James Bond soundtracks

For Roger Moore’s seventh and final outing as James Bond, he was once again reunited with director John Glen and composer John Barry.  1985’s A View To A Kill was the fourteenth 007 movie and, once again, the series followed a pattern of turning from serious spy movies (For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy) to [...]

After the success of James Bond’s twelfth adventure, For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore and director John Glen were reunited in 1983 for Bond’s new adventure, Octopussy. And, for the first time since 1979′s Moonraker, legendary composer John Barry was able to rejoin the team to provide the score for the thirteenth 007 adventure. Octopussy [...]

The Bond series frequently follows the same pattern.  Films get ever more action-packed and begin to feature increasing numbers of gadgets and explosions.  That is, until a director decides to change direction and revert back to a more subdued affair, more faithful to Ian Fleming’s books.  It happened with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as [...]

Due to a high level of taxation in the UK at the time, the production of James Bond XI was primarily moved to France.  In addition to the construction of some of the biggest ever sets that France had seen, the relocation of Moonraker to the continent also meant that John Barry could return to [...]

By the time the next instalment of the James Bond series was due to be released, much had changed. Despite the relative success of Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun, 007 was in danger of being overtaken by new, spectacular summer blockbuster films including cinema’s latest phenomenon: Star Wars. With [...]

After the success of Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond in Live and Let Die, the English actor returned in 1974 to film the ninth instalment of the 007 series, The Man With The Golden Gun.  Based on Fleming’s novel – the last written before his death in 1964 – Bond heads to Asia to [...]

Part of the charm of the Bond series is that although the basic ideas and characters have remained consistent throughout, aspects of the films have changed during its unprecedented forty year success. This was certainly the case in 1973.  Not only did the Bond series welcome a new lead actor in Roger Moore, but for [...]

James Bond producers Harry Saltzmann and Cubby Broccoli decided to change direction for the seventh movie in the series, Diamonds Are Forever.

With Sean Connery having already announced that he was leaving his role as James Bond, and with a new director, Peter Hunt, on board, it was clear that the sixth film in the Bond franchise was going to differ markedly from the previous efforts. John Barry, who had by this time won an Oscar for [...]

After the stunning commercial success of Thunderball, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzmann initially turned to Ian Fleming’s novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for the fifth instalment in the film franchise. However, problems with finding suitable locations for the book’s wintry setting led them to turn to Fleming’s twelfth novel, You Only Live Twice. With [...]