6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST OWN dazzler for John Barry music lovers, November 11, 2008
This review is from: John Barry (Hardcover)
JOHN BARRY: The Man with the Midas Touch gives the reader exactly what they are looking for! It is handsomely designed and beautifully realized as an informative and revealing musical biography and analysis of what sets this film composer's music above the rest.
Everything a fan could want has been laid out cleverly and with considerable care from never-before-published photos, memorabilia, posters, interviews and insights into what makes JB the gold standard for aural excellence.
Messers Geoff Leonard, Gareth Bramley and Pete Walker know their man!
These are the experts who have penned innumerable liner notes for Barry's CD releases over the years. These are the "go to" guys who not only recite chapter and verse of behind-the-scenes details, but, give an intimate portrait of the genuinely gifted composer at work in cinema.
The previous book: JOHN BARRY: A life in Music (out of print and highly sought-after for many years!) actually pales in comparison to this new career spanning examination of a composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator and innovator of many trend-setting styles of music.
This in not a fanboy pastiche by any means!
John Barry himself has said that "Geoff Leonard knows my work better than I do." And he does.
Artists and Repetoire, sidemen, friends, directors, critics...all views are explored and examined.
This is no paparazzi tell-all. It is a work of journalistic acumen.
From the John Barry Seven through the dazzling five Academy Awards and concert performances; JOHN BARRY: the Man with the Midas Touch tells the story of a young, sensitive Yorkshire cinema owner's son who set his sights on composing for the silver screen as a small boy running the projectors in his father's cinema chain.
Any and every thing worth asking is covered in depth here.
As George Martin was for Apple, John Barry was for EMI. Alternately grooming talent, doing arrangements for the likes of
Chad and Jeremy, Annie Ross, Adam Faith; John Barry explored various markets and arrangements in search of the way to make a leap into film.
The unique pizzacato and lead guitar stylings which backed the pop star, Adam Faith, led to the golden opportunity: BEAT GIRL. It wasn't much of a film with beatniks and gang toughs posturing about luridly. Yet, as he would prove himself able to do countless times in the future, John Barry found a hook! A melodic central theme to showcase the drama and emotional core of the performances is the Midas Touch!
This opportunity gave JB what he was looking for in spades! A pre echo of the James Bond years can be found in what he produced for BEAT GIRL.
Dr.NO, the first James Bond film, needed a signature theme for the central character of spy, womanizer, snob and brawler. Monty Norman (music hall dandy) had the job already. Yet, the film felt like a "mining disaster" with the theme Norman had penned. John Barry's popular success with BEAT GIRL and his HIT and MISS theme success signalled a way to save the day. The result speaks for itself! Without even having screened the film; working from his familiarlity with the comic strip of James Bond, John Barry fashioned an arrangement and re-imagining of Monty Norman's "dum ditty dum dum" scrawl on a slip of paper! An instantly riveting electric guitar and bebop theme for JAMES BOND launched Sean Connery, a million dollar franchise and John Barry into a wild ride and non-stop career with ZULU, BORN FREE, QUILLER MEMORANDUM, KING RAT, THE KNACK, SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON for riches, applause and quiet celebrity.
Want to know more? READ THE BOOK!
This book tells the whole story from prelude to postlude in a precise, no-nonsense style every fan of John Barry will rush to own before this too goes out of print and into the collector cult status of the previous tome.
Get it while you still can!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential for John Barry fans or anyone interested in the story of a great career in music and the movies., July 29, 2009
This review is from: John Barry (Hardcover)
In 1998, Geoff Leonard, Pete Walker and Gareth Bramley wrote `John Barry, A Life in Music'. That sold out long ago. Ten years later they have published the follow up `John Barry, The Man With The Midas Touch'. The new book is not just a second edition of the first, with a few corrections. It is a major rewrite with a significant amount of new material including photographs.
John Barry has had a career in music spanning more than 50 years. Born in York in 1933 his father ran a chain of cinemas across the north of England and his mother was a classically trained pianist. From his time in the army as part of a music regiment during the early 50s, through to forming one of the leading pre Beatles pop groups, The John Barry Seven, and on to scoring numerous films both in the UK and US including eleven of the James Bond series, `The Black Hole', `Out Of Africa', `Somewhere In Time' and `The Lion In Winter'.
Barry has composed some of the most outstanding music of the last half century. On the way he picked up four Oscars for best score and one for best song. Further, he has written five stage musicals and a number of TV themes including `The Persuaders', conducted concerts of his work at the Royal Albert Hall in London and released albums of non soundtrack work He also composed for many TV commercials particularly in the 1960s including one for `Sunsilk' shampoo that would later be released as the B side to `The Persuaders' and become the encore to his concerts. In 1988 he nearly died when he suffered an allergic reaction to a health food drink which ruptured his oesophagus. However he triumphantly returned in 1990 to compose one of his greatest scores `Dances With Wolves' and pick up his fifth Oscar. There is a Barry sound that gives much of his work a unity but each theme, score and album is unique. A man with the Midas touch, indeed.
This book is the detailed story of John Barry's career in the music business. It is divided into thirty chapters plus a forward by his frequent lyricist, Don Black. There are also fascinating sections relating to the various awards he has had bestowed and a discography listing all his record releases over six separate decades. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of John Barry's career: Oscars, musicals, James Bond, concerts, his work with Adam Faith and so on. Each chapter also begins with an appropriate quote, many by Barry himself. For instance, the chapter on the Swinging Sixties begins with the following from Barry:
"The life I was living was fifty times more fun than anything in The Knack"
What is immediately striking is that the 300 page book fully captures the variety and richness of Barry's career. Each chapter is full of information but also highly readable making this a book that will appeal to both hard core Barry fans and newcomers. Even people who have never heard of Barry could read and enjoy it and marvel at a musical career that has produced so much of quality for so long.
John Barry is one of the greats of modern music; this book is a worthy tribute to the man and his career.
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