Customer Reviews

A View To A Kill

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"A View to a Kill" (1984) was Roger Moore's last outing as James Bond. Overall, it was a disappointing film with perhaps the weakest female lead in the series, an over the top performance by Christopher Walken as the villain, and a premise that never quite took hold. All of that said, John Barry produced one of his best efforts. Barry collaborated with Duran Duran for a solid title song that was well received, and his score was notable for several reasons, beautiful use of the title theme, a smash action theme, and a number of impressive suspense tracks. In two tracks, "Bond Meets Stacey," and "Wine With Stacey," Barry took the brash title tune, changed the tempo and came up with a marvelous love theme. In the pre-title sequence, "Snow Job," a secondary action theme that is somewhat reminiscent of the instrumental theme for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (and that is a great compliment) is introduced and reappears in several other scenes in the the film, including the climax, "Golden Gate Fight." Among other suspenseful tracks is a gem, "Destroy Silicon Valley," a sweeping and menacing track that is equal to Barry's best. In what would prove to be his second to last Bond score, Barry exhibited energy and inventiveness. Indeed, taken along with his last Bond effort, "The Living Daylights," John Barry proved that he was still the best choice to provide music for the Bond epics. "A View to a Kill" has been difficult to find on cd. The Japanese EMI release is available as an import, however, and that is good news for Bond and Barry fans. Fortunately, Amazon has made it easy to order and the price is also acceptable.

This CD is very hard to get, but like Indiana Jones and the temple of doom soundtrack it is well worth it. The Snow Job track has got to be one of the best in the whole James Bond Series. This soundtrack is second only to the Living Daylights!

James Bond certainly does meet his match and goal with the superb music of John Barry. Duran Duran performs the full class rock your house title song which is the only one to date of the series to get the famed #1 spot in the US billboard charts! Considered by many to be one of (or the) hardest soundtrack to obtain. This is a Japanese import of the soundtrack, and unless you can read their writing, the inner booklet won't be of much use. Now on with the music! Tracks Snow Job and Golden Gate Fight provide the listener with a fast-paced exciting, yet suspensful tune that you will be humming for hours. Bond Meets Stacey gives us a slightly different rendition of those other 2 tracks, but on a much slower (and still very nice) pace. All in all, a fantastic soundtrack that IS worth the dollars you pay for it. Hey, it's James Bond, who cares how much it is!?

A very good James Bond score with a smashing main title song and a very exciting action theme (i.e. on track 1: "Snow Job" and on track 8: "He's dangerous"). This soundtrack was released as a Japanese import and is therefore a bit more difficult to obtain. But it works !

It all started when I went out with my friends to a club in Ypsilanti, Michigan. I requested the song "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran just because I remembered it from the James Bond movie of the same name I saw as a kid. Well, I loved the song! I ran out and bought "Decade", a Duran Duran CD and loved it! I rented the movie "A View to a Kill" and loved it too! Next thing you know, I became a Duran Duran fan, a Christopher Walken fan (he stars in the film) and a James Bond fan. This CD takes that original hit song along with many other instrumental tunes from the movie and makes an awesome soundtrack. Tracks like "Snow Job," and "Golden Gate Fight" are an awesome blend of electric guitar and orchestra. Buy this CD, and see the movie. They go hand in hand. It's truly worth the $21 you pay.

One of the hardest to find of the Bond film scores, the soundtrack to "A View to a Kill," is pure 80's mixed in with the master orchestration of John Barry. The theme song by Duran Duran, which was the only Bond theme song to reach the number one spot on the charts, is still one of my favorites songs even today. Although available on Duran Duran compilation albums, the song's score as played by Barry's orchestra is as hauntiong and beautiful as it was when it was released in 1984.

The score, which in my opinion is one of the best in the film series, was an arrangement of woodwinds, strings, and a bit of elctronica to give the film the appropriate sound for an 80's film. It is a shame that Varese Sabrande, the exclusive distributor of Bond scores here in the U.S., because they have released others in the series in the past year. But for now, anyone looking for this film score will have to settle for this Japanese import. Unless you know how to read traditional Japanese characters, then the booklet that comes with the compact disc will be useless.

It's great to see that Amazon carries this import for all of those desperately trying to obtain a copy of this great score. A great film score like this shouldn't belong in the depths of some musical archives at a film studio.

This is perhaps John Barry's finest James Bond score ever! The track "Snow Job" is the best action theme that I have ever heard next to the James Bond Theme which also appears here. Brings back fond memories of when I first became a James Bond fan.

If you are afflicted with the "standing dumb struck" disease of well crafted minor chord music as I am, then three tracks on this CD will simply knock you down. The title song is awesome but you need to be in the beat mood to listen. The best scores this side of the Biblical epics of Mikolos Rosa's melancholy love songs are "Bond Meets Stacey" and "Wine with Stacey". I should leave the comments of the acting to others -- it was overplayed but I have known real (and beautiful) women such as the way Stacey was played so it was not hard for me to believe the story. Its the first time I saw what appeared to be "real" tenderness acted toward a women by Bond rather than pure gratification -- interesting premise. The music helped to provide that appearance.

Regardless what fans think of the movie itself, the music for 14th James Bond adventure ranks with "The Living Daylights" as one of the best Bond scores ever (I'm not including "Licence To Kill" or the recent ones with Pierce Brosnan, as Mr. Barry didn't score the music for the films). This score is classic John Barry writing James Bond.

I would recommend this CD to those who know and love the music from the film. It is not necessarily for the casual listener. Although it is a bit repetitive with its themes, I am happy that it contains the essential tracks from the film. It is well worth the import price, as it is not currently available domestically.