So farewell to John Barry, who has died at the age of 77.
Here’s what has always been my favourite Barry composition.
It’s easy to dismiss You Only Live Twice because it’s a Bond theme – or because Robbie Williams famously sampled it a few years ago.
But this record has handsomely repaid my endless listening over the years because of – among other things – its harmonic richness.
The arrangement builds in depth and strangeness through the song: listen to what’s happening beneath the vocal at 2:12 and you’ll hear how Barry could take the simplest melody and wring emotion from it through orchestration.
The more I think about it, the more this record reminds me of another of my favourite tracks, released a year before.
What do they have in common? A canny, unusual arrangement by a master at work (in this case, Brian Wilson). An intense emotional depth delivered through harmonic sophistication.
And a mono production which glues everything together in a magical way stereo just can’t.
Who knew these records were long-lost cousins?
