A View to a Kill

During the Roger Moore years, Bond composers were a more variable commodity, but whoever was writing the score, one thing was clear, John Barry was always the best choice. Admittedly some of his Moore scores aren't classic (The Man with the Golden Gun being a low point), but he hit a new stride with A View to a Kill, after the somewhat low key Octopussy. It's a shame really since Barry's next and final Bond score, The Living Daylights is perhaps one of his best and shows that despite his general change in direction toward a broader, more romantic style, Barry could still write quite thrilling action music as well and mix in a more contemporary sound.
I've always been surprised that A View to a Kill is the most successful Bond song to date as I always felt it was one of the weakest. The lyrics are typically nonsensical and the tune not all that good, although I must admit that it's grown on me considerably. Barry's experiences writing with Duran Duran were not terribly enjoyable, although in the same way that The Living Daylights is a mixture of a-ha and Barry, A View to a Kill does have traits of both the band's style as well as Barry's. The melody itself works much more successfully for the quieter sections within the score itself where Barry has it played on solo horn backed by gentle harp and strings. It turns the rather over bearing song into a really good romantic (such as it is with Bond) theme.

For such an energetic song, it is remarkably absent from any of the action scoring. Barry created a quite memorable new action motif coupled with an electric guitar counterpoint. It should have dated badly, but I've always felt that good craftsmanship can usually overcome music becoming dated and such is the case here. Barry doesn't do a great deal with his new motif, but since it only makes a few appearances, this doesn't matter all that much. His suspenseful music is on good form with plenty of brooding brass and strings, together with bass flute and threatening trumpet.

For some curious reason, A View to a Kill has become the most rare Bond score, seemingly only available on import from Japan at not inconsiderable cost. For any Bond/Barry fan, it's definitely worth tracking down as it's one of his best efforts for the Roger Moore films. Also, since it's comparatively recent, the sound quality is excellent. I can't believe that somebody somewhere hasn't seen the potential to re-release the earlier scores remastered, but in this case, the length and production are both excellent. Of course a re-release in this case would be much appreciated for those still unable to track down a copy. As an added bonus to this release, there is a track by track analysis. Unfortunately it's in Japanese and frankly I'm a little rusty.