On Her Majesty's Secret Service Soundtrack: An Appreciation

Consider it a place-marker. I've been compelled to do a commentary for each track on the OHMSS OST. It won't be Wellesian and not cover all tracks but am tempted to see how it goes. Hopefully I can get it done by Xmas.

"Journey to Blofeld's Lair"--I think that's the title--perhaps the most exquisite thing Barry ever composed.

Twas a very perfect piece of music. The way it captures the Alps.

Very good. Looking forward to this!

Oh and big call PK! So much of Barry's work could qualify for such praise.

Hilly wrote:

Twas a very perfect piece of music. The way it captures the Alps.

It soars, right along with Bond and Bunt in the chopper.

Well here we go. I saw in an interview once that Barry said he felt that as Lazenby was a poor actor he would up the music to compensate, if that's the case so be it. The result is one of the best scores he ever did and the best Bond soundtrack. So bear with me as we get going.

My playlist is chronological and arranged from my phone (I did it ages ago so I could have something on the commute, so a couple of tracks are omitted from the playlist but will feature below).

[I'll pause it here, I got distracted focusing on watching the film tonight. My notes are all written, just a matter of copying to here. Stay tuned

This Never Happened to the Other Fella (5.05)

Fantastic version of the Bond theme opens up the film (with the only time you get credits on screen in the PTS). Track resumes just after skipping Q and M with Bond driving the DBS. It's a cool rendition of the theme as Bond drives, indeed it seems to make him more cool as you get the close-up of his cigarette lighting and the first tantalising hint of the main theme as Tracy appears. There are sounds similar to DAF's subsequent score where Bond watches Tracy and going to rescue her, a sort of 'twinkling' sound. The fight music is good though in isolation doesn't quite sit right. I do like how the track fades out just before the famous line.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (2.35)

Probably my most listened to Barry track and what an opening, the sound chiming well with the image of a slow motion running Bond. If Hunt took Bond back to basics, so Barry did in a way. The theme is a second Bond theme and it is tempting to think that if Lazenby had returned, so this theme would in some shape or form. The theme is so intrinsically linked to him, being his one film, that it is his theme. You hear this and you picture the slopes of Piz Gloria, of Tracy driving her Cougar and so on. It's the kind of music that has you fidgeting as you listen. It screams action and excitement, there's even a sound towards the end that somehow is emotive or at least does something to a part of the brain that makes it emotive. It serves to set the film up with anticipation. The horns, the squealing, everything.
What's that, a film without a title song? Doesn't matter. OHMSS doesn't need it. It puts it on another level.
You don't want it to end. You want to strap on skis and go hurtling away from Blofeld's goons.

Yet it has to end and so...

Journey to Draco's Hideaway (3.40)

The first of the soft version of the song's instrumental and perfect for Bond and Tracy. I find it hard not to imagine a love theme more appropriate by Barry,  (Well, I guess Robin & Marian, Dances With Wolves) and it's in a Bond film.
"All cats are grey, Bond slept."
Nice little piece as Bond wakes and then what I used to call the stately theme, the more 'mobile' instrumental of the song. It's jaunty and it's perfect. There's a couple of versions of this one and without looking, this one is probably re-used at the end and the brandy fetching dog.
It helps the scene in a massive way.
"Mystery tour, hey?"

Bond and Draco (4.33)

On one hand ideal for this scene but on the other, doesn't. Hunt is admirable to take this almost verbatim from IF but the track is too long. Could JB have left the scene unscored? Or maybe some Corsican sound (say similar to his The Golden Horn in FRWL or some such). I do like from 2.55 the menacing Bond theme.
But this is two tracks in one. 3.50 to end is Tracy driving up to Draco's ranch. It's a beautiful piece. So full of love. But again, it could be it's own track even if it was only 43secs.

Gumbold's Safe (4.55)

One of the most suspenseful Bond tracks. Subtly at first it builds, at first covering Gumbold's exit and then keeps going. Building to the point you're on the edge of your seat. You expect Gumbold to return and catch Bond breaking in. When it ends it sort of dissipates and you feel a strange sense of release. Whereas all Bond does is swipe a Playboy.
Again, this is also two tracks in one. About 4.31 to end, Bond driving to Quarterdeck. A brief but beautiful piece that involves the theme and is perfect for this little moment. Thereby as a whole, one of the best tracks going.

