Customer Reviews

The Spy Who Loved Me

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

BUYER BEWARE!

The "soundtrack" for The Spy Who Loved Me is not really a soundtrack at all, in my opinion. Many of the best music from the movie were left out, and we are left with sonic dogs like "Mojave Club" and "Eastern Lights". It does have its highlights like Bond 77 (even then, some of the best parts as it was heard in the movie was left out in the soundtrack), Ride to Atlantis, and a stunning instrumental version of "Nobody Does It Better" that just make you want to kick off your shoes, lay back and forget the ills of the world.

However, the song as it appears in the movie was left out, as was the end credits, and many of the music in the movie's action scenes were also left out. Buy this now if you want to, but I would rather wait for an updated soundtrack..IF that ever comes.

It is too bad, Marvin Hamlisch wrote one of the best scores for the Bond film, but the commercial soundtrack is one of the worst.

It's generally one of the less liked Bond scores, but I enjoy it. The main title, Nobody Does It Better, is one of the best of the series, and gets a very nice instrumental, which is roughly equivalent to the boat on the Nile scene. Bond 77, a disco version of the classic theme, takes some getting used to, but grows on repeated listenings. As the other review mentions, the many reprises in the film are all lumped into one long song here. Journey to Atlantis is a nice song, with guitars, muted brass, and an underwater feel. The Tanker is a more traditional Bond sound with plenty of low brass and searing string sections. The Egyptian numbers are interesting, but a bit repetitive to listen to without the accompaning action on screen. I also like the dramatic music used for the Pyramids, but oddly, this is split into two sections, and also misses part of the music. Anya is a nice theme not heard in the movie, and there's another short instrumental reprise of Nobody Does it Better that has a different feel then the "Nile" version.

Worth having, but it is somewhat dated. The score and the title song were nominees for Oscars at the time.

Of all the James Bond soundtracks issued, this album still remains on the bottom of my list. I am not saying that the score heard in the film was mediocre. In fact, just the opposite is true. I am saying that this Compact Disc is not representative of the score I heard in the film. I am not sure what it is. It is reminiscent of soundtracks issued during the 1950s where composers rearranged their film scores for commercial record albums.

Composer, Marvin Hamlisch recorded the music in the film remarkably well and seemed to be quite intuitive on what was required for different scenes. I believe that composers writing a Bond score are given great liberty to call upon previous musical cues from earlier entries in the series and write them into the score. It is very possible that Hamlisch was permitted to include only his original compositions for this album, thus leaving very little music to include here.

This cassette edition is somewhat nostalgic now that it has been about 30 years since the release of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.

All right, this is definitely NOT the best James Bond film soundtrack I've ever heard. In fact, I have to say it ranks pretty low. First of all, a lot of the songs here are not even the same ones you hear in the film, as clearly evidenced by the weak "Bond 77 (James Bond Theme)" found here and compared to the much funkier (and stronger) version heard in *The Spy Who Loved Me.* The song is a good idea, but executed much better in the film.

In reality, the only reason I give this album ANY stars is the beautiful (and gratuitously long) instrumental version of my favorite James Bond film theme--"Nobody Does It Better." It's slow, it's sexy, it's near perfect. Another song that I really appreciate hearing on here is the full version of "Ride to Atlantis," which, although slightly different here than in the film, I think is quite beautiful.

Other than that, versions of most all the songs from the film are here with the notable exception of the whimsical military chorus version of "Nobody Does It Better" that you hear at the end of the film, which I was really hoping to hear here. All-in-all, the album's not absolutely terrible. Honestly, if it had the chorus version of "Nobody Does It Better" and the film version of "Bond 77," I might even have given it as many as four stars, but (really) never any more than that.

As with Diamonds Are Forever, most of the best music was left out of the soundtrack. In fact there's only 3 tracks on here that are the same on the film. Bond 77 is slower and different, the end part of Nobody Does It Better isn't the same on the Cd as on the film and the worst part? There's at least 12 tracks missing. Car Chase, Sinking The Atlantis, Underwater Battle In The Lotus are just a few tracks that I wanted to hear. It's a pity, because all the tracks missing are brillient. Also, the design of the CD case is appalling. A stupid painting of Bond And Anya on the front that I could've painted better with my eyes shut and dull black and whith photos on the back. I'm guessing that everyone in the world who owns this and many other Bond CD's are waiting for the Bond Cd's to be remastered as I am but so far that has only happened to The Living Daylights and For Your Eyes Only which are perfect. So if you see this embarrassment of a soundtrack for under £2 then buy it just for tracks 2, 3, 7 and 10. Definately the worst soundtrack of a Bond film I've got.

