Orchestrated and Conducted by John Barry

Produced by Lukas Kendall

Release Date: February 25, 2003

      EMI / Capitol Records

     By the time You Only Live Twice rolled around, Sean Connery had been James Bond a total of four times. Even by today's standards of franchise building, that's quite a track record. Expectedly, Connery was tiring of the role and began letting it be made known that he was ready to hang up his Walther PPK. Thus, while You Only Live Twice was still a good Bond film, it feels a bit lacking compared to the previous entries. The plot is outlandish as usual, and the Japanese setting is quite beautiful, but Connery's noticeable fatigue almost offsets everything else.

     While Connery's displeasure with the role may have stunted the film, composer John Barry is obviously not tiring of the franchise just yet, and delivers what I believe to be the most beautiful of the James Bond scores, no doubt helped in part by the wonderful visuals of Japanese landscapes. In addition, the plot detailing the theft of U.S. and Russian spacecraft while in orbit brings a science-fiction edge to the franchise that would be Barry's first entry into that genre (a style he would turn to again for Moonraker and The Black Hole). We are first treated to this new style in Capsule in Space, a plodding, mysterious march that highlights the first spacecraft theft at the beginning of the film. The march pops up later on in the score, culminating in its tension-building appearance at the end of Bond Averts World War III. The Japanese influence arrives with track three and immediately makes an impression. The Fight at Kobe Dock is wonderfully low-key, transforming the opening title song into an underscore that perfectly fits the action. The second part of the cue, Helga, successfully places another portion of the title theme in the middle of a lush string section, creating an extraordinarily beautiful end to this track.

     This is currently the last Barry Bond score to have received the expanded treatment, and what a treatment it is. The sound quality, like the other albums, is top notch and the bonus material is quite welcome (especially Little Nellie which I consider to have the one of the best performances of Barry's 007 theme). Like Thunderball, the sequencing is a bit screwed up in the bonus section, but the tracks are generally shorter. While the previous album represented the score fairly well (and is one of the best of the original releases), this new release is generally well done like the rest and should be considered the definitive version of this score on CD at this time.

1 - You Only Live Twice (2:46)

2 - Capsule in Space (2:42)

3 - Fight at Kobe Dock - Helga (4:01)

4 - Tanaka's World (2:05)

5 - A Drop in the Ocean (2:58)

6 - The Death of Aki (4:20)

7 - Mountains and Sunsets (3:10)

8 - The Wedding (2:46)

9 - James Bond - Astronaut? (3:30)

10 - Countdown for Blofeld (2:37)

11 - Bond Averts World War III (2:18)

12 - You Only Live Twice - End Title (3:33)

Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks

13 - James Bond in Japan (10:41)

14 - Aki, Tiger, and Osato (5:43)

15 - Little Nellie (3:45)

16 - Soviet Capsule (2:05)

17 - SPECTRE and the Village (3:46)

18 - James Bond - Ninja (7:06)

19 - Twice Is the Only Way to Live (2:50)