Moonraker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack]

Various Artists (Artist), John Barry (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00008BLCJ
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,920 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, wonderful score (and there's a reason it's short...), March 29, 2004

By 

Claude Avary "West Coast Reader" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Moonraker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

The release of re-mastered editions of the James Bond scores offered up some great albums that expanded the original soundtracks with extra cues ("Thunderball" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" are particularly superb). However, "Moonraker," one of the best scores of the series and one of the most lyrical and unusual (especially when you consider what a silly slapstick film it accompanies) arrived on CD in a bare-bones 30-minute edition that replicates the original LP version with no extra tracks.

This is an unfortunate occurrence, but the people loudly complaining and blaming EMI need to understand that the album producers had no choice. They wanted an expanded album (who wouldn't? more people would buy it), but there was a major stumbling block because of the way the "Moonraker" recording sessions were originally produced. "Moonraker" was a French-British co-production for tax reasons, and most of the film was shot in France. The recording sessions were also done in France, and the original masters reside in vaults in Paris. The American producers of this album were unable to obtain access to these master tapes to make a longer version, and the work to get them would have been prohibitively expensive -- which would mean no album at all.

I too am disappointed we don't have a longer "Moonraker" album; however, the re-mastered sound and the general brilliance of the music makes it impossible for me to give this album anything less than five stars. I've loved this album for years, and still do. I think it shows John Barry at his best, and it's the most experimental score for a Bond film. Barry avoids the period music clichés (except for a slight disco beat under the end titles) that plagued Hamlisch's "The Spy Who Loved Me" score, and he also ignores the silliness of the film and turns in a serious, ethereal, and sensual score. Regardless of length, the "Moonraker" score wields a potent spell.

The theme song, sung by Shirley Bassey of "Goldfinger" fame, never became a big hit, but it's one of the best songs from a Bond film: exotic, timeless, and filled with soaring romanticism. Barry uses the heavy romantic melody in the cue "Bond Meets Dr. Goodhead," one is one of the album's most beautiful tracks. The theme also appears in the first half of "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase," this time with an understated calypso beat and chorus.

Barry ditches one of his signatures styles of the Bond series, the brassy and sassy use of trumpets and horns, for a more elegant and smooth approach. (In fact, you won't hear "The James Bond Theme" anywhere on this album, although it does appear in the film.) You can hear Barry's changed approach most clearly in "Centrifuge and Corinne Put Down," where Barry follows the death of Corrine at the fangs of Drax's hunting dogs with a hypnotic, slow building piece using strings and harp and only culminating in the brass at the end. More typical suspense music appears in "Bond Smells a Rat" (which covers Bond sneaking into Drax's Venetian laboratory and seeing the effect of the nerve gas on Drax's employees).

The action cue most reminiscent of the earlier scores is in the first half of "Cable Car and Snake Fight," with exciting brass punctuation marks, but then it segues directly into the snake deathtrap music, where Barry again takes an unusual approach with the orchestration, focusing on lyrical action and tension music. The second half of "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase" sees the return of `007,' a piece of thrilling action music Barry first used in "From Russia, With Love," only here it is orchestrated to match the tone of the rest of the score; it's both beautiful and exiting, and a perfect example of how Barry could turn the expectations of action upside down.

But the real highlights of the album are "Bond Lured to Pyramid," "Space Laser Battle," and "Flight into Space," where Barry creates hypnotic and gorgeous musical suites. "Bond Lured to Pyramid" plays as Bond weaves through the jungle following a beautiful woman to Drax's lair; Barry uses a chorus and chirping woodwinds over a thick layer of strings to create a feeling of exoticism and mystery. (In the film, this cue leads directly into "Snake Fight.") "Space Laser Battle" takes the ridiculous laser duel between Drax's forces and the U.S. Space Marines (???) and makes a slow, lyrical dirge out of it -- a brilliant move on Barry's part that emphasizes the `space' aspect of the scene. "Flight into Space" is six and half-minutes of sustained beauty, and one of the greatest pieces Barry composed for any film: it's almost a complete ballet based on the theme of space travel, using a chorus, organ, and elegant trumpet and horn passages to create the portrait. The music for the emergence of the space station out of the darkness is especially stunning.

Yes, this isn't the longer album we hoped for. Perhaps one day the legal problems will be settled, but this is the best that EMI was able to do. And the remarkable score is still there and still as potent a piece of work as it ever wars. An essential album for all James Bond and John Barry fans.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful and Esoteric Bond Score, February 26, 2003

By 

gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Moonraker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

This is rare music for a James Bond film. It is of great interest and curiosity just how John Barry scored this film. The score represented on the compact disc concentrates on the virtues of the main character, the spectacle and enigma of space and fleeting action sequences. It contains one of the most haunting and esoteric love themes that John Barry ever composed. Barry never reverts to or even hints to the "James Bond Theme" on this compact disc. He concentrates his score on the main character's endearing and enduring qualities. We can hear Bond as the romantic hero, spy and adventurer. We also hear the beautiful passages of earthly and unearthly encounters. Some of the score contains a yearning for the enigmatic meaning of life itself. It is a very unusual score for a film that has deep unfathomable undertones hidden beneath its gloss. This score matches the film perfectly because MOONRAKER is probably the most enigmatic film of the series covering the gamut of styles and tones. The digital remastering is good and it comes with a nice booklet.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars go for music itself, otherwise much too short..., September 11, 2003

By 

Tine Vucko "Maglorfin" (Logatec, Slovenia, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moonraker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

Yes indeed. This soundtrack is much, much too short. After all, the CD only contains around 30 minutes of music, and that really is a shame, as many reviewers righly pointed out.

The music itself is excellent, Barry really shows his genius here (but then, speaking of his Bond music, doesn't he always?). And a simple fact that an entire pretitle sequence, which is truly excellent - speaking of music and also of film itself - is missing, vexes me even more. A legend has it that the music was being recorded in France and the original tapes eventually got lost. I wonder how much effort was put into finding that material, but sadly this is now a rather unimportant issue...

But all the criticism aside, we do get some gems here, meaning especially Space Lazer Battle, Cable Car And Snake Fight and Flight Into Space, which is a real masterpiece and gets very heavenly and ethereal, as Barry adds a wordless choir, perfectly evoking Drax's Noah Ark operation and empty loneliness of space. It always reminds me of Holst's Neptune, The Mystic from The Planets suite. A nice rendition of "007" tune can also be heard in Bond Arrives In Rio And Boat Chase.

One more thing. Apart from many (ar should I say all) other people, I actually really like the concluding track - the disco-pop version of Moonraker - Main Title. It sounds quite cool to me, but then, I'm also a big fan of Conti's soundtrack for For Your Eyes Only, and that also speaks for itself. :)

Sadly, this CD lacks a lot of great music from film, otherwise it is a perfect soundtrack and worth having.