Bond Settles In (2.16)

I placed this here as the instrumental sounds more what accompanies the College of Arms shot. In fact I wrote these notes before watching the film last night and it seems, Bond Settles In is indeed after Journey to Draco's Hideway and the Bond theme/song instrumental seems lifted from earlier in the film, accompanying Bond's "French form of Blofeld" to M at Quarterdeck and subsequent College of Arms shot. So it's...the same piece but on the OST occurs here after Bond lands at Piz Gloria
0.00 to 1.20 is Bond landing at Piz Gloria to his room. Already starting to set the way for the PG bound scenes.

'Missing music' from the OST

For sake of completeness I find myself wishing we had the medley piece from Bond's office, for one. The extra use of the theme as Bond and Tracy flee prior to the car race and possibly the extra use of the instrumental (when Bond goes to tender his resignation) and later with the post-bobsled. I guess they were superfluous for the album but it somehow would make it rounded.

I'll pause here and continue tomorrow.

Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway (4.52)

One of JB's most beautiful tracks if not sumptuous with one of the best filmed journeys in a Bond film. Love the use of the horns early on just after the helicopter takes off, setting the mood for the journey to Piz Gloria. You can always conjure the High Alps when you listen and it's a perfect enough piece that you can listen to it by itself and enjoy it for what it is. As a concert piece this would be fantastic.
This track alone makes OHMSS his best score Bond-wise and one of his top scores otherwise.
There is a part around 2.50 that reminds me of another score (I did some looking and to my ears, similar to the end of Midnight Cowboy's instrumental on some versions).
Once Bond lands we get a fantastic version of the song's instrumental different enough to Bond Settles In.
"Guns make me nervous."

Bond Meets the Girls (3.26)

Luscious music as we meet 'Ten Gorgeous Girls'. Brief, as well as the theme could be exhausted for the girls. From 2.10 it's of course Bond's route to see Blofeld, really brings to mind an icy cold interior and then at 3.15 a rather cool sounds that accompanies the introduction of zer Count.

Dusk at Piz Gloria (2.32)

From 1.03 a very striking sound, makes you imagine the red skies and alpine peaks. Something about it is almost thoughtful. I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the tracks is not actually in the film and it might be this one. It works outside of a Bond movie as it's an awfully beautiful piece in its way.

Sir Hilary's Night Out (Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?) 4.46

From 2.00 the music satisfactory enough to cover the treatment then uses a track Barry had outside of Bond, Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?. It's not a bad piece and moves along at a nice pace until 4.16 and..."Frauline Bunt! Fancy meeting you here?"
And then you get that fantastic dreamy music for Bond going in and out, zooming in and away from the angel on the Christmas tree. Much of this track could work as a standalone piece.

Blofeld's Plot (5.18)

This track has one of my favourite Barry sounds, as Bond is on the cable and the car's bearing down on him. Chiefly just before the car, as Bond emerges into the cold and harshness. Indeed, the track makes a good job of conjuring that to your mind. That sound starts at 1.42 and makes it much more epic. You feel the cold as the track goes on from there and then the hazard of the car bearing down on him.
5.00 is where you have one of Bond's best knockdowns as he takes out the guard prior to going into the ski room. Much of the track in the middle is the hypnosis and could be in danger of going on too long but it works.

Escape from Piz Gloria (4.52)

I wonder if it's one of my favourites as it's involving the theme. Maybe. This is one of the best scenes in a Bond film for a start. It has an incredible build as Bond straps in and then that moment where he leaps, it's as if the theme itself is holding it's breath and then you've 0.41 ("Der Englander ist geflohen!"). Yes it's the main theme but what a theme still and this usage, it signals danger and fear. It feels much more relentless compared to the main theme proper and if you let yourself go you imagine you sway as Bond does as he escapes or your foot taps. You also inject quotes at points- "We'll head him off at the precipice!" or "Idiot!" and then it ends. It sort of leaves you high and dry but there's some suspense as Bond tackles the goons and you have that 'falling off a cliff edge' sound. It's a fantastic track and should not be overlooked.

Ski Chase (3.38)

If Journey to Blofeld is a beautiful track, Ski Chase more than matches that. At first you imagine the alps, you imagine two people skiing -it could be a travelogue and then about 20-30secs in, the menacing use of the main theme that accompanies the goons and then it all kicks off. The way the theme sounds here is unique unto itself and often I've looped back to listen again a few times in succession. It's such a cool use of the theme and cool sound at that. But the beauty of the expanded score is that Ski Chase does not end where once it did. It covers Tracy's abduction and Bond's haunted look as he recounts it. That alone is worth the admission price. Ski Chase remains a top 5 piece.

