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Posted: |
Sep 9, 2020 - 10:09 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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I challenge soundtrackers to find a real challenger to this incredible achievement. Similar big band swagger can be found in other areas, such as a TV series or Italian soundtracks. A few I love are Gianni Ferrio's main title for Toto' contro i 4 (1963) & Piero Piccioni's "red hot" theme in Colpo Rovente (1970). Let us not forget Edwin Astley's 1960 DANGER MAN half-hour shows, which merged late-'50s cops-n-robbers crime jazz with the up-n-coming international espionage trend in the '60s. Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, John Dankworth, Ed Astley were all doing jazzy big band before John Barry. (check out, too, Masaru Sato's anachronistic music for Kurosawa's '61 Yojimbo) East of U.K., Polish and German composers were doing jazz scores in this era, too. Was pleasantly surprised to hear Hans-Martin Majewski do some brassy/jazzy scores during '58 & '59 for German cinema. It's hardly surprising you downplay John Barry's significant input in this genre when you do not regard him worthy of mention in the hundred or so favourite composers listed in your User Profile. You have a wider range of names than I know but from those you mention, I do have works by Messrs. Ferrio, Piccioni, Astley, North, Bernstein, Mancini and Dankworth. Yes, they have each produced jazz-based titles tunes and scores, but nothing I've heard compares favourably with Stephen's Goldfinger opening statements. I'm biased, I know, because John Barry is my favourite composer and this score (on the Sunset label) was my first film score purchase (1972) ... I replaced that with a Musicassette tape release, another vinyl LP, the original US CD release and then the expanded CD release (plus numerous 45rpm and other cover versions, etc.) But, as much as I love a lot of the music of those composers so mentioned, John Barry's JB007 sound - across a number of films - remains stellar in comparison. Mitch
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Nice playlist Mitch, flows nicely. I've put the Goldfinger guitar instrumental at the very end.....exit music.
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Did you place the tracks in the UK LP track sequence? It works much better than pasting the other four tracks at the end. No, I just played the CD straight. I should re-sequence it. On the CD, it just peters out at the end. A1 Main Title - Goldfinger / Into Miami 3:37 A2 Golden Girl 2:03 A3 Alpine Drive - Auric's Factory 3:15 A4 Death Of Tilly 1:58 A5 Oddjob's Pressing Engagement 3:05 A6 The Laser Beam 2:47 B1 Bond Back In Action Again 2:29 B2 Pussy Galore's Flying Circus 2:40 B3 Teasing The Korean 2:12 B4 Gassing The Gangsters 1:03 B5 Dawn Raid On Fort Knox 6:43 B6 The Arrival Of The Bomb And Countdown 3:36 B7 The Death Of Goldfinger - End Titles I find that the score runs even better if re-sequenced in film order, so: Move Bond Back in Action Again to the start ... the start is perfect, the end runs wonderfully well into the Main Title. Also: Move Oddjob's Pressing Engagement to play between Gassing the Gangsters and Dawn Raid on Fort Knox. In its place above it breaks the thread running from Bond spying on Goldfinger's factory through to him being transported to the US. Preceding Dawn Raid on Fort Knox it provides the light relief (as in the film) before the serious business starts. It's a great shame that the short cues re: Bond with Pussy following drinks on the porch are omitted but the tale end of Oddjob's Pressing Engagement compensates. The single release (Instrumental Version) which featured on the original US but not on the UK release should be excluded ... play at another time. I agree that its SQ is less than great and a cleaner version would be welcomed by many. Mitch The sound quality issue with the instrumental is that it's in mono. No idea why! I just end the entire program with it.
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Posted: |
Sep 9, 2020 - 10:42 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Well it gets my vote as one of the best Bond scores ever despite the mindnumbing repetitiveness of Dawn Raid on fort knox, possibly Barry's worst track! Just my opinion. Dont shoot me. ... I've written more than once about how my appreciation of music has increased following improvements in my Hi-Fi set-up and this track, running at 5'48", is a prime example. On the old vinyl LP played over a basic stereo LP deck with a cheap amplifier and poor speakers (at the time, a major investment for my parents), it was a struggle to get through this long track, followed by The Arrival of the Bomb and Count Down and The Death of Goldfinger ... the segue into End Titles was a wonderful release But now, that long track is easily absorbed and can be assessed as a combination of tense action, waiting and suspense music. After the opening martial theme, overlaid by the Goldfinger theme (approx 1') we move to its development as things get more tense (the xylophone is fabulous) and explosive ... and then, suddenly, at approx. 2'40" the march stops and we are left waiting ... knowing something's going to happen but what / when? After 50" it's about to explode but ... no ... more waiting (wonderful snare drum) until we're back to the opening march now with the xylophone dominant; a few drum beats bring us the suspenseful last minute ... and a soft conclusion. It's a very clever piece because without any visuals it tells the story. The Roland Shaw version, mentioned elsewhere, is a clever adaption and is, perhaps, better easy-listening, which is its market, but it in no way replaces this masterful soundtrack cue. Mitch
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Posted: |
Sep 9, 2020 - 11:01 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Yeah, I know—GOLDFINGER is ooooold news. ... With that in mind, I sometimes think that in the 56 years since the ground was broken, we might have forgotten just how original, important and groundbreaking GOLDFINGER was. ... I guess I'm just saying GOLDFINGER deserves an extra special round of applause, even if it was surpassed a few times along the way. Cheers I agree, wholeheartedly. I suppose, though, that I don't think about it as I take it for granted ... it's been in my musical realm for nearly 50 years and even if I don't play the score that often it's one I know so well. The film was never my favourite JB007 adventure ... it was the fourth I saw (two double-bills which stupidly ran them From Russia With Love - Doctor No and Thunderball - Goldfinger ... so the first scene I saw was James Bond being stalked and garotted ...) but its relative position in my personal ratings has improved with the release of most/all of the films in the last 25 years. And talking of years, had Goldfinger's plan not failed, we would be looking forward to accessing Fort Knox very soon ... 58 years according to the script I / We have to accept that not everyone is a fan, but I've yet to see any title posted for a film, in this genre, which had such an influential score, prior to Goldfinger (Oct 64). The fact that its template was copied thereafter tells its own story. Mitch
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Also, Goldfinger is much more than just a big band jazz score. Tracks such as Golden Girl, Death of Tilley, Oddjob's Pressing Engagement are more classical in their influences. Barry took an emerging genre and gave it a new sound, merging jazz, lounge, classical, in one glorious concoction that is still influential today.