This soundtrack has a lot of tracks that are missing from the movie. There is a great one where music starts near the end of the movie after Stromberg says: "Observe Mr. Bond. The instruments of armaggeddon." Also the Bond 77 theme has been re-maked terribly. It isn't like the one in the movie. And that track is why I wanted to get this soundtrack in the first place. Track number 5, an instrumental version of The Spy Who Loved Me did not appear in the movie. And all the Egypt tracks are just plain boring in my opinion. Minus 3 stars for the missing tracks and bad tracks, but plus 2 for the vocal of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Ride To Atlantis, and The Tanker.

This is just such a strange soundtrack. Strange in the way that it just DOESN'T have any music from the film in it. Except for the egyptian dance music and the pyramid music that is. The other tracks are just slightly different interpretations of music heard in the film, and some we haven't heard at all ("Anya"). I miss the Bond theme, the original versions of Bond 77, Nobody does it better (instrumental) and the underwater theme, the russian theme, the egyptian theme, the Navy-version of Nobody does it better ("Nobody does - tja! - it better -tatatatara..."), the pre-title music... I could go on for ever. Still, the music heard here is not to bad, and if you're into Bond, might as well have it.

This is possibly the second worst James Bond soundtrack ever (the worst is "Dr. No). The problem is that it's not really a soundtrack at all, but more of a suite of music suggested by the soundtrack, like the Gerhardt recordings of the "Star Wars" trilogy. So far as I know, the soundtrack has never been made available. If it does, I'll buy it.

Of the eleven cues on the album, maybe two were actually used in the movie; maybe not, it's difficult to tell. Even the main title music is the single that was released simultaneously with the film, and not the actual cue recorded for the movie.

Having said that, "Nobody Does It Better" is a fine theme song, and "Bond 77," the principal action cue for the movie, is probably worth the price. Still, you can get those cues on other compilation albums.

"Journey to Atlantis" is not bad, and "The Tanker" is okay, but the rest is more like James Bland than James Bond. As for the cue called "Anya," it is never even hinted at in the movie, and I can't see any possible justification for wasting three minutes of my time with it.

The soundtrack of "The Living Daylights" has just been rereleased with additional cues, and that's a splendid album. I'm looking forward to when the real soundtrack of "The Spy Who Loved Me" will be available; that at least will be worth buying.

The two stars are for the title song and "Bond 77."

It's not that Marvin Hamlisch was the worst choice to score a James Bond film. But he certainly was a wrong one. His music for "The Spy Who Loved Me" is barely audible in the movie, and his re-recording presents some flaws -for example: 'Nobody Does It Better-Instrumental' and 'Anya', which doesn't appear in the movie, and it's a complete bore. This album is worth buying because of the Carly Simon tune 'Nobody Does It Better', 'Bond 77' -the only real action cue of the CD -'Trip To Atlantis', and the powerful 'The Tanker'. Hamlisch is a fine musician for Broadway plays, but he should have pushed harder for 007.

This soundtrack has a lot of tracks that are missing from the movie. This CD is also very scattered. They should have put the songs "Mojave Club" and "Eastern Lights" together, and "The Pyramids" and "Conclusion" together. Instead they are scattered all over the CD. Another thing is that this CD contains songs that were not in the movie - "Anya" being one of them, track 5 being another, and "End Titles" being the other one.

There are two major downsides to this CD though.
The first is the absence of songs. There is over half of the music from the movie missing. Some of them being the pre-credits sequence music, a great one where music starts after Stromberg sends all the captured submarines out to fire their missiles. Then the beautiful instrumental of "The Spy Who Loved Me" as Bond and Anya drive across the desert and when they take the boat to Cairo.

The second downside is the remake of songs. Bond 77 has obviously been remade, and is not the one from the movie, "Ride To Atlantis" does not sound like the one from the movie, and "The Tanker" is questionable. It sounds like the real one but then it doesn't.

The only reason this CD gets two and a half stars is because of the wonderful title song. It isn't the music from the movie that is bad, it is the music on the CD that is bad. There are bad remakes and songs not even in the movie. All they have to do is release the real music from the movie and the CD would easily get five stars.

Only buy this if you are a die-hard Bond music fan. If not, you would most likely be wasting your money.