Over and Out (2.32)

A trippy piece of music in its way that could be listened to in isolation and you'd never know it come from a Bond film. However, you know it's from a Bond film presently and the image that comes unsummoned is blood red skies with helicopters silhouetted against them. The chiming that sounds throughout makes it trippy and then it gradually slides into the background. "Oh dawn, thy dawn" and then...
"We're under attack!"
Personally it could end a few seconds before the punctuating high note, this is where you get the fantastic brassy sound of the theme and it could've ended there. Fantastic track as I say and it signals in its way the film's end is not far away.

Battle at Piz Gloria (4.02)

Of all the tracks this is the one most different to the final film version and yet is kept as such on the expanded. Maybe one day we'll get an Intrada style release of everything (or I guess it'll be LalalaLand). Anyway, it's not bad, the Bond theme included might have helped. As it is the 2.40 to 3min pieces involving the main theme are good and yet they only crop up a little in the film itself. It's not bad but I find it hard to get into it sometimes. By this point I guess I've been knackered by the excellence I've listened to prior.

Bobsled Chase (2.01)

a short intense piece. The sound a few seconds in is rampant and then it's relentless. It can leave you breathless if you get really into it. I'm surprised they didn't feel the need to tack on the instrumental of the song at the end of this track saying they did tack on pieces elsewhere.

We Have All the Time in the World/James Bond Theme (4.37)

Well, here's a track we didn't need in some respects, not in its final form anyway. It's a classic case of movie versus album. In the movie, the soft instrumental is abruptly interrupted for the Bond theme but in the album it goes on forever. I don't mind it but personally, a brief version of it would've sufficed and then silence (as it should be in the film). However, even on the album the Bond theme kicking in is jarring. I just feel that Tracy's death, Bond's grief, warranted something that would have been a departure for a major film. Not to take away from JB's genius.

--

And before I go, what we missed. Try is a track that is more or less heard in snippet but alone is a perfect John Barry jazz piece and classic of his 1960s oeuvre.
The main song is a beautiful piece that I'm surprised didn't do better in 1969. However, as love songs go it could fit any film going. It's inclusion in the film itself is a bold stroke that pays off. (Not until DAD, do you get a song dominating in the midst of things).
And the Nina song, well, I'm not a huge fan and if anything it's a snippet song in the film (background at the train station, background elsewhere). I think I'm not helped by once being ill one night and this song was stuck on a loop in my head.

But that's my review. Not quite what I thought it'd be but my way of paying tribute to my favourite film.

The 2003 expanded remastered CD release was a godsend. The sound quality is very good on it though admittedly the original LP release sounds exceptional for a 1969 soundtrack pressing. The shame is that the Bond scores were so truncated in their LP releases and still lack proper complete releases to this day.

It was indeed a godsend. I had my own copy of the original (or previous) CD release and was always knackering the main theme but then my Dad got the expanded and when I got my own copy, manna from heaven. It was enough to get Escape from Piz Gloria but then the delights of all others.

It is a shame as you say that they lack, the scores, proper completes to this day but lately you've had the Arnold's expanded by LLL Records and maybe one day, who knows, if the JB estate allow it maybe his scores will (and LTK for that matter).

A few years now thanks to an other forum and so on, found these places like Intrada, FSM and Lalaland that do *do* these expandeds of most films going and they're excellent. Should be time Bond catches up in that regard

Something to read in the next couple of days, written I presume with your usual zest and insight.

Journey to Blofelds hideaway is one of Barrys finest pieces ever, it's fittingly soaring as we fly over the alps, i remember this track being used in an episode of top gear as the guys were dicking about in the swiss mountains.
Who will buy my yesterdays makes me think of Angela scoular (think i spelled that correctly) lying in bed as Hilly is telling her how nice she looks by the fire and is again beautiful if short, the Hillarys night out section i can live without but of course it's part of the fabric of the film and is reprised more than once

Thanks for bumping this, silverjoe. I still need to get to reading this.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Thanks for bumping this, silverjoe. I still need to get to reading this.

Toe.

shortest post ever???

There's been shorter, I assure you.

Posts that is.

I've the odd coincidence that my favourite Book, film, and Soundtrack are all OHMSS
Probably from  ( Before videos etc ) when I'd tape the films when on TV, on an old
audio cassette tape. So I could relive the films later in Bed.
  Basically John Barry out did himself with OHMSS the Horns and synth combination is
Brilliant, and David Arnold did a fantastic modern take on it for his own Bond themes
project.

