Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4117 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-01
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Soundtrack, Box set
• Running time: 259 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
John Barry is one of the best represented film composers on CD, but this four-disc collection outdoes everything that's come before with tracks from more than 50 film and TV projects. Of course there are the biggest names you'd expect. James Bond is acknowledged by 10 of the infamous themes and a couple of suites. There's the Western romance of Dances with Wolves, the sultriness of Body Heat, the jazzy highs at The Cotton Club and the encapsulation of the 1960s by The Ipcress File. But this collection's strength is in not just concentrating on well-known classics such as Born Free or The Lion in Winter. There's also smaller fare that rarely gets heard, such as The Dove, High Road to China, The Deep and also his "Romance for Guitar and Orchestra" from Deadfall. After four hours of listening to Barry's laid-back romantic style, you'll be in no uncertainty that all those other collections were justified. It's just a shame this didn't come first. --Paul Tonks

Customer Reviews

Be careful
They are all here, by that I mean all of JB`s best, but there is a hitch, they are not performed by the maestro himself.
This is a bit of a rip off if you ask me, but having said that, Nic Raine manages the covers well and it has to be said are fairly true to the originals, it`s just that Barry's "magic" is missing, and it's noticable.

Definitely not the originals
This stuff may have been played by a perfectly competant orchestra but WHY? The recordings completely loose the feel of the originals. For example, the moodiness of the Persuaders theme is completely lost as the original Mandolin (I assume) is replaced by something electronic.

Why when the original and superior recordings clearly still exist is an album of 'covers' required? - best to avoid!

Top John Barry music in one collection
John Barry is truly, in the words of composer David Arnold, the master of the (filmmusic) genre. Any doubts one might have that John Barry actually can't write ALL kinds of music is totally ripped away with this collection. In four CD:s Silva Screen gives to us some splendid music, and the collection, not very expensive either, is really rekommended for everyone who likes film music.

Some Bondmusic is represented here, but not too much. I have all the Bond soundtracks, but few of Barry's other work. This collection makes you wanna start collecting every record the man ever has produced.

All of the four CD:s are over 60 minutes long, and the packaging is very nice.

There is of course many highlights on a collection with four records...here is some of them: (music from the following films, as listed on the packaging)

Disc 1:

Zulu

The Ipcress File

The Knack

Disc 2:

The Wind and the Lion

The Last Valley

The Persuaders

The Dove

Disc 3:

Raise the Titanic

Disc 4:

High Road to China

Dances With Wolves

The Specialist

And on all of the records: the Bond music!

To all of you who likes film music, with Barry fans in particular of course, buy this collection now. You can't be disappointed.