Customer Reviews

Octopussy: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced CD]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember when I first brought the soundtrack to Octopussy and FELL ASLEEP listening to it. There are good tracks on it, like That's My Little Octopussy, Arriving at the Island of Octopussy, Bond Lookalike, and of course, the theme song by Rita Coolidge. The music for the action seen, as heard in the Death of Vijay/Yo Yo Fight, and Palace Fight is good as background music, but on its own it is weak, when comparing to the one in A View to A Kill and the Living Daylights.

The rest of the album is really undistinctive....and I have no idea why some people would dare to said this is one of Barry's best works.

As for the CD release, instead of releasing new tracks, they inserted in dialogs from the movie. To me, that is just plain laziness and thoughtlessness on the part of Rykodisc.

Overall, it is good, but don't expect it to knock your socks off.

Rykodisk does a good job at getting bonus songs and music that wasn't on the original version of the soundtrack. The tracks 3,6, and 9 are great because they are dialogue tracks meaning they are just recorded dialogue direct from the movie! Tracks 2,4,10, and 12 are good action tracks, and track 5 is a good instrumental version of the title song. Track 1, the title song to Octopussy, is sung by Rita Coolidge and is a good track. All the rest of the tracks are great, and track 11 is a good tense and ominous track. All in all this soundtrack deserves the five stars it got. Definitely get this soundtrack.

I have been a James Bond fan ever since I saw Octopussy when I was 11 years old. This soundtrack is the ultimate Bond sountrack! Nobody does it better than John Barry. This soundtrack contains all of the key pieces from the movie and two outstanding renditions of the James Bond theme. If you are a Bond fan you will love this one!

The soundtrack to OCTOPUSSY seems not so much a mixture of styles but rather the ambiguous culmination of those styles. The suspense, exotic and romantic elements of the score are impressive. "That's My Little Octopussy" and "Bond Meets Octopussy" are very beautiful love pieces based on the main title: "All Time High" that are reminiscent to the true nature of "We Have All the Time In the World" from ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. The character of Octopussy, played against formula, in this film seems like a genuine love interest of James Bond as is reflected in these pieces. Impressive too are "Bond At the Monsoon Palace" and "The Chase-Bomb Theme" reminiscent of Barry's scoring of some of his "cold war" films from the 1960s. In other parts of the score Barry seems to be tiring. His passion and penchant for scoring action scenes seems to be on the wane here. "Yo-yo Fight" and parts of "The Palace Fight" seem unimaginative and lackluster. However, Barry seems to have compensated himself tenfold with "Bond Look-Alike" which is a tour de force of the 007 mystique. "Bond Look-Alike" is a rich composition based on "The James Bond Theme" and is one of the best tracks to be found on any of the James Bond soundtracks. The OCTOPUSSY soundtrack seems a bit truncated but it is still a good John Barry - James Bond CD. This particular edition includes dialogue from the film. The "Miss Penelope" track contains quite amusing banter between Bond, Miss Moneypenny and her "new" assistant. The cover of this CD carries the artwork of the VHS edition of the film.

While Octopussy is not one of the best movies, it's one of the better soundtracks. I really enjoy the haunting melody of All Time High (the main theme) and this is a great soundtrack.

1983 Barry was back with Bond, he din't to the score to For Your Eyes Only. I must begin saying that I have the original soundtrack, so i have never hurd songs nr. 3. 6. and 9., which are bonus on the CD. This soundtrack is good. Real good. When you listen to it, it reminds you about Barry's work for "From Russia With Love". In those two soundtracks you have many dark and mystery tunes, which work splendide. In this album you also have a very good action-theme, which you hear for the first time on Track nr. 2: "009 gets the knife and Gobinda attacks". The theme returns in two more songs, "Yo-Yo fight and death of Vijay" and "Palace Fight". Good soft songs are Track nr. 8. "Bond at Monsoon Palace" and track nr. 10 "Bond meets Octopussy". In Track nr. 13. works Barry very good with his action-theme together with James Bond Theme. The three best songs: Track nr. 2 "Bond look-alike" Track nr. 12 "The chase bomb theme" and Track nr. 13. "Palace Fight". A traditional Barry score!

I am a John Barry fan and a Bond fan. John Barry even has a US destroyer named after him, the - what else - USS John Barry. Top that one you lesser composers you! I've collected about 100 CDs, several of them John Barry's and mixed and matched songs onto cassetes to play in my car. After listening to songs over and over to decide what to copy to cassette and what to leave off it's apparent that, to my ears at least, Barry's best are Octopussy, Moviola (great music that nobody's ever heard of) and My Life. They motivate me. When I'm down they lift me up and give me strength to do what needs to be done. In the words of Garrison Keillor, they help me BE ABOVE AVERAGE. Well, average, but what's so wrong with that? Octopussy is mood music that twangs my heartstrings. It would be an honor to meet such as person as John Barry. Mr. Barry, thank you for Octopussy and that considerable body of musical work that must mean so much to others too! It ain't not for nuthin' that you are not out of work after decades in the ear tickling business.

'Octopussy' is another great James Bond classic. This is John Barry's best performance after 'The Living Daylights', with both new music and the James Bond Theme wrapped into one. "All Time High', 'Bond Look Alike', and 'The Palace Fight' are the best tracks(1, 2, & 13), with '009 Gets The Knife and Gorbinda Attacks' and 'That's My Little Octopussy'(4 & 5) closely behind. 'The Palace Fight' is the best instrumental with both the fight music and the James Bond Theme in it.

Octopussy is one of the series' best soundtracks. Composer John Barry tops even his former works (Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moonraker)

Dirk Bauer

John Barry gives a very fine performance for one of the best 007 movies ever. A soundtrack that is extremely difficult to find---to due the problem that when first released, was recalled and unreleased again. Rereleased by RYKO Disc, but still hard to find. Rita Coolidge performs the title song, and the result is a fantastic smashing title song. Also included are many other exciting tracks such as, Palace Fight, Chase Bomb Theme and Bond Look-Alike. Also because this an enhanced CD, there are many bonus tracks with incidental dialogue contained in them. All Time High is reprised at the end of the CD to end it off on a nice touch. A marvelous soundtrack with a great title song, exciting enhanced tracks and the charming class of the fabulous John Barry! A real gem.