Customer Reviews

Moonraker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1979 Film)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Watching "MOONRAKER" the other night I never realized how well structured this film was crafted. If, what some would call objectionable juvenile elements were removed, what remains is a quintessential Bond movie with Roger Moore turning in his best performance as 007.

It is of interest how John Barry scored this film. The score represented on the album concentrates on the virtues of the main character, the spectacle and the action at hand. Barry never reverts to or even hints to the "James Bond Theme" on this album. He relies more on the 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.

John Barry wasn't able to writw the score to "The Spy Who Loved Me", but now his back. Moonraker is a classic Barry-score. Many songs are very beatufil, like "Bond lured to pyramid", and a couple of them are tuff action, "Cable car and snake fight". In the end of the film they are in the space, and Barry's music to that is just great. (Track 2, track 6) In "Bond arriws in Rio and boat chase" returns The "007" theme for the last time, this time in a special way. Unfortunately it's only 30.51 minutes long, but that's not John Barry's fold. He composed more songs to the film then those who came along on the soundtrack. The three best songs: Track nr. 3: "Cable car and snake fight", Track nr. 6: "Flight to space" and Tarck nr. 7 "Bond arriws in Rio and snake fight". Please enjoy a medium good Barry.Bond-score!

Given the success of "Star Wars," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," it was believed that James Bond had to step into space to be current. An early poster for "Moonraker" (1979) proclaimed "Outer Space Now Belongs to 007." Actually, that aspect worked fairly well for the film, and for composer John Barry, who had some interesting opportunities via space shuttles, space stations, and laser battles in orbit. The plot proved interesting, and the music was good. Shirley Bassey was once again employed for the title song by Barry with surprisingly fitting lyrics by Hal David, except that we never learn the meaning of "mooraker" (an eighteenth century English smuggler?), except as the name of one of the space shuttles. The song is not in a class with "Goldfinger" or "Diamonds Are Forever," but it is enjoyable. A disco version of the title, prefaced by a brief element from Barry's space music, is used for the end titles and is arguably the better format for this film. As usual the title provided a theme that appears in many guises, even as a Latin American prelude to Barry's "007" theme on the soundtrack. By far the most interesting music emerges with the voyage into space. The soundtrack includes two full tracks with Barry's space music, "Flight into Space," a very interesting slow march that easily matches the "Space March" in "You Only Live Twice," and "Space Lazer Battle" that highlights a climatic melee in orbit. Taken together, these tracks, were among Barry's most original contributions to the Bond series in years. New themes were introduced with choral background, and all of the music was given center stage since there was little in the way of competing dialogue or sound effects during these scenes. "Flight into Space" incorporated a full scene; the track is over six minutes long. Missing from the soundtrack, and any other recording, is music from the pre-title sequence, which is unusual. This is perhaps an uneven entry in the Bond soundtrack cycle, but the new space music, especially "Flight into Space," makes it worthwhile.

The score to "Moonraker" contains very beautiful music. I highly recommend it to all Bond and Non-Bond music lovers. Don't let the cover fool you.

John Barry gives one of his most outstanding performances as composer of the 1979 film. Shirley Bassey gives it her all in her third (and my all time favorite) title song! A memorable song that is calm and soothing, which has a space feel to it. At the end of the movie, the title song is reprised in Disco Moonraker version that is really exciting! Other haunting tracks are Space Lazer Battle and Flight into Space, which give the listener the true extent of how well John Barry can alter music to make it sound so mysterious. Track 7- Bond arrives in Rio and Boat Chase offer the classic 007 theme music. A powerful theme song. A magnificent composer. Shirley Bassey to say the least. What more could anyone want?

'Moonraker' may be an odd choice as a favourite Bond score, but it marks two things for me: a maturing of the style of John Barry, particularly his heavy orchestral arrangements that has seldom been beaten since ('Somewhere in Time', 'Out of Africa' and 'Masquerade' are notable exceptions), and the possibility of a classical direction for the spy music genre.