Well, OHMSS is my favourite for book, film and OST as well. Small world, heh.

Barry reinvented himself for OHMSS. Tempting to think that if Lazenby had returned, that Barry might've used the OHMSS theme in some capacity.

"Small world "  
Agreed, the " What might have been " , I think we can all imagine DAF would have been very different.

Thunderpussy wrote:

I've the odd coincidence that my favourite Book, film, and Soundtrack are all OHMSS

Fancy sharing a ranking? Always a good way to acquaint yourself with a fellow Bond fan's tastes. Though with OHMSS so high up, yours can't be too bad:

https://bondandbeyond.forumotion.com/t33-rank-all-the-bond-films

I have often been called a ranker, so I'll check it out tomorrow.

I don't think its a coincidence that Barry returned to OHMSS themes on his AVTAK and TLD scores.

Very true Boots. I'll pay money for a proper expanded VTAK as I always say.

Finally getting to this. Well done Hilly. Good write up, as always!

Hilly wrote:

This Never Happened to the Other Fella (5.05)

Fantastic version of the Bond theme opens up the film (with the only time you get credits on screen in the PTS). Track resumes just after skipping Q and M with Bond driving the DBS. It's a cool rendition of the theme as Bond drives, indeed it seems to make him more cool as you get the close-up of his cigarette lighting and the first tantalising hint of the main theme as Tracy appears. There are sounds similar to DAF's subsequent score where Bond watches Tracy and going to rescue her, a sort of 'twinkling' sound. The fight music is good though in isolation doesn't quite sit right. I do like how the track fades out just before the famous line.

Can’t disagree with any of that. The music perfectly marries the imagery, with the Aston, the cigarette, the fight scene accents and I’ve even got an appreciation for the strings that, as you say, fade out at the end. Reminds me a little of Serra’s music in GoldenEye (“The Same Passions”).

Hilly wrote:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (2.35)

Probably my most listened to Barry track and what an opening, the sound chiming well with the image of a slow motion running Bond. If Hunt took Bond back to basics, so Barry did in a way. The theme is a second Bond theme and it is tempting to think that if Lazenby had returned, so this theme would in some shape or form. The theme is so intrinsically linked to him, being his one film, that it is his theme. You hear this and you picture the slopes of Piz Gloria, of Tracy driving her Cougar and so on. It's the kind of music that has you fidgeting as you listen. It screams action and excitement, there's even a sound towards the end that somehow is emotive or at least does something to a part of the brain that makes it emotive. It serves to set the film up with anticipation. The horns, the squealing, everything.
What's that, a film without a title song? Doesn't matter. OHMSS doesn't need it. It puts it on another level.
You don't want it to end. You want to strap on skis and go hurtling away from Blofeld's goons.

Yet it has to end and so...

I wonder if, without Monty Norman’s contributions, had this become the main Bond theme? This or the 007 one. Because it has all the excitement, danger and action we’ve come to expect from Bond. And it is soulful. And it accompanying the women and the Crown imagery in the titles is one of the series’ iconic moments.

Hilly wrote:

On one hand ideal for this scene but on the other, doesn't. Hunt is admirable to take this almost verbatim from IF but the track is too long. Could JB have left the scene unscored? Or maybe some Corsican sound (say similar to his The Golden Horn in FRWL or some such). I do like from 2.55 the menacing Bond theme.
But this is two tracks in one. 3.50 to end is Tracy driving up to Draco's ranch. It's a beautiful piece. So full of love. But again, it could be it's own track even if it was only 43secs.

I really dig this track so can’t say I agree I’d have preferred it unscored.

Regarding the tracks combined on the album, I believe it was more to do with how the CD was distributed than a conscious decision by Barry or others at Eon to package it.

Hilly wrote:

Gumbold's Safe (4.55)

One of the most suspenseful Bond tracks. Subtly at first it builds, at first covering Gumbold's exit and then keeps going. Building to the point you're on the edge of your seat. You expect Gumbold to return and catch Bond breaking in. When it ends it sort of dissipates and you feel a strange sense of release. Whereas all Bond does is swipe a Playboy.
Again, this is also two tracks in one. About 4.31 to end, Bond driving to Quarterdeck. A brief but beautiful piece that involves the theme and is perfect for this little moment. Thereby as a whole, one of the best tracks going.

