Diamonds Are Forever Musical Score

Hugo Drax

Its wonderful. From the riveting gunbarrel sequence to the soft DAF tune playing in Tiffany's apartment to the music where Bond goes to Whyte's summerhouse.

One of John Barry's best I'd say, if not the best.

Hardyboy

Hate to disagree with you, Hugo (first Elisha and now this), but I'm not a big fan of the DAF score. . .I think that it borrows heavily from the OHMSS and Thunderball scores and so it sounds kind of stale. But that's just an opinion. . .

Tracy

I happen to like it a lot. Barry knows how to write appropriate music for appropriate scenes. It's jazzy, it's cool, and it's reminiscent of Goldfinger. I don't think it's his best, but it definately is one of the best. I happen to like all of the saxaphone cues when Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are introduced, as well as Blofeld's laser. Wonderful.

Hugo Drax

Quoting Hardyboy:Hate to disagree with you, Hugo (first Elisha and now this)quote]

) I was just talking/thinking about Elisha actually (again)

There are so many great cues in DAF:

- Gunbarrel/manhunt
- Intro of Wint and Kidd
- Bond to Holland
- Case's apartment
- Bond hiding in Metz's minibus (that one is great)
- Moon buggy ride
- Bond and Case on waterbed
- Bond mountaineering outside the Whyte House
- After Bond shoots Blofeld's double
- Bond going to the summerhouse (wonderfully camp)
- The space shuttle going out of control
- Bond arriving on the oil rig
- The final scene- Bond and Case and the Wint/Kidd dialogue and fight.

Hell I've just named every musical cue havent I?

They're all great.

Prince Kamal Khan

I wouldn't say DAF is John Barry's best Bond score but there is no such thing as a bad John Barry Bond score(IMHO). I agree w/Tracy that's it's jazzy and cool. If Henry Mancini had ever composed a Bond score I think it would not be unlike DAF's. The title song by Barry and Don Black is very classy. Its lyrics sound like the musings of a discarded Bond woman(perhaps Paris Carver after she married wealthy Elliot Carver? Of course, those characters didn't exist until 26 yrs. later. Just a thought.)

Bottom line: All in all, another noteworthy effort from Barry and far superior to most of the non-Barry scores in the series.

Hugo Drax

I think it may have replaced TSWLM as my favourite musical score. And yeah the title song is cool, even if the title sequence looks like a advert for Van Cleef and Arpels :007)

Barry's best musical score I would say.

Tracy

Quoting Prince Kamal Khan:I wouldn't say DAF is John Barry's best Bond score but there is no such thing as a bad John Barry Bond score(IMHO). I agree w/Tracy that's it's jazzy and cool. If Henry Mancini had ever composed a Bond score I think it would not be unlike DAF's. The title song by Barry and Don Black is very classy. Its lyrics sound like the musings of a discarded Bond woman(perhaps Paris Carver after she married wealthy Elliot Carver? Of course, those characters didn't exist until 26 yrs. later. Just a thought.)

Bottom line: All in all, another noteworthy effort from Barry and far superior to most of the non-Barry scores in the series.

Interesting about the Mancini idea. I agree with you there.

While I think that DAF's score is very good, I think that OHMSS is still the best. Both are pretty hard to compare.

Sir Miles

The DAF score sounded pretty flat until the new remastered edition. The score is now lifted and sparkles like those beautiful diamonds

Hugo Drax

It surprises me how light and romantic the DAF musical score is. The score is almost ethereal, perfect for a slow-paced romp like DAF. It's great

vanguard

i love the source music cues: from the diamonds instrumental, circus circus, the whyte house, to q's trick. Some people may consider it elevator music, but these tracks have got style.

Then there's the cheesy organ music when Bond meets Morton Slumber, the heavenly choir when they dispose of the body, and hell's furies for when Bond is in the coffin.

Fantastic.

Hugo Drax

I agree with the above post. The music playing when 007 is trying to escape from his coffin is haunting.

Overall it's light-hearted music for a light-hearted film

Dortmunder

The Diamonds are Forever score is one of my most frequently listened to soundtracks. It is definitely one of the better ones. It does go along with the time period in some of the cues, but that brings uniqueness to it. Some of the cues just listening to them, don't exactly sound Bond-ish, but I think that it suits the movie very well. A couple of the pieces even suited the location where Bond was, and I like it when music does exactly that. All the different types of music pieces that are found in the score make it so great.

Hugo Drax

Quoting Dortmunder:
The Diamonds are Forever score is one of my most frequently listened to soundtracks. It is definitely one of the better ones. It does go along with the time period in some of the cues, but that brings uniqueness to it. Some of the cues just listening to them, don't exactly sound Bond-ish, but I think that it suits the movie very well. A couple of the pieces even suited the location where Bond was, and I like it when music does exactly that. All the different types of music pieces that are found in the score make it so great.

That's a very good point Dortmunder which I agree with completely. The DAF score fits in well with the locations. We have a jaunty, fruity tune playing in the casino, a soft piece playing in Tiffany's apartment so we can hear all the wonderful one-liners clearly, the seedy sounding music when Bond and Plenty enter the apartment, setting up his one-liner nicely, the light, camp music preceding the camp fight between Bond and Bambi and Thumper (OK it's not a fight he gets pummelled)

I would say that it is John Barry's best score.

