Moonraker (soundtrack)

Moonraker
Soundtrack album by John Barry
Released	1979
Recorded	April 1979
Length	30:54
Label	EMI
Producer	Frank Collura (Reissue)
John Barry chronology
The Deep (1977) Moonraker (1979) Hanover Street (1979) James Bond soundtrack chronology The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Moonraker (1979) For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Moonraker is the soundtrack for the 11th James Bond film of the same name.^[2]

Moonraker was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. Kate Bush and Frank Sinatra were both considered for the vocals, before Johnny Mathis was approached and offered the opportunity. Mathis was unhappy about the song and withdrew from the project, leaving the producers to offer the song to Bassey within just weeks of the release date. As a result Bassey made the recordings with very short notice and as a result, she never regarded the song 'as her own' as she had never had the chance to perform it or promote it first. The film uses two versions of the title theme song, a ballad version heard over the main titles, and a disco version for the end titles. Confusingly, the United Artists single release labelled the tracks on the 7" single as "Moonraker (Main Title)" for the version used to close the film and "Moonraker (End Title)" for the track that opened the film. The song failed to make any real impact on the charts, which may partly be attributed to Bassey's failure to promote the single, given the last minute decision and the way in which it was quickly recorded to meet the schedule.

As with We Have All The Time In The World back in 1969, the lyrics were written by Hal David.

Finally in 2005, Bassey sang the song for the first time outside James Bond on stage as part of a medley of her three Bond title songs. An instrumental strings version of the title theme was used in 2007 tourism commercials for the Dominican Republic.

The score for Moonraker marked a turning point in John Barry's output, abandoning the Kentonesque brass of his earlier Bond scores and instead scoring the film with slow, rich string passages - a trend which Barry would continue in the 1980s with scores such as Out of Africa and Somewhere in Time.

Moonraker uses for the first time since Diamonds Are Forever a piece of music called "007" (briefly, and late in track 7, "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase"), the secondary Bond theme composed by Barry which was introduced in From Russia with Love.

Unusually, the score was recorded in Paris - all previous John Barry Bond scores had been recorded at CTS Studios in London. A general strike in Britain had forced the production to relocate to France and it was decided the film would be scored there as well. Unlike all of the other Bond films, the score for Moonraker has never received an extended release, due to the loss of the original session masters which appear to have been misplaced in France.

Track listing

1. "Moonraker (Main Title)" – Shirley Bassey
2. "Space Lazer Battle"
3. "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond"
4. "Cable Car and Snake Fight"
5. "Bond Lured to Pyramid"
6. "Flight into Space"
7. "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase"
8. "Centrifuge and Corrine Put Down"
9. "Bond Smells a Rat"
10. "Moonraker (End Title)" – Shirley Bassey

Some familiar pieces of music also appear in the film:

• Frédéric Chopin's Prelude no. 15 in D-flat major (op. 28), "Raindrop"): Drax playing a piano when Bond arrives.
• Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (op. 30) (forever associated with 2001: A Space Odyssey): a hunting horn plays its distinctive first three notes.
• Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka by Johann Strauss II: during the hovercraft scene on Saint Mark's square.
• The alien-contacting theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind: as the key-code for a security door.
• Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture: when Jaws meets Dolly.
• Elmer Bernstein's theme from The Magnificent Seven: when Bond appears on horseback in gaucho clothing.

In popular culture

• The opening notes from the main title were used in a 2007 tourism commercial for the Dominican Republic.

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Moonraker Original Motion Picture Soundtrack at Allmusic