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Listened to Goldfinger from beginning to end for the first time in a couple of years. I was just wondering why they didn’t place the 4 bonus tracks in their chronological order with the rest of the tracks. When the CD was done I put in the blu-ray and watched the first half hour. The sound in the movie was better than on the CD, at least to my ears. Shirley Bassey’s rendition of the title song is perfect. I saw her in concert in Carnegie Hall several times. She alway sang it, usually at the end, and usually included Diamonds are Forever too. Bassey is a charismatic performer and I wish they would have used her to sing other Bond songs along the way. Mel Matsil I think when the scores were remastered and expanded in 2002 a clause in the contract said the original track order of the US releases was to be maintained so extra tracks were added to the end .
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I really hate when someone mentions the Roland Shaw versions as adaptation when it really is using the original recording sans mono Sound (all Sound in stereo are preseved - those Sound Can be heard if you use remove voice on Audio software) and then had newly recorded overlays Well, this is new information. And it isn't true. Roland Shaw conducted genuine re-recordings of Bond cues, not overlays pasted onto Barry's original tracks.
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Posted: |
Sep 10, 2020 - 7:10 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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I really hate when someone mentions the Roland Shaw versions as adaptation when it realliy is using the original recording sans mono Sound (all Sound in stereo are preseved - those Sound Can be heard if you use remove voice on Audio software) and then had newly recorded overlays Both ZapBrannigan and Dave Norris have picked up on your comment ... which I assume was in relation to my earlier posting (09 Sep) where I used the word "adaption". If you think that the RS version is, somehow, an overlay of JB's original recording from the soundtrack ... then you are mistaken. It is most definitely a new recording, albeit performed very soon after the original. Perhaps the word "adaption" was unfortunate but, to me, it was not a transcription (such as, in classical music, where a chamber piece is transcribed for an orchestra) and it's hardly an arrangement (such as many film themes performed by easy-listening ensembles/orchestras) ... ... but, to me, the cue has been adapted so as be more easy-listening (as part of an album of similar works) whilst retaining the essence of the OST recording. Mitch
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Did you place the tracks in the UK LP track sequence? It works much better than pasting the other four tracks at the end. No, I just played the CD straight. I should re-sequence it. On the CD, it just peters out at the end. A1 Main Title - Goldfinger / Into Miami 3:37 A2 Golden Girl 2:03 A3 Alpine Drive - Auric's Factory 3:15 A4 Death Of Tilly 1:58 A5 Oddjob's Pressing Engagement 3:05 A6 The Laser Beam 2:47 B1 Bond Back In Action Again 2:29 B2 Pussy Galore's Flying Circus 2:40 B3 Teasing The Korean 2:12 B4 Gassing The Gangsters 1:03 B5 Dawn Raid On Fort Knox 6:43 B6 The Arrival Of The Bomb And Countdown 3:36 B7 The Death Of Goldfinger - End Titles I find that the score runs even better if re-sequenced in film order, so: Move Bond Back in Action Again to the start ... the start is perfect, the end runs wonderfully well into the Main Title. Also: Move Oddjob's Pressing Engagement to play between Gassing the Gangsters and Dawn Raid on Fort Knox. In its place above it breaks the thread running from Bond spying on Goldfinger's factory through to him being transported to the US. Preceding Dawn Raid on Fort Knox it provides the light relief (as in the film) before the serious business starts. It's a great shame that the short cues re: Bond with Pussy following drinks on the porch are omitted but the tale end of Oddjob's Pressing Engagement compensates. The single release (Instrumental Version) which featured on the original US but not on the UK release should be excluded ... play at another time. I agree that its SQ is less than great and a cleaner version would be welcomed by many. Mitch I particularly like the few notes of banjo music in the arrival at the horse ranch. It really drives home that Bond is in Kentucky.
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