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Here we go again round John Barry's Ember period which seems to have been comped year in year out by various no name labels hoping to make a fast buck on material that was/is presumably cheap to licence and contains a couple of all important Bond items. I say all important not because the Bond material is rare or in deed essential but because it allowed these various labels to place 007 or Bond in the title thus making the unsuspecting buyer believe they were getting a Best Of Bond or collection of Bond styled tracks. This might be the reason why the mention of Barry & Ember can immediately elicit a negative response.
I should perhaps mention that JB himself ran the Ember label for a time and was responsible for the production, design and many of the label's releases.
Now to the item: this release (by Future Noise) should be the last word on JB's Ember period. Sure, the cover is decidedly naff: gun,(here we go again) topless blonde (she's actually nude when you pull out the sleeve) and a picture of JB in the mid seventies. But the box is well made and the card sleeves (which reproduce the original sleeves) are stiff and glossy. The sleeve notes are basic so much of what follows is from my own research and if I'm wrong please correct me.
Now to the music:
'Elizabeth Taylor In London' (1963) contains the original mono album in full as well as including the music only tracks in stereo. The sound is much improved over the El release. The grammy nominated soundtrack is pretty much how you would expect an American TV documentary about London to sound in 1963. Liz Taylor reciting various speeches over music that is arch, stately, reverential, gloomy and melancholic. London in the fog. Of all the JB soundtracks, 'ETIL' sounds least like him and that might have to do with the fact that he did not conduct or arrange his own material.
'Zulu' (1964) contains the full soundtrack in stereo. Tracks 8-13 were beat versions of the Zulu stamps heard in the film. I, myself, like 'em but each to his own. Although the 7 tracks proper from 'Zulu' are a mite repetitive, it's a classic JB score that combines Bond like action cues with a stirring, heroic main theme. Soundwise it's fairly decent but a better version was recorded by The City Of Prague Orchestra. N.B. The Zulu Stamps are listed under different titles depending on which comp you buy. Stamp & Shake for instance is aka Tetha Leyanto.
'Four In The Morning' (1966) contains the original mono soundtrack and the music only tracks in stereo. It's gloomy, downbeat, beautifully bleak and haunting - reminiscent of 'The Whisperers' soundtrack. The dialogue cues make it hard to sit through but there is no denying the power of JB's music. This score is a great example of the maxim: less is more.
'The Ember Singles Plus' (1963-66) contains most of what appears on those aforementioned Ember comps. It does however feature 2 songs (trcks 1 & 2) which cashed in on the profumo affair and were sung by Joyce Blair (Lionel's sister) under the pseudonym of Miss X. These kitsch time snaps were apparently produced by JB.
The Bond material '007' & 'From Russia With Love' (Lionel Bart) were obviously not the versions released on the original soundtracks. There is also another version of FRWL featuring an organ. 'Fancy Dance' was the theme to the TV series 'The Newcomers' and is probably the grooviest track in the collection. Another Barry original is 'Troubadour' which has a folksy thing going on and ends in my opinion before it gets started.
Of the Barry tracks chose to cover - 'Aliki' was composed by Manos Hadjidakis for the movie 'Aliki My Love' starring Aliki Vouyouklaki. 'The Loneliness Of Autumn' was composed by Pino Calvi and a version of it was released by vocalist Ray Singer also signed to The Ember label. File both under Easy. Kinky by Johnny Scott on the other hand is fairly groovy.
Not included are any of the Chad & Jeremy or Annie Ross material that JB produced. You can pick them up very cheaply if you so wish.
In short: if you're looking for a comp that covers the 'Barry sound' i.e. Persuaders, mid period Bond, 'The Knack' etc you won't find it here. If however you'd like a reasonably priced and well presented collection of JB's Ember period this is a must buy!
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