

Sorry but You've lost me here Pawel? I'm not sure what you're saying?

I think we're having a failure to communicate. Sorry Pawel, but what do you mean 'if Barry called his piece differently'?

That's what I don't get. The gig for Dr No was given to Monty Norman ( fact! ), Monty Norman's Mr Biswas is the basis for the famous guitar riff ( fact! ), there was problems and the tune was farmed out to John Barry who got paid £250 ( fact! ) to make it work and more than likely did that whole be-bop arrangement, an entire big part of the Bond theme that Monty Norman has never proved is his and gets very defensive when questioned about it.

Barry got paid and had to forego any credit and though he'd hinted many times over the years that he had more than a "little" to do with writing the theme he never boldly stated it which would have ended up with him in court, like I said, he got paid for his services and at that time wouldn't have had the clout that he would later have had.

I think no matter what the theme was called, Norman would still have sued; even if Barry had named it "Fluffy Kittens Dancing in Flowers" -- the fact is Norman did have a hand in creating it, and it's made him rich. Money will drive anything.

.

FACT!