The Living Daylights

With every Bond we have the same trademarks, they worked before and don't deny that they will work again. In the movie we have them, the character James Bond (usually Sean Connery, this time Timothy Dalton (no, he's very good)), the sexy beautiful women, the gadgets and our favorite one liners "Bond, James Bond" and Martini, shaken not stirred". On album it was practically the same, trademarks all over the place, the main Bond composer (sadly John Barry's last Bond score), the main Bond song, and the main Bond theme. It works, it has its charm, it has the Bond characteristics people are ready to see again and again, to hear over and over. And I feel The Living Daylights has two reasons for listening to it again and again. One, it is John Barry's last entry in the list and secondly, you hardly can find better Bond scores on the earth. This is probably his last and best Bond score in the long lists of entries. The main release has 10 tracks, the people decided to throw 9 extra cues at us, gave us the right order to play them, delivered us expansive liner notes and what to say of the sound quality? Excellent for enjoying it time after time. The Living Daylights offers us 4 themes, the main Bond Theme, heard for instance during 'Ice Chase', the main theme of the respected movie in the list, this more then usually finds its way in the main song and again here, its best outing is discovered during 'Hercules Takes Off', the villain theme or bad guys in general, 'Necros Attacks' and the song 'Where has Every Body Gone' and the love theme in 'Approaching Kara', 'Into Vienna' and the song 'If There was a Man'.

These themes weave in and out as we speak and categorize each central aspect of the story. And to speak completely fair, they are great themes, so to say that almost each track is a joy to hear. The bonus cues are great, just some of them are a bit unnecessary but overall they are a treat for having them on the expanded disc. The most enjoyable bonus cues are 'Exercise at Gibraltar', 'Murder at the Fair', '"Assassin" and Drugged', 'Air Bond' and 'Alternate End Titles' (using the Kara love theme). I've never been the biggest fan of the movies or the scores, I simply feel that just like the Star Trek franchise what the point is to hear each time the same main theme with an original one. But this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the good examples of the list, and The Living Daylights is one of them, Barry's last but probably one of the best ever composed for Bond himself. The songs, always an extra pigment are enjoyable, it figures you will enjoy them if you enjoy the central sound of the movie. The A-Ha song is probably one of my favorite Bond songs, hardly the main feel of a Bond song but I simply loved those songs (especially of A-Ha) at the time. Considering the material present on the album, the liner notes, the presentation and most importantly the quality of the score, it is a vital necessity to anyone's growing Bond collection. With other words, The Living Daylights is typically Barry, John Barry.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. The Living Daylights: A-HA * (4.14) Excellent Track

2. Necros Attacks (2.02)

3. The Sniper Was A Woman (2.28)

4. Ice Chase + (4.03) Excellent Track

5. Kara Meets Bond (2.45)

6. Koskov Escapes (2.22)

7. Where Has Every Body Gone: The Pretenders ** (3.35)

8. Into Vienna (2.48)

9. Hercules Takes Off (2.15) Excellent Track

10. Mujahadin And Opium (3.11)

11. Inflight Fight (3.10)

12. If There Was A Man: The Pretenders ** (2.53)

Bonus Tracks

13. Exercise At Gibraltar (6.19) Excellent Track

14. Approaching Kara (2.19)

15. Murder At The Fair (2.19)

16. "Assassin" And Drugged (2.41)

17. Airbase Jailbreak (4.35)

18. Afghanistan Plan (3.32)

19. Air Bond (1.44)

20. Final Confrontation (1.56)

21. Alternate End Titles (3.20)

* Written by J. Barry / P. Waaktaar

+ Written by J. Barry / M. Norman

** Written by J. Barry / C. Hynde

Correct Order: (13 - 1 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 7 - 14 - 5 - 4 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 10 - 18 - 9 - 11 - 19 - 20 - 12)

Tracks 8 and 21 aren't heard during the movie

Total Length: 65.19

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: John Barry ===