Music by John Barry
Guitar used by Vic Flick on original James Bond Theme to be auctioned
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The guitar used to create the most famous film theme in the world, The James Bond Theme, is to be auctioned on 16th December. The Clifford Essex Paragon De Luxe, manufactured around 1939, was purchased by its current owner, guitarist Vic Flick, in 1958.
Originally an acoustic instrument, it was later converted to an electric guitar on being fitted with a DeArmond pick-up, and was frequently used by Flick on his recordings with The John Barry Seven & Orchestra.
Flick used it in June and July of 1962 when the two original recordings of The James Bond Theme were made. The first of these was recorded at CTS Studios, Bayswater, London, and could be heard as the opening theme and throughout the very first Bond film, Dr. No, and the second at Abbey Road Studios, London, for a commercial release on EMI's Columbia label. The latter recording became a big hit for The John Barry Seven & Orchestra.
Bidding in a range of $30,000 to $50,000 is suggested but this historic guitar could be sold for a great deal more.
Profiles in History - Drama, Action, Romance: The Hollywood Auction, takes place on 15th & 16th December in California. On-line bidding is encouraged, see http://www.profilesinhistory.com/buyers/bid-online/ for more details.
Omnibus documentary "John Barry-Licence to Thrill" on BBC 4
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The Omnibus documentary "John Barry-Licence to Thrill" will be repeated on BBC 4, 8.10pm and 11.30pm on December 14.
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Hello,
At Classic FM we're huge fans of film music, John Barry and in particular the sound and style of the iconic James Bond soundtracks. Great film music paints a scene and creates suspense in an unique and stylish way – and when it comes to Bond composers, especially John Barry, well, nobody does it better.
We've got a couple great, exclusive pieces about James Bond music…
On Friday we interviewed Skyfall Soundtrack composer Thomas Newman and Bond music great David Arnold. You can listen again to the interview here: http://www.classicfm.com/ composers/newman/news/ james-bond-celebration-music-00 7/
We've also created this stunning infographic showing 50 years of music for 007: http://promo.classicfm.co.uk/ misc/infographics/bond/ embed.html
We'd be delighted if you would share these with your fans and followers.
Best regards,
Kyle Macdonald
Community Manager
"Brighton Rock" 2004 newpaper (pre)reviews added
Written by WebmasterBest and worst James Bond themes named in new chart
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Best and worst James Bond themes named in new chart
"A new chart has listed all of the signature songs from each of the 22 films in order of popularity, based on the numbers of plays they have had on television, radio and the internet... ... in the fifteen years covered by the data."
The Telegraph.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Celebrates Bond
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Celebrates Bond
Moderated byJon Burlingame, author of The Music of James Bond
Happy James Bond 50th anniversary to EON Productions!
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Happy James Bond 50th anniversary to EON Productions!
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Mark Morton's round-table interview involving a host of today's film, television, and video game composers. Throughout the piece, the panel have nothing but amazing things to say about John Barry and his work.
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King Kong: deluxe edition, Composed by John Barry, $24.95 (2 CD), Ships October 2nd!