TGO_

Quoting Hardyboy:Hate to disagree with you, Hugo (first Elisha and now this), but I'm not a big fan of the DAF score. . .I think that it borrows heavily from the OHMSS and Thunderball scores and so it sounds kind of stale. But that's just an opinion. . .

Being a bit late, I have to disagree with you too Hardy. I noticed a few percussion notes from OHMSS and horns from Thunderball, but I wouldn't say DAF "borrows heavily" from either. That said, you cant expect a composer who scored 5 films (up to DAF's time) in a series of movies not to revisit a couple of brass or percussion notes.

chrisno1

I did a search for this thread, coz I didnt want to start a new one for no reason...
I watched DAF the other night, because Ive been posting a lot about how much better a film it could have been.
What suprised me most when I watched it was how good the score was. Ive always been a fan of the OHMSS score and this is right up there in lending strong atmosphere to the action and adding character through music (witness the recurring theme when W&K appear) Barry also forsoke the slightly "CarryOn" feeling he sometimes evokes when Bond is confronted with a potential bedmate. It was really good and probably the best thing about the movie in general.

BarryFan

In many ways, DAF the Score is better than DAF the Movie. And while I love both the film and the score, one cue stands out for me- Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper. I mean, a slow version of the JB one theme for once! And it blends the chords and guitar line of the JB theme with the eight-note line of the DAF theme PERFECTLY. Quintessential Barry, quintessential Bond.

Golrush007

BarryFan wrote:

In many ways, DAF the Score is better than DAF the Movie. And while I love both the film and the score, one cue stands out for me- Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper. I mean, a slow version of the JB one theme for once! And it blends the chords and guitar line of the JB theme with the eight-note line of the DAF theme PERFECTLY. Quintessential Barry, quintessential Bond.

I agree with you on that one, BarryFan. For me 'Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper' is the standout cue. Which is quite unusual because on most Bond scores my favourite cue tends to be one of the fast paced action cues.
For more indepth opinions of the daf score, check out this article on my web site: http://gr007.sitesled.com/dafscore.html

Shady Tree

I love almost all the cues in the DAF score. The music enhances the themes of the movie so well: from funereal dark humour to camp impasse; from precarious romance to violent action; from glitzy big-band jazz to a swan-song celebration of Connery-Bond's superstardom. And John Barry seems to "get" the film's locations so well, especially Amsterdam and Vegas, writing music which conveys the touristic appeal of these places but which also relocates them in the imaginary world of 007. (cf. the smooth reworking of bars from the Bond and DAF themes for the shot of the tourist boat in the Amstel, just before we see Mrs. Whistler's body being dredged up: brief but exactly right.)

I first listened to the DAF soundtrack album when I was only seven - when the film was released - and it enthralled me completely. It was on vinyl of course, and my parents had borrowed it for a couple of weeks from the public library. Listening to it brought back the experience of seeing the film in a crowded cinema, which at that age I thought was simply wonderful (even though I was too young to follow the plot: probably an advantage!) I used to pore, fascinated, over the cover art for the album while listening to the tracks. (Again, I was too young to register that the image of the diamonds cascading from the hands of the two Vegas bimbos alongside Connery's crotch is actually smutty and tacky!) I went on to take any opportunity I could to see the film again (nagging my parents to take me back to the cinema whenever DAF was re-released in a double bill) - and later on TV - just so that I could 'learn' and hold in my head the rest of the score (i.e. the many cues not included in the original soundtrack album).

So John Barry's DAF music has been a friend for life, and it remains my favourite - even over OHMSS. For me (perhaps controversially), DAF, OHMSS and TMWTGG are the best three soundtracks overall, with Barry's scoring reaching a sly stylistic peak despite the fact that the films themselves were in an uncertain phase of transition during this period.

Barbel

Shady, you don't mention if you've now got the 2003 re-release, with a LOT more music on it. If not, rush out and get it- you'll love it (I certainly did!).

Shady Tree

You bet I have! :-)

Barbel

Excellent! I love the DAF score too but I don't rate the TMWTGG music very highly, thinking it the weakest of the Barry scores. If I were Dan Same, I would now list my favourite scores in order ) ...

Dan Same

Barbel wrote:

If I were Dan Same, I would now list my favourite scores in order ) ...

) Why don't you pretend you are me and list your favourite scores in order? :v

Barbel

Ok, no problem:

1) Anything by John Barry

2) The rest

Barbel

... slightly more seriously:

1. Top rank John Barry, as in firing on all cylinders- in no particular order OHMSS, DAF, TB, YOLT, MR, LTD

2. The other JB scores- GF (sic), FRWL,AVTAK, OP, TMWTGG in that order

3. David Arnold's work, especially the slower pieces, on TND, CR, TWINE and DAD (in that order)

4. Tied between LALD and TSWLM, both being fine work

5. Burt Bacharach's fun CR67 score

6. Monty Norman's DN stuff has its moments

7. The uninteresting LTK and FYEO

8. The utterly dire NSNA

9. Now let's see, what does that leave....?