While there is always the chance that John Barry
could decide to score another Bond film, odds are that David Arnold doesn't
have anything to worry about as the current Bond composer. Therefore, The
Living Daylights can pretty much stand as Barry's last score for the
long-running franchise.
There have been some fans of Barry's Bond scores
who have taken David Arnold to task for his use of background techno
effects in Tomorrow Never Dies and even
more so in The World is Not Enough. However,
even Barry himself incorporated the pop elements of the day, and this score
is no exception. The action cues utilize a backbeat to drive the orchestra
pieces that are laid on top of it. It works quite well, and adds a certain
amount of tension to the music.
Though the film was not as dark as Timothy
Dalton's next outing, License to Kill, it is still not as light as
some of the Roger Moore Bonds (or even some of the Connery ones for that
matter). Barry's music reflects this with some mysterious tension building
spots. The Sniper Was A Woman is one of the best of these, underlying
one of the best scenes in the film. His romantic pieces remain as lush as
ever. Barry continues his incorporation of the songs into his score pieces,
referencing every song that appears on the disc. That is no small feat, and
they all work well too. His action cues are good, but not
as interesting as some of those he's put out before. They also have a tendency
to repeat themselves quite often.
This release by Ryko adds an addition 25 minutes
of score to the original 40 minute release. I'm sure this a welcome addition
to fans of the score. Unfortunately, Ryko decided to leave the original
album order intact and just drop in the extra tracks at the end. They have
the correct track order listed in the linear notes (which are a little
annoying in that they fold out like a poster), but this really should've
been rectified on the disc itself. The sound quality is excellent however,
and fans of Barry's Bond scores would do well to check this one out. ****
