Top 5 John Barry compositions

I was very sad to hear the news that John Barry had passed away. His music played a huge part in the films I enjoyed growing up, and so many of those themes bring back wonderful images of some of my favourite movies. Bond gave me my first taste of John Barry and I have already done a Bond Theme top five, but his collection of work is much greater than just soundtracking our favourite British Spy.

If you want to pick up a complete collection of his very best work I can highly recommend Themeology. That is an album I've played an awful lot and at £3.99 is a bit of a bargain. If you've got more cash to spare then try Thempendium which is a fairly exhaustive four CD box set.

It's really tough to put the five tracks I've selected into order and I really think any one of these could be in top position and I'd still be happy. Have to stick to my own rules though so this is what I think right now.

1. Theme from The Persuaders - Spine tingling intro to the seventies crime series starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.



2. The James Bond Theme - A monster of a tune that whatever Barry's role in its creation (Officially a Monty Norman composition arranged by JB) defined the sound of nearly all the Bond music that followed.



3. Midnight Cowboy - Haunting harmonica driven tune that provides the melancholy backing to the latter part of the film.



4. Main Title Theme from The Ipcress File - Intertwines perfectly with the sounds of Harry Palmer in the kitchen as he makes coffe and gets ready for the day.



5. We Have All The Time In The World - One of my all time favourite songs.



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Top 5 Bond Theme Music

I'd originally planned to do five Bond top fives as a build up to the new film release but, as is so often the case when compiling them, I had one more subject I didn't want to leave out. How to fit six into five? I couldn't leave Bond without an opportunity to sing John Barry's praises. So, just one more I thought, but no, Rich from my work football team suggested another topic as well. I couldn't duck away from the challenge so, if my typing fingers are up to it, there should be a second top 5 up later today.

1. The James Bond Theme (Monty Norman, arr. John Barry)
The opening theme for "Dr No" has also become the ubiquitous theme for Bond in every film and I almost thought about removing it from contention. A fantastic instrumental that caused much debate over exactly who wrote it but remains as perfect a theme tune as your likely to hear.

2. Goldfinger (John Barry/Leslie Bricusse/Antony Newley, vocal-Shirley Bassey)Another tune that I nearly considered too obvious to include. I gave it a spin early in the week and realised it's just too good to ignore. Great vocal performance from Bassey.

3. Thunderball (John Barry/Don Black, vocal-Tom Jones)
Despite a bit of a struggle to fit the title of the film into the lyrics this is a fantastic song. Fabulous horns throughout (a sure sign of great production in my book), Tom Jones cranking out the words and a dramatically held last note that supposedly resulted in Jones collapsing to the floor when he'd finished. Superb stuff.

4. We Have All The Time In The World (John Barry/Hal David, vocal-Louis Armstrong) One of my all time favourite songs, the soppy romantic that I am. Not the official theme of the film ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was another corking Barry instrumental) but used as the love theme for Bond and Di Vincenzo as well as the closing theme following her death.

5. From Russia With Love (John Barry/Lionel Bart, vocal-Matt Munro)
A nice bit of lounge to lull you into a false sense of security and another wonderful vocal, this time from Matt Munro.

Disclaimer: Other composers have worked on Bond scores. They're just not as good as John Barry!