Buy it... if you enjoy hearing John Barry's classic romantic themes each and every time, and you typically enjoy the precise City of Prague Philharmonic performances of Barry's work.

Avoid it... if you prefer the more recent and obscure recordings of Barry's material that Silva Screen has offered.

(Out of Africa:) The Classic Film Music of John Barry: (Compilation) In their long history of producing fine compilations of film music re-recordings by the City of Prague Philharmonic, Silva Screen Records has had a love affair with the music of John Barry. Part of the significant attention Silva has given to Barry's music is probably due in part to the easy marketability of Barry's music across two generations. But a more likely reason is the association of orchestrator and conductor Nic Raine with Silva and the performers in Prague. Raine had orchestrated Barry's final two James Bond scores (as well as Chaplin) at the outset of his employment on these Silva sets, so his knowledge of the reproduction of Barry's sound is unparalleled. Indeed, some of the best performances to ever come out of the City of Prague Philharmonic have been under the wand of Raine and in front of sheets of Barry's music. Their first compilation of Barry themes debuted in Great Britain in 1993, spread to America in 1994, and led to subsequent collections in 1996, 1999, and 2006, among others. Silva also released full re-recordings of the Prague musicians tackling entire scores for The Lion in Winter, The Last Valley, and, most magnificently, Raise the Titanic. When you look back at this history, the most interesting aspect of all these Barry-related albums is that their use of recordings differs from Silva's usual practice of endlessly recycling performances across multiple products. In fact, each of the albums listed above includes performances that can't be found on other Silva products. And mercifully, unlike most other Barry compilations, Silva doesn't take up precious time with endless regurgitations of Barry's James Bond material. Additionally, the musicians in Prague have re-recorded some of their own performances to improve upon their offerings of the mid-1990's. A good example of this is Zulu, which Silva seems to like to debut their John Barry albums with. The recording available on the 1993/1994 compilation is an inferior one compared to the vibrant and fresh one on the "Zulu" compilation set in 1999. And yet, the sound quality of that performance on the 1999 set is superior to the presentation of the same recording on the 2006 "Film Music Masterworks" series CD.