I’ve garnered a new appreciation for this track. It really underpins the tension and helps convey one of Bond’s truly successful breaches. I’ve really taken to these cues from Barry, similar to that of Bond snooping around Goldfinger’s factory or even Dawn Raid on Fort Knox. Nothing says ’spy music’ like this stuff!

And good shout on the Quarterdeck cue. Genuine sense of patriotism conveyed efficiently in a short accent.

Hilly wrote:

Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway (4.52)

One of JB's most beautiful tracks if not sumptuous with one of the best filmed journeys in a Bond film. Love the use of the horns early on just after the helicopter takes off, setting the mood for the journey to Piz Gloria. You can always conjure the High Alps when you listen and it's a perfect enough piece that you can listen to it by itself and enjoy it for what it is. As a concert piece this would be fantastic.
This track alone makes OHMSS his best score Bond-wise and one of his top scores otherwise.
There is a part around 2.50 that reminds me of another score (I did some looking and to my ears, similar to the end of Midnight Cowboy's instrumental on some versions).
Once Bond lands we get a fantastic version of the song's instrumental different enough to Bond Settles In.
"Guns make me nervous."

Quite. And once one visualises the sweeping shots of the Alps, it almost certainly is followed by, in the lowest of octaves, “not ground. Ice.” Again, Steppat: Legendary.

Hilly wrote:

Bond Meets the Girls (3.26)

Luscious music as we meet 'Ten Gorgeous Girls'. Brief, as well as the theme could be exhausted for the girls. From 2.10 it's of course Bond's route to see Blofeld, really brings to mind an icy cold interior and then at 3.15 a rather cool sounds that accompanies the introduction of zer Count.

All wonderful stuff. The warmth in the Alpine room wonderfully contrasted by the frosty route to Blofeld’s lab. Mentioned it in the Last Bond Movie Watched thread but the music as Bond is escorted to Blofeld is brilliantly atmospheric.

Hilly wrote:

Dusk at Piz Gloria (2.32)

From 1.03 a very striking sound, makes you imagine the red skies and alpine peaks. Something about it is almost thoughtful. I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the tracks is not actually in the film and it might be this one. It works outside of a Bond movie as it's an awfully beautiful piece in its way.

Thought about that recently. I wonder if something was cut and then Barry’s cue didn’t fit in properly?

Hilly wrote:

Escape from Piz Gloria (4.52)

I wonder if it's one of my favourites as it's involving the theme. Maybe. This is one of the best scenes in a Bond film for a start. It has an incredible build as Bond straps in and then that moment where he leaps, it's as if the theme itself is holding it's breath and then you've 0.41 ("Der Englander ist geflohen!"). Yes it's the main theme but what a theme still and this usage, it signals danger and fear. It feels much more relentless compared to the main theme proper and if you let yourself go you imagine you sway as Bond does as he escapes or your foot taps. You also inject quotes at points- "We'll head him off at the precipice!" or "Idiot!" and then it ends. It sort of leaves you high and dry but there's some suspense as Bond tackles the goons and you have that 'falling off a cliff edge' sound. It's a fantastic track and should not be overlooked.

All that. And I love the flute(?) introduction. And that little pocket of snow that falls, perfectly timed.

Hilly wrote:

Ski Chase (3.38)

If Journey to Blofeld is a beautiful track, Ski Chase more than matches that. At first you imagine the alps, you imagine two people skiing -it could be a travelogue and then about 20-30secs in, the menacing use of the main theme that accompanies the goons and then it all kicks off. The way the theme sounds here is unique unto itself and often I've looped back to listen again a few times in succession. It's such a cool use of the theme and cool sound at that. But the beauty of the expanded score is that Ski Chase does not end where once it did. It covers Tracy's abduction and Bond's haunted look as he recounts it. That alone is worth the admission price. Ski Chase remains a top 5 piece.

Terrific stuff, I agree.

Hilly wrote:

And before I go, what we missed. Try is a track that is more or less heard in snippet but alone is a perfect John Barry jazz piece and classic of his 1960s oeuvre.
The main song is a beautiful piece that I'm surprised didn't do better in 1969. However, as love songs go it could fit any film going. It's inclusion in the film itself is a bold stroke that pays off. (Not until DAD, do you get a song dominating in the midst of things).
And the Nina song, well, I'm not a huge fan and if anything it's a snippet song in the film (background at the train station, background elsewhere). I think I'm not helped by once being ill one night and this song was stuck on a loop in my head.

Try is fantastic. One of my go-to tracks when I pull the CD out for a listen. And Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown has become a staple to listen to when putting the tree up every year.