From the Archives: John Barry Conducts His Greatest Movie Hits

Recommended music:

Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re listening to music from Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice!

This 1967 album was released by Columbia Broadcasting System Inc., or in this case, labeled simply as “CBS” in the UK, as a subsidiary of Columbia Records. The brand “Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.” could not be used outside of the United States, due to Electric & Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI) already having a subsidiary called Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd., which dates back to the 1930s, so they owned the rights to the Columbia name in most of the world. Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. still has the rights to the Columbia name in Japan.

Anyways, back to this album. It kicks off with Barry’s instrumental theme to You Only Live Twice. It also includes one of the most riveting pieces of Barry’s Bond music – Space March (Capsule In Space), also from YOLT. In addition to the non-Bond music, we get the instrumental themes to Goldfinger, Thunderball, and The James Bond Theme from Dr. No to wrap up the album. This release is a fun listen, as none of the five Bond tracks are back-to-back, so it gives the feeling of a random John Barry film score mix.

A 1968 re-release of the album added From Russia With Love into the playlist without removing any of the original tracks. It does seem odd to have been omitted from this first version.

106. John Barry – John Barry Conducts His Greatest Movie Hits