IMO agruably the greatest movie comopser Those great Bond themes and so much more.
Also TV series, I was only listening to this last night -
Loved the theme from The Persuaders!
I was watching this on DVD just a few days ago.
John Barry was an awesome composer. As much as any other party, his music defined even the least memorable Bond movies that he scored, and was one of the few composers who effectively enmeshed instrumental and electronic music. And somehow, his scores were always characteristic, even when they were distinctly different styles. I remember watching both Enigma and Walkabout and thinking, “This sounds just like a very John Barry score,” only to find his name in the credits. The only other film score composer I would put on the same level is Lalo Schifrin, and I’d still pick Barry overall. I even enjoyed his non-film compositions despite not generally being my cup of tea (“modern classical” being an oxymoron, and generally a poorly done one at that).
He will be sorely missed.
Stranger
A very talented film-score composer. My favorites of his, other than the Bond theme (the credit for which is disputed, BTW: John Barry (composer) - Wikipedia), are Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves and The Black Hole. May he rest in peace.
He co-wrote my favorite Bond song, a-ha’s “The Living Daylights.” There are two versions, as they couldn’t agree on the best one… I’m a huge a-ha fan, but Barry’s is the best. RIP.
I, too, was saddened to hear about the news, but, as I read on another site, it’s hard to be too sad about a long life that was so full of accomplishments. I thought myself fairly well-versed in John Barry’s compositions, but, looking over his composition listings on IMDB, I’m amazed at what he’s responsible for.
As an example among many, I didn’t know that he wrote the music for Born Free (or that there was even an orchestral version of the Andy Williams song).
His was an amazing talent.
The number of memorable film scores he was associated with is jaw-dropping.
Some of my personal faves are his scores for Zulu, Goldfinger, and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. A stupendous talent; he will be missed.
Can’t let this thread go much farther without mentioning The Lion in Winter. As Stranger On A Train pointed out, it’s distinctively Barry; but it’s about as far from Born Free or the Bond movies as one could imagine.
And I gotta give bonus points to a composer who puts a “Dies Irae” into a film score.
What a giant- only John Williams compares among those of the past decades.
I love The Lion in Winter soundtrack.
Main Theme
Eleanor’s Arrival
And for those who really love his Lion in Winter music- the 10 minute Royal Albert Hall LiW suite.
I’d not heard about this. What a loss. I remember as a kid, still too young to go to movies by myself, riding my bike to the mall so I could buy the new Bond soundtracks whenever they came out. I’d sit in the living room alone just marveling at the music, staring at the cover illustrations and pictures and imagining just how good the movie was going to be.
Thank you, Mr. Barry, for such a marvelous, legendary contribution to the enjoyment of so many.
Just popped in to mention this:
That was when I first heard of Mr. Barry… lovely music. Rest in peace.
What a loss!
I’ve seen no mention of his amazing score to Midnight Cowboy.
But to those who say only John Williams or Lalo Schifrin compare, how soon we seem to have forgotten Jerry Goldsmith. Look at this body of work!
Goldsmith may have done a large body of work, but his compositions tend to all sound very similar and generally unmemorable; ditto for Williams (aside from his “Indiana Jones theme” and the opening bars and “Emperor’s March” from the Star Wars movies, I can’t really recall a Williams score on its own), and James Horner. Barry, however, composed very memorable and distinctive scores across a wide range of musical styles, from pure orchestral and jazz to electronic and modern pop. That the same composer has the range to work with Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and Duran Duran, producing some of the most remembered hits of their respective careers (“Goldfinger”, “We Have All The Time In The World”, “A View To A Kill”) is damned impressive, and there are few composers working today that have that talent.
Stranger
Really? The themes from The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Planet of the Apes, Patton, Chinatown, and The Omen are similar and unmemorable?
Mind you, I wasn’t saying that Goldsmith was superior to John Barry - I don’t think he was. But I do think he deserves a spot as one of the great film composers of all time. So does Randy Newman, for that matter. And I think both Goldsmith and Newman are the equal of John Williams.
But Barry was superior to the three.
Of them, I can only remember Chinatown distinctly, and only because I have seen the movie at least a dozen times. (I thought Schifrin did The Man From U.N.C.L.E but IMDb.com indicates that there were a number of different composers and theme songs.) Goldsmith is a solid composer with a large body of work, but I don’t hear a soundtrack that he has scored for the first time and think, “That sounds like Jerry Goldsmith.” With Barry (or Schifrin or Ennio Morricone) I can listen to a score and think, “That sounds like John Barry,” and lo and behold, it is. What is phenomenal about Barry, however, is how many different musical media he worked in. The guy could go from a full orchestra to a Moog synth and simple native percussion instruments and still put a distinctive stamp on his material.
Stranger
I could not agree with that statement more!
A bit of an aside but hopefully not a hijack: I wonder if future generations will ever look upon people like John Barry and John Williams the way we look upon classical composers. It’s true that they don’t compose symphonies or operas, but they often compose just as much music for a movie as you’d hear in a symphony and many movie themes are just beautiful melodies.