Moonraker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

 (14 customer reviews)

The release of re-mastered editions of the James Bond scores offered up some great albums that expanded the original soundtracks with extra cues ("Thunderball" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" are particularly superb). However, "Moonraker," one of the best scores of the series and one of the most lyrical and unusual (especially when you consider what a silly slapstick film it accompanies) arrived on CD in a bare-bones 30-minute edition that replicates the original LP version with no extra tracks.This is an unfortunate occurrence, but the people loudly complaining and blaming EMI need to understand that the album producers had no choice. They wanted an expanded album (who wouldn't? more people would buy it), but there was a major stumbling block because of the way the "Moonraker" recording sessions were originally produced. "Moonraker" was a French-British co-production for tax reasons, and most of the film was shot in France. The recording sessions were also done in France,...Read more

This is rare music for a James Bond film. It is of great interest and curiosity just how John Barry scored this film. The score represented on the compact disc concentrates on the virtues of the main character, the spectacle and enigma of space and fleeting action sequences. It contains one of the most haunting and esoteric love themes that John Barry ever composed. Barry never reverts to or even hints to the "James Bond Theme" on this compact disc. He concentrates his score on the main character's endearing and enduring qualities. We can hear Bond as the romantic hero, spy and adventurer. We also hear the beautiful passages of earthly and unearthly encounters. Some of the score contains a yearning for the enigmatic meaning of life itself. It is a very unusual score for a film that has deep unfathomable undertones hidden beneath its gloss. This score matches the film perfectly because MOONRAKER is probably the most enigmatic film of the series covering the gamut of styles and tones...Read more

Yes indeed. This soundtrack is much, much too short. After all, the CD only contains around 30 minutes of music, and that really is a shame, as many reviewers righly pointed out. The music itself is excellent, Barry really shows his genius here (but then, speaking of his Bond music, doesn't he always?). And a simple fact that an entire pretitle sequence, which is truly excellent - speaking of music and also of film itself - is missing, vexes me even more. A legend has it that the music was being recorded in France and the original tapes eventually got lost. I wonder how much effort was put into finding that material, but sadly this is now a rather unimportant issue...But all the criticism aside, we do get some gems here, meaning especially Space Lazer Battle, Cable Car And Snake Fight and Flight Into Space, which is a real masterpiece and gets very heavenly and ethereal, as Barry adds a wordless choir, perfectly evoking Drax's Noah Ark operation and empty loneliness of space. It...Read more