Best of Bond, James Bond - 50th Anniversary Edition
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2 CDs. Tracklisting:
Disk: 1
1. James Bond Theme - The John Barry Orchestra
2. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro
3. Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey
4. Thunderball - Tom Jones
5. You Only Live Twice - Nancy Sinatra
6. On Her Majestys Secret Service - The John Barry Orchestra
7. We Have All The Time In The World - Louis Armstrong
8. Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey
9. Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
10. The Man With The Golden Gun - Lulu
11. Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon
12. Moonraker - Shirley Bassey
13. For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton
14. All Time High - Rita Coolidge
15. A View To A Kill - Duran Duran
16. The Living Daylights - a-ha
17. Licence To Kill - Gladys Knight
18. GoldenEye - Tina Turner
19. Tomorrow Never Dies - Sheryl Crow
20. The World Is Not Enough - Garbage
21. Die Another Day - Madonna
22. You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
23. Another Way To Die - Jack White & Alicia Keys
Disk: 2
1. Dr. No's Fantasy - The Monty Norman Orchestra
2. Under The Mango Tree - Diana Coupland
3. 007 - The John Barry Orchestra
4. Opening Titles (Medley) - The John Barry Orchestra
5. Into Miami - The John Barry Orchestra
6. The Laser Beam - The John Barry Orchestra
7. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Shirley Bassey
8. Switching The Body - The John Barry Orchestra
9. Capsule In Space - The John Barry Orchestra
10. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown - Nina
11. Bond Smells A Rat - The John Barry Orchestra
12. Fillet Of Soul - New Orleans / Live And Let Die / Fillet Of Soul
13. Underground Lair - The John Barry Orchestra
14. Hips Trip - The John Barry Orchestra
15. The Pyramids - Marvin Hamlisch
16. Cable Car And Snake Fight - The John Barry Orchestra
17. Make It Last All Night - Bill Conti (featuring Rage)
18. The Chase Bomb Theme - The John Barry Orchestra
19. Snow Job - The John Barry Orchestra
20. Where Has Everybody Gone - The Pretenders
21. If There Was A Man - The Pretenders
22. The Experience Of Love - Eric Serra
23. James Bond Theme (Moby's Re Version) - Moby
24. Surrender - k.d. lang
25. Only Myself To Blame - Scott Walker
26. Vesper - David Arnold
27. Time To Get Out - David Arnold
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Very nice 2001 interview with John Barry on BBC Radio 2 Friday Night Is Music Night. It included him speaking with great affection of his time before 1962 when he was with the John Barry Seven, arranging for Adam Faith and playing at the Rialto. Worth catching on BBC Iplayer if you missed it. The interview is around the half way point in the programme.
I enjoyed the Bond & Beyond concert on BBC Radio 2 on Friday night, though I actually watched it on BBC's red button facility. A few errors by the presenters and caption-writers, but the performance by the BBC Philharmonic was mostly excellent. Some of the non-Bond music was not really from Spy movies, but I was pleased to hear North by Northwest & Where Eagles Dare anyway. Claire Moore & Lance Ellington did some decent versions of Bond songs but I thought the sound balance was wrong for Ren Harvieu.
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Monte Walsh shown in UK on TCM, 31st August at 6.55pm
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Dances With Wolves (Here's To The Heroes)while Olympic flame was extinguished at the closing ceremony.
The final notes of Dances With Wolves (Farewell And End Titles (a.k.a Here's To The Heroes) were played as the Olympic cauldron was extinguished at the closing ceremony.
Here is a clip on Youtube (courtesy: 111cazza)
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John Barry's London apartment exterior at 82 Cadogan Square features in the USA SKYFALL trailer for two seconds (0.36 - 0.37).
It is indeed M's apartment as we suggested in our news entry below when we saw photos online of filiming.
Though the interior does not look to be the Cadogan Square interior, so possibly studio?
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The Quiller Memorandum Intrada CD released
Intrada have released The Quiller Memorandum on CD. The CD "features album program in stereo from Columbia master tapes, courtesy Sony. For album fans, original artwork features on one side of booklet, all new artwork features on other side...." More
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Exactly 50 years ago, on Thursday 21st June 1962, John Barry assembled an orchestra at CTS Studios, Bayswater, to record the theme for a new modestly-budgeted film called Doctor No. Bet neither he nor Victor Flick, the guitarist on that session, thought that recording would still be around in 2012! I believe Vic received £7 or £8 for his work that day, and I imagine he's long since spent it ....
"John Barry - The Lost Tapes", BBC radio programme, June 26
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From the BBC website
"Eddi Fiegel explores the music of John Barry, drawing on a previously lost interview which gives a revealing insight into the British composer’s early film career and songwriting processes.
John Barry, who passed away last year, was best known for his scores for the early James Bond films, as well as Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves.
The winner of five Oscars, Barry was a private man - but in John Barry: The Lost Tapes Eddi Fiegal provides a revealing insight into his working life.
Presenter/Eddi Fiegel, Producer/John Sugar for Sugar productions"
Tuesday 26 June
11.30-12.00pm
BBC RADIO 4
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
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We are very sad to hear that singer Donna Summer has died of cancer. She was 63. She recorded "Down, Deep Inside with John for "The Deep".
Photo by Sian Barry, who commented on Facebook:
"This is a photo I took of her 1977 in connection with the recording of The Deep. Will never forget her wonderful personality!"
