[.ca] Goldfinger James Bond

The score with the midas touch:
One of the few Bond films where the score is as good as the film Sean is at his best and Barry delivers one of his best scores for a Bond film and here it is at last complete on a single disc (the bonus tracks were released on the British LP and later on the Bond Twenty Fifth Annivesary Edition two disc set). Bassey"s title is the best she did for the films. The highlights of the CD are Bond Back In Action Again for the pre-credits featuring the Bond Theme at its coolest and Dawn Raid On Fort Knox which is a soaring peice of action music as Pussy's pilots gas the Fort. This score is filled with classic Barry big brass sections and is amust for all fans of Barry's music. P.S. Why weren't Man with the Golden Gun, Dr No, From Russia with Love, Octupussy, and A View to a Kill given the same treatment is beyond me Money restraints my a**.

The most famous Bond score of all -- expanded!:
This CD release of "Goldfinger," the most famous of all James Bond scores and without a doubt one of the most influential soundtracks ever produced, expands the album for the first time for U.S. buyers to the original length of the U.K. album. The U.K. album had four extra tracks ("Pussy Galore's Flying Circus," "Golden Girl," "Laser Beam," and "Death of Tilley") that were mysteriously cut from the original Stateside release. These four tracks later appeared on a compilation CD, but this is the first time all the tracks have been released on one CD for American consumption. The CD is also wonderfully re-mastered, far superior to the old CD release that was muffled and even had misaligned track markers! (The sound difference is most notable on the brassy, hard swingin' instrumental cover of the theme song, which on the original CD sounded scratchy, as if it were lifted directly from an old vinyl record!) This album, however, is missing a track that would have been a nice extra: Anthony Newley's original demo recording of the theme song, smooth and low-key, which makes for an interesting contrast to Shirley Bassey's hard jazz-pop rendition heard in the film. What is there to say about this music that hasn't been said a million times in books, documentaries, reviews, and Internet forums? It's the quintessential 'spy jazz' album, and it changed action film music forever. John Barry had worked (mostly un-credited) on "Dr. No," did the full score for the remarkable "From Russia, With Love," but here he absolutely explodes with an original vibrant style for the series and charted the way for every score to follow. Barry took his experience as a jazz/rock trumpeter and bandleader (he headed the popular British group "The John Barry Seven") and expanded it into a tremendous orchestral juggernaut. The melody "Goldfinger" (with lyrics by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse) becomes a screaming, sexy jazz anthem, with Shirley Bassey's sassy and snarling reading of the lyrics making the piece into an instant, unforgettable classic chart-topper. It's the most famous title song from the Bond films, and deservedly so. Throughout the rest of the score, Barry uses the theme song in interesting ways. "Alpine Drive" presents the lyrical, laid back John Barry. The instrumental version of the theme song (which isn't in the film) is gritty and guitar-driven, and also includes music from "Dawn Raid on Fort Knox." "Oddjob's Pressing Engagement" makes great up-tempo use of the Goldfinger theme as well. The famous James Bond theme appears in "Bond Back in Action" (the music for the pre-credits sequence). Barry uses very mysterious, sexy music for "Teasing the Korean" (lots of musical jokes and stings on this one), "Golden Girl," "Auric's Factory," "Gassing the Gangsters," and the extremely tense "Laser Beam." The score highlight, however, is the lengthy, pounding "Dawn Raid on Fort Knox," which starts with a slow building military march on snare-drums and gradually grows into an explosive version of the Goldfinger Theme and concludes with dramatic, tense vibraphone and brass punctuations as Goldfinger's private army lasers its way through the doors of Fort Knox. This is followed up with "Arrival of Bomb and Countdown," where a thundering hypnotic brass piece builds up the 'seconds-to-doom' finale. ("A few more ticks and Mr. Goldfinger would have hit the jackpot.") This really is a quintessential film music album. It's jazz. It's lounge. It's swing. It's rock. It's lyrical. It's JAMES BOND in a single CD, and it will transport you back to the mid-sixties when Bond, martinis, divas, and loud sexy trumpets seemed to rule the world. Tip your razor-bladed bowler hats to John Barry, the Bond musical master -- and buy this album!

Goldfinger is Bond music at it's best.:
This is perhaps the most popular and most well scored of the 007 movies with John Barry's orchestration and the title singing of Shirley Bassy all working in unison to tell the story of the film from the point of only the music track, and the lyrics.

Definitive Musical Establishment of a Screen Icon:
I don't think any other soundtrack did for a film or film series what GOLDFINGER did for James Bond. Now, the definitive CD of all the currently available music from GOLDFINGER has been re-mastered and assembled for this CD. The main title of GOLDFINGER performed by Shirley Bassey is the definitive theme that sets the benchmark for all of James Bond's cinematic adventures. Not just the melody but the very sound and delivery musically identifies what a James Bond film is all about. Composer John Barry and lyricists Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley have the gratitude of many generations of James Bond fans. Musically I believe it is essential to have a strong main title to a Bond film, which goes in tandem with the James Bond Theme when properly juxtaposed. The film and how it fits into the world of James Bond relies on a delicate balancing act of musical scoring. In many ways GOLDFINGER is also the definitive James Bond score. If you listen to John Barry's eloquent and stimulating compositions: "Alpine Drive" and "Oddjob's Pressing Engagement" you can hear this juxtaposition of the "Goldfinger" main title and the "James Bond Theme" composed as a counterbalance to the battle of wits that Bond and Goldfinger engage in on the screen. Track 4: "Bond Back in Action Again" can not go unmentioned because this again is another innovative use of the "James Bond Theme" that clearly defines James Bond from the opening gun barrel right through the pre-titles opening sequence. For this CD "Golden Girl," "Death Of Tilley," "The Laser Beam," "Pussy Galore's Flying Circus" and "Goldfinger (Insturmental Version)" are all available for once in a single compendium of music for this film representing the era and fervor whence it was composed. "Pussy Galore's Flying Circus" is a bawdy showpiece of scoring from that time. The important "Golden Girl" firmly establishes the emotional drive behind James Bond that he himself is a blunt instrument for seeing good vanquish evil in a world where such notions of gallantry were clearly becoming blurred. This is an essential James Bond soundtrack.

An overdue upgrade that goes beyond expectation!:
We've been waiting a long time for this soundtrack to be remastered from the original tapes and reissued with additional music from the film that was left off of the LP. I am completely blown away by the clarity of the music on this CD. It not only sounds better than ever, I didn't even think it COULD sound this good! Even the title song by Shirley Bassey sounds cleaner and hotter here than it does on the most recent "Best Of Bond" collection. Tracks like "Oddjob's Pressing Engagment", "Bond Back In Action Again" and "Arrival Of The Bomb And Countdown" are breathtaking in their clarity and dynamic range. The one track that always sounded so muddy on this album, John Barry's instrumental version of the title theme, still doesn't sound as good as the rest of the songs, but it is much more sonically pleasing than it's been before. I guess that even though I've been waiting for this reissue for a decade and a half, I'd have to say that it's definitely been worth the wait.

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