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Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re moving on from Moonraker and listening to music from Octopussy!
Composer John Barry came to terms with Britain’s Inland Revenue department and paid off his tax debts in 1983, just in time to return to the Bond team for Octopussy. His previously used lyricists were preoccupied with other projects, so he found a new writer to collaborate with in Tim Rice.
Rice was surprised to be asked to join the project following his recent success with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber on hits like Jesus Christ Superstar, but his first thought was “Obviously, great!” His next thought after hearing the title of the film was “hmm, not so great.” Thankfully, Rice did not need to use the title in the main theme or even include it as a lyric. Within a short time, Barry had selected “All Time High” as the best of the half dozen song titles Rice had prepared.
Barry was able to write a fantastic melody. It was used not only for the hit vocal version by Rita Coolidge but also shows up instrumentally throughout the film. The song’s popularity was helped by a music video featuring Coolidge and clips from the film on the fledgling cable network, MTV, and it spent four weeks at #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in August of 1983.
This 7” single thankfully features an extended instrumental version on the B-side, which the short soundtrack release hastily omitted in order to repeat the vocal version to close out the album.
86. Rita Coolidge – All Time High (Theme Song From Octopussy)
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