The 2012 Land Rover LR4 advert features "Born Free"
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Lance Ellington was the vocallist, apparently, singing "Born Free". have a look and listen here...
Update April 15, 2015: Link no longer works.
"John Barry: Licence to Thrill - Omnibus" on BBC4
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At long last ......
DOCUMENTARY: John Barry: Licence to Thrill - Omnibus
On: BBC 4 (9)
Date: Wednesday 28th March 2012
Time: 00:40 to 01:30 (50 minutes long)
Documentary about John Barry, the most successful film score composer of the 20th century. From his work on the Bond movies, Born Free, Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves and many more he has produced cinema's most memorable music, winning five Oscars in the process. But behind all the Hollywood glitz and glamour, Yorkshire born Barry is a private and self-effacing man who talks emotionally about his early childhood, his relationship with his father and the impact of World War II. This is the first film ever to profile Barry and joining him are Michael Caine, Kevin Costner, and Adam Faith.
SKYFALL location filming: "M"'s residence John Barry's London home?
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Still photos of Dame Judi Dench as "M" filming Skyfall in London, appear to show her leaving John Barry's former apartment in Cadogan Square, which we assume now belongs to his wife.
The apartment is empty and available for rental so it's perfectly feasible that Laurie could have allowed filming there for a few days, especially given her long-standing friendship with Barbara Broccoli.
Was this merely used as somewhere for Dame Judi to rest between takes in Cadogan Square, or is it going to double as M's or even James Bond's private London residence?
Certainly the interior is rather grand and admirably suited to a person of their standing, though one imagines scenes of this kind would normally be shot in the studio,
We await any further news of this with great interest.
Photos: mi6-hq.com and zimbio.com: also see photo link to their website above.
Scarlette Fever releases "Give Me a Smile" on CD
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Singer Scarlette Fever has released her version Give Me a Smile on her latest CD Medication Time. We understand that the song is the hidden 15th track.
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James Bond 50th Anniversary Gala in London
Royal Festival Hall
Fri 23 Nov 2012 7:30pm
Carl Davis, conductor
Mary Carewe, vocalist
Lance Ellington, vocalist
Carl Davis will conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in a programme which will include music from all 22 Bond films to date, including Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill and Quantum of Solace. Solo theme singers will be Mary Carewe and Lance Ellington.
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There is or rather will be a nice interview with "Vic Flick 007 Guitarman", in Vintage Guitar, April 2012
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Richard Lester, is being awarded a BFI Fellowship on 22nd March 1830 NFT1 at BFI SouthBank London. The film being shown to illustrate his work is 'Robin And Marian'.
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Bond and Beyond: Celebrating 50 Years of 007
Michael Krajewski, conductor
Debbie Gravitte, soprano
Seattle Symphony
From Seattle with love! The Orchestra celebrates the golden anniversary of the world's favorite spy, performing the music that made the Bond films famous. February 2,3,4,5. More...
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Corina Brouder, who worked with John Barry on "Swept from the Sea" in 1997 is in Malta now to record the John Barry / Don Black song "Give Me a Smile", which first appeared as an instrumental on the album "The Beyondness of Things."
"Give Me a Smile" was first given to Corina to perform at the 2001 Royal Albert Hall John Barry concert than never happened. So far only her rehearsal tape survives. But now that's going to change.
We understand that lyricist Don Black has given his blessing.
Corina is working in the studio in Malta with producer and broadcaster Giles Squire who is also an ardent John Barry fan.
Remaining Bonds to be released on Blu-ray format
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The remaining James Bond movies are to be released on the Blu-ray format. No release date yet. The titles scored by John Barry are:
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Diamonds are Forever
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
The Living Daylights
The entire series "James Bond - 22 Film Collection" is to be released as a box set too. The DVD set will see a Release Date of: 1 Oct 2012
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We regret to say our discussion forum is now closed for the foreseeable future. Whereas it is true to say it was not often used, we were also constantly having to deal with spammers.
In the meantime we would refer you to The John Barry Appreciation Society page on Facebook where lively discussion often entails.
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Geoff (owner) and Ruud (webmaster) have been running the John Barry website since June 18, 2001. This website is not endorsed by the composer's family. Use of copyrighted materials and logos are for promotional purposes only. All files on this website are for personal use only and cannot be bought or sold.
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