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Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re moving ahead a couple of years and listening to music featured in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service!
Ahead of a scheduled October 1969 recording session, composer John Barry was having a difficult time incorporating the title “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” into the film’s main theme. This naming convention had been used in the previous four James Bond films (technically, From Russia With Love’s vocals were introduced during the film and played with the end credits). Ultimately, the film’s director, Peter Hunt, was fine with Barry composing an instrumental theme solely for the opening credits of “OHMSS”.
The lack of vocals did not hamper the opening, as audiences saw the new James Bond actor, George Lazenby, in action before he made a quick quip, and then music played over clips from previous Bond films to establish familiarity. The musical track is also notable for the unique sound of a Moog synthesizer, which became popular in other film soundtracks throughout the next decade.
A few months after the film’s December 1969 release, Columbia Records put out this album of John Barry film hits, including tunes from Midnight Cowboy, Born Free, and, most importantly, three tracks from OHMSS.
Besides the main title discussed above, an instrumental version of “We Have All The Time In The World” (which coincidentally was played at my wedding reception 18 years ago today, as of this initial posting), a third “Bond” track called “The More Things Change” was also included. This song was recorded for the film but was ultimately unused on-screen, with the instrumental version included on this album.
78. John Barry – Ready When You Are, J.B.
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