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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Octopussy (John Barry)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the 2024 album if you prefer John Barry's sentimental
and conservative James Bond scores of the 1960's and 1970's, for
Octopussy is one last return to that traditional style.
Avoid it... if you believe the formula of the early Bond scores by Barry favors overly repetitive motifs and action rhythms, in which case the two more experimental franchise scores following Octopussy are better suited for you.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Octopussy: (John Barry) Fans of the James Bond
franchise were well accustomed to the wise-cracking charms of the
visibly aging Roger Moore by 1983's Octopussy, the sixth of the
actor's seven films as 007. For the first time in its history, the
primary Albert R. Broccoli franchise dedicated to Ian Fleming's novels
was facing serious competition from another studio attempting to steal
the Bond thunder. To be released later in the same year was Never Say
Never Again, and although that project ultimately marked Sean
Connery's failed return to the role, it had Broccoli spooked. To ensure
that the "official" Bond franchise would remain the dominant adaptation
of the famed British spy, producer Broccoli and director Jon Glen, the
latter returning for his second consecutive Bond film at the helm,
joined with most of the established crew from the series to make
Octopussy a trademark Bond venture. They toned back the scope of
the technology, followed Fleming's stories more closely, and featured
several world locations with glamour, most notably India. The plot
relied upon familiar elements of stolen bombs and mysterious fighting
forces, the benevolent latter in this story happening to be comprised of
a gang of attractive female assassins. The filmmakers were also
successful in returning popular composer John Barry to the franchise.
Barry's music for the series in the 1960's and early 1970's was one of
the more recognizable elements of the Bond formula, but the composer's
move from England to Los Angeles in 1975 caused him to lose the
assignments to all the Bond films except Moonraker during the
following eight years. He was asked to score Never Say Never
Again but refused out of loyalty to the original franchise, instead
returning to London where he could be involved in the next three
official Bond films. His reunion with the franchise was one of great
relief for the filmmakers, especially welcomed after a disappointingly
"popified" score by Bill Conti for 1981's For Your Eyes Only,
which some fans of the series consider to be among the very worst scores
for any Bond film.
Barry's three Bond scores in the mid-1980's were all quite good, with each effort gaining strength as the composer successfully combined his traditional 1960's style with the flair of electronics and rock-based percussion. He would save most of this experimentation for the forthcoming A View to a Kill, but the groundwork for the action rhythms in that score and The Living Daylights would be established briefly in Octopussy, which instead focused on alluring exoticism. Up front, the most obvious aspect of Barry's return to the world of 007 is the flowing, romantic ballad serving as the song and primary love theme for the film. With the subsequent two films' songs taking the route of straight rock and male vocals with wild results on the charts, Octopussy offered one last sentimental theme built for an alluring female voice during the Barry era. Rita Coolidge provided the sensual, easy-going tones for the more blatantly sexual title sequence for Octopussy, though lyricist Tim Rice and the producers of the film agreed that this song would be a rare instance when the title of the film would not be appropriate as a lyric. The soft rock "All Time High" didn't perform as well as its successors initially, though it remained more popular through the years than several of the franchise's readily-dated entries. Interestingly, Rice admitted years later that he should have pressed to use "Octopussy" as a lyric and title of the song, as it would have forced a sassier attitude upon the film. The melody of this song is translated into the love theme for Bond and the powerful smuggler Octopussy, and outside of the usual song performance and its closing reprise, the two standard instrumental performances of the theme exist in "That's My Little Octopussy" and "Bond Meets Octopussy." A secondary theme for Octopussy and her mysterious lair is introduced by a gorgeous bansuri flute in "Arrival at the Island of Octopussy" and extends to the outset of "Bond Meets Octopussy" with its exoticism scaled back for a softer version. That flute and an alto sibling provide much of the intrigue in the score, and this secondary Octopussy identity eventually proves itself a far more durable presence in the score. The repeating, cyclical idea featuring the bansuri flute and light chimes for Octopussy's operations is, in fact, quite dominant in the middle portions of Octopussy. It transitions to the alto flute for the easier rendition in "The Mysterious Octopussy" and dies out on strings and flute at the end of "Yo-Yo Fight and Death of Vijay," but an offshoot survives in the latter half of "Checkpoint Charlie and the Romanov Star." Strikingly, this Octopussy material transitions to become a relative of the love theme at end of "Kamal Khan's Death and Finale," a really lovely singular moment in the score. The rest of the score for Octopussy largely rotates between Barry's other dedicated motifs for the film, including a static action theme that is almost identical in all instances, harkening back to the 1960's action motifs of the franchise. Debuting in "Gobinda Attacks," this repetitive theme is given heavier tones in "Easy Come, Easy Go" and builds to its usual formation in "Yo-Yo Fight and Death of Vijay." Its base elements only inform the diversion in "The Chase Bomb Theme," which doesn't really provide the nuclear weapon with much of a unique identity. A full reprise of the action theme returns in "Fight With Mischka" and the latter half of "Gorilla Suit and Death of Grischka," receiving its most interesting moment for Octopussy-oriented flutes at the start of "The Palace Fight" as the gang of babes goes to battle. As an adjunct to this material, Barry's menacing villain plot theme is militaristic and suspenseful, often featuring snare accents on each measure in