| From Russia with Love | |
| Type: | soundtrack |
| Artist: | John Barry |
| Cover: | From Russia With Love (movie soundtrack - album cover).jpg |
| Released: | 1963 |
| Recorded: | March 1963 |
| Length: | 34:20 |
| Label: | United Artists (LP) Liberty (1980's LP Reissue) EMI Manhattan Records (CD) Capitol (2002 CD Re-release) |
| Producer: | Frank Collura (Reissue) |
| Prev Title: | The Cool Mikado |
| Next Title: | Zulu |
From Russia with Love is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.
John Barry, arranger of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" for Dr. No, would be the dominant Bond series composer for most of its history and the inspiration for fellow series composer, David Arnold (who uses cues from this soundtrack in his own for Tomorrow Never Dies). The theme song was composed by Lionel Bart of Oliver! fame and sung by Matt Monro.
Following the decision of the producers not to use Monty Norman, though keeping his "James Bond Theme", Harry Saltzman decided on using the then popular Lionel Bart of Oliver! fame. Bart was unable to read or write music, but he offered to compose the music and lyrics for a title song to the film.
The producers chose John Barry to score the film. Barry had not only arranged and conducted the "James Bond Theme" from the previous film, but had already scored some films such as Beat Girl and Never Let Go. Barry's group also charted at 13 in the November 1962 UK charts with a different arrangement of the Bond theme from that heard in the film.[1]
The title song was sung by Matt Monro. Monro's vocal version is played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film's end titles. The title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune preceded by a brief Barry-composed "James Bond Is Back" then segueing into the "James Bond Theme". On the original film soundtrack, Alan Haven played a jazzy organ over the theme but this version was not released on the soundtrack album. The tune also appears in a soft string arrangement as a theme for Tania. In Germany, the original release featured an end title track cover version called Die Wolga ist Weit sung by Ruthe Berlé.[2]
Originally planning to use local Turkish music as Norman had used Jamaican music on Dr. No, Barry accompanied the film crew to Istanbul, however he found nothing suitable for the film.[3]
Recalling his visit to Istanbul, John Barry said, "It was like no place I'd ever been in my life. [The Trip] was supposedly to seep up the music, so Noel Rogers and I used to go 'round to these nightclubs and listen to all this stuff. We had the strangest week, and really came away with nothing, except a lot of ridiculous stories. We went back, talked to Lionel, and then he wrote 'From Russia with Love.''[4]
The soundtrack's original recordings are thought to be lost and did not appear when the Bond soundtrack albums were issued in remastered form on CD. The album is different from the film with the album's recording of the main titles sounding slower and not featuring the organ played by Alan Haven. Several tracks on the album do not appear in the completed film. The album was the last of the Bond soundtrack albums to feature more than the usual six tracks per record side.
The soundtrack album reached 28 on the Variety charts in March 1964 with the title song becoming Unart Music's most recorded song.[5] Other cover versions of the "James Bond Theme" were also released to coincide with the film. Barry also released different cover versions of the title song and "007" on his Ember records for the pop charts. The Roland Shaw Orchestra performed cover versions of most of the music of Barry's soundtrack on several albums.
* Not heard in the film