THE SPECIALIST

JOHN BARRY

Rating:

Original Review: You know, listening to this, I half expected the legendary 007 theme to come blasting out of my speakers at any second. For those film music fans who have been lamenting the fact that John Barry has not written a Bond movie score since The Living Daylights way back in 1987, I would heartily recommend checking The Specialist. It's the closest he has come to recapturing the classic Bond sound for quite a while, and it's by far his most accomplished and enjoyable action score in years. Although the film itself was an inherently silly thriller starring Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone as, respectively, a former CIA bomb disposal expert and a mysterious woman with an inexplicable vendetta against the Miami Mafia, it is obvious from hearing The Specialist that Barry's action movie skills have not deserted him. The familiar horn trills, the prominent timpanis, the perfectly weighted clicking percussion, and the lush bed of strings are all there in abundance, and once the music gets you in its clutches, it never lets go until the End Titles die down. Mixed in with some tense and gripping action set-pieces (such as 'Bogota 1984', 'The First Bomb', 'Explosive Trent', 'The Parking Lot Bomb', 'The Death of Tomas', 'Closing In On Ray' and 'There Goes The Hotel Room') are numerous renditions of the film's main theme, "Did You Call Me", a dense, seductive, incredibly sexy melody right out of the Body Heat canon. It effortlessly conjures up visions of passionate, steamy nights in the Florida heat, and first appears in full during 'The Specialist in Miami', when it performed as an oboe solo. It reoccurs with different orchestrations countless times throughout the album - most notably as an ultra-sultry piano and saxophone duet in 'May Dances With Tomas' and 'Let's See That Beautiful Face' - and acts as the cornerstone of the entire score, an emotional and sensuous centrepiece on which to hang all the action and suspense. One other cue to especially listen out for is the stunning 'Ray Meets May at her Funeral', a tremendously atmospheric track that is made all the more significant because it is one of the rare occurrences where Barry uses of a choir. Recently, The Specialist has become quite a rare and sought-after item amongst film music collectors. I was fortunate enough to acquire my copy very cheaply, and I would recommend that you snap this score up while ever you still can. As well as the possibility of it becoming collector's item in the future, it's also a damn good score, and anyone with a penchant for stylish thrillers is likely to be enraptured from the very first bar.

Track Listing: Running Time: 57 minutes 53 seconds

Epic Soundtrax 477810-2 (1994)

Music composed and conducted by John Barry. Featured musical soloists Ronny Lang and Michael Lang. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Cliff Kohlweck. Mastered by Dave Collins. Album produced by John Barry.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.