the composer's typical style. It's supported by a solo timpani motif that becomes more prominent in later cues. Teased in "Fill Her Up" and the subdued suspense of "Bond at the Monsoon Palace," this villain identity offers a rising bass string figure alone in "Palace Intrigue" and stews in "The End of General Orlov." The timpani motif rumbles early in "Gorilla Suit and Death of Grischka," reprised but yielding to the theme in "The Bomb Arrives and Clowning Around." This material resolves in the first minute of "Kamal Khan's Death and Finale." A bit more general in its approach is Barry's unrelated, early suspense music in the underwhelming "009 Gets the Knife and the Property of a Lady." Outside of Barry's relatively new ideas in Octopussy, the composer relies far more heavily on the famous Monty Norman theme for the franchise. This move was partly due to the attempt by the entire production to revisit the 1960's formula of success for the concept and partly due to the desire to drive home the fact that Octopussy was a true Bond film and Never Say Never Again was not. The entire pre-credit hangar sequence heard in "Gun Barrel and Airbase" and "Bond Look-Alike" uses this theme in suspense mode while "Gobinda Attacks," "Easy Come, Easy Go," and "The Palace Fight" provide full, jazzy performances of the idea as Bond prevails in those situations. (The blend between the stock action rhythms and franchise themes would be better explored in the two subsequent scores, as its segregation here conveys Barry's past in these scores with all his usual plusses and minuses.) The Bond theme extends to other incarnations in the subtle shades of "Kremlin Art Repository and Sotheby's" and the opening of "India." A cute comedic reference is even made as source music in "Vijay's Pungi," a rare moment in which 007 recognizes his own theme on screen. Barry allows the Bond theme to flourish again in the bursts of enthusiasm during "Follow That Car," but most listeners will return to the early "Bond Look-Alike" cue as the best adaptation of the theme in the score. A few other motifs work around the margins in Octopussy, led by the composer's usual notion of military heroism and British pomp heard at the openings of "Fill Her Up" and "Checkpoint Charlie and the Romanov Star." Two location-specific themes are notable but fleetingly short; a stout Russian identity in "Kremlin Art Repository and Sotheby's" and a rousing Indian one in "India" are quick moments if interest. Overall, Octopussy remains one of the more predictably repetitive 007 scores by Barry, with less flair than the two subsequent two entries but very cognizant of its roots. The film's circus music was licensed for insertion, but a significant amount of ethnic source material was provided by Barry himself, most of it related to the Octopussy gang and associated exotic Indian element. For a long time, this music was unavailable on album, as the history of Octopussy outside of the picture has been suboptimum. In conjunction with the original LP release, a rare CD on the A&M label was pressed in 1985 due to the Coolidge association. That CD was among the first ever offered on the commercial market, and it achieved a value of $250 in the early 1990's, eventually ranked by veteran collectors and soundtrack specialty stores in 1994 as the sixth most valuable soundtrack CD in the world. In 1995, a bootleg from "Music Collectors Anonymous" combined the records of For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy onto one digital transfer, circulating around the market for a short time before becoming a collectible itself. In 1997, Rykodisc released both scores (as well as The Living Daylights the next year) on their own albums. The sound quality between the original collectibles and the 1997 pressing of Octopussy was identical, as were the musical contents, and Ryko padded the running time of their product with three tracks of dialogue from the film. Unfortunately, those quotes are mixed at too low a volume compared to the music surrounding them. The Ryko product was also a much-advertised enhanced CD with the theatrical trailer, pictures, and expanded liner notes. While these are nothing too spectacular, the packaging was generous for its era, especially with its extraordinary notes, but anyone who has trouble folding maps back into their proper arrangement likely cursed its layout. Even this album went out of print, leaving it absent from the market once again. In early 2003, EMI finally re-released all of the Bond scores through Goldeneye for rock bottom prices around $10 internationally and, in many cases, additional music was offered. The main attraction of the 2003 products was their remastering of the scores from source tapes. Barry's scores typically sounded good regardless of their age, a trademark of his recordings, and Octopussy already featured good sound on its previous albums. The greatest benefit to this particular 2003 album is its removal of the three dialogue tracks from the product, returning the listening experience to its original form. In 2024, La-La Land Records released a definitive, limited expansion with the fuller score in another remastered presentation. The additional material is mostly redundant but has some noteworthy new moments hidden within, including the opening and finale of the movie. It reaffirms that Octopussy ranks among the better Bond scores, despite its rather conservative and repetitive approach.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1985 A&M/2003 EMI Albums:
Total Time: 36:02
1995 MCA Bootleg: Total Time: 71:19
1997 Rykodisc Album: Total Time: 37:18
* Dialogue from the film 2024 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 112:38
* performed by Rita Coolidge
NOTES & QUOTES:
The 1985 and 1995 albums' inserts contain no extra information about the score or
film. The 1997 Ryko album's insert contains extensive notes by Lukas Kendall and Geoff
Leonard, however the folding art design makes them very difficult to read. These liner
notes also include information about the enhanced portion of the CD. The 2003 EMI and
2024 La-La Land albums also feature extensive notation about the film and score.
Copyright ©
1997-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Octopussy are Copyright © 1985, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2024, A&M Records, Music Collectors Anonymous (Bootleg), Rykodisc USA, Capitol/EMI, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/7/97 and last updated 10/19/24. |