Just as 'OHMSS' 10 years before, John Barry brings Bond into a new era. Then, it was about creating new and exciting sounds; by 1979, it was finding a more established musical language (i.e. no electronic equipment, other than an exception noted below) for an established series of films. In the case of this fourth Roger Moore outing, that establishment had reached self-parody and product placement was arguably higher here than in subsequent Bonds (mentions of Bollinger, Air France tickets, a British Airways billboard woven into the Brazilian film scenes and 'The Magnificent Seven' used less as a John Barry Seven reference and more to tie it in to Marlboro cigarettes).

Therefore, it's a welcome addition to the Bond canon. Gone is the Vic Flick guitar, replaced by a slower, calmer style; Barry uses strings with his brass at a more sedate pace. There are humorous cues, such as when Bond and Jaws fight on the cable car; the '007' theme returns for the final time on an OST; one can almost sense the space travel as Holly Goodhead pilots Bond to 'where all other Bonds have ended and this one begins'. There are two kitsch departures though: Bond's arrival in Brazil is marked by a very different arrangement of 'Moonraker' and the end title does introduce electronic music as Shirley Bassey sings the theme to a disco beat for a song that could scarcely accommodate the diversion. Her opening title song, along with Barry's strings, is exquisite. (I'd love to learn what the lyrics were before Hal David worked his magic; word has it that Paul Williams had had a go with his 'Think of Me'.)

All the tracks are enjoyable but there are some laments. Where is 'The James Bond Theme'? It was used in the pre-title sequence in the film (the entire fight [or flight?] scene would have made a perfect addition) and for the Venice boat chase but there's no sign of it here.

This OST is a trifle short and the omissions are notable, but it's still worth every penny, particularly if one enjoys the late-1970s, more Hollywood-style work ('King Kong', 'Robin and Marian', 'Raise the Titanic') of John Barry.

Forget that Moonraker is actually a James Bond movie and it's a fun two hours. But the idea of 007 in space is just plain ludicrous. Not so for the soundtrack, though, as longtime Bond composer John Barry hands in one of the best film scores of his career for Moonraker.

It runs the gamut: From Brazilian influenced for the Rio scences to lush orchestrations for the love scenes and flight into space. The music has much more depth to it than any of the acting on screen (And Roger Moore was even my favorite James Bond).

Highly recommended for fans of James Bond scores, Barry's music, or great orchestral works in general.

In my opinion, this soundtrack should be placed within the top five Bond soundtracks. It has everything: one of the most beautiful title songs in Bond history, a thrilling touch (Cable Car and Snake Fight), a great love theme and also just plain amazing music.
This is a perfect example how you can do an excellent soundtrack without the Bond Theme.

The music from Moonraker is excellent. There aren't any songs on the CD that were not in the movie, and we are treated to yet again another version of "007 Takes The Lektor", first heard in From Russia With Love. It was slowed down for Moonraker, and was played during the boat chase down the Amazon.

"Space Lazer Battle" is a good song, and has a militaristic mood about it that suits the laser battle in space. "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond" is a good instrumental version of Moonraker, played primarily by strings. "Cable Car & Snake Fight" is an exciting and suspenseful action cue, perfectly capturing the excitement of the battle between Jaws and Bond atop trams, and between Bond and a python. "Flight Into Space" is a very good song, perfectly capturing the feel of flying in a space shuttle in outer space. It is slightly reminiscent of the music in Star Wars when our heroes first see the Death Star.
"Bond Arrives In Rio & Boat Chase" is another good song, with "Boat Chase" being an exciting action cue.

The rest of the CD is good also, if a little uneventful, and unfortunately the CD is missing the excellent versions of the Bond theme heard during the parachute fight and the gondola chase in Venice. Despite these missing songs though it is still a good CD and is definitely worth buying if you are a Bond music fan, and one to consider if you like good movie soundtracks.

Hey dude from SEATTLE, WASHINGTON that wrote a review titled Berlin...Only Better; I have this soundtrack too. I have every single 007 soundtrack except for FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Anyways, this soundtrack is pretty good. Tracks 2 and 6 are good. They have great space music. 6 especially has good music. Track 4 is action packed, and track 3 is a good instrumental of the title song. Shirley Bassey returns once again to perform her final James Bond title song. It is a good title song. All in all this is a good soundtrack and has great music. But minus one star for missing tracks.