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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Barry's last 007 soundtrack - sob!, 20 Sep 2000
This, John Barry's third Bond soundtrack of the 1980's is the most orchestral of the trio. In keeping with the last film (A View To A Kill), Barry used the services of a popular chart-topping band for the title song. For The Living Daylights, a-ha were asked to do the honours for the fifteenth Bond film. Although not as popular or as successful as Duran Duran, a-ha, with barry's help, did provide another high-charting hit, reaching number 5 in Great Britain.For the first time since Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only score, Barry used the services of not one, but two bands. Supplementary songs for this film were provided by The Pretenders ("If There Was A Man" and "Where Has Everybody Gone"). These neither got the publicity nor, thusly, the success of the title song, but they go down as Bond "standards", in tune with the time of the film's production. The Rykodisc release of the soundtrack, the version I possess, contains not only the originally released themes, but also nine additional tracks. These include "Exercise At Gibraltar" (which starts with the James Bond Theme played over the "gunbarrel sequence") and "Air Bond" (covering Bond's control of the Hercules). Both are very good tunes, with the latter containing an action theme which would be replicated in other tracks of the soundtrack - a similar fashion to the soundtrack of A View To A Kill. Other "belting" orchestral themes include "Inflight Fight" and "Ice Chase", which incorporates the "James Bond Theme" - an everlasting link with past films. Not only are there strong, louder themes, but there are also more slower, gentle pieces for the scenes which need it - Barry's forté. Tunes such as "Approaching Kara" and "Kara Meets Bond" suggest to the audience the feeling between Bond and kara as he tries to woo her towards his thinking - and to find out about Koskov. Not only the longest soundtrack of the whole series, but also the most accomplished in terms of style and sophistication - if not in outright "grunt" (see On Her Majesty's Secret Service or A View To A Kill for that genre). This soundtrack follows on nicely from the excellent work of Octopussy and must rate as one of John Barry's very best. Shame he would not come back and do another one!
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~ John Barry
~ Bill Conti
See all 21 tracks on this disc
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