The Music
Nic Raine is Barry's most prolific interpreter of his film music, and this is another great example. Raine was Barry's long-time arranger and knows his sound. Together with the City of Prague Philharmonic, he records a lot of Barry's music that would not ordinarily be available. On this two volume set, for instance, you get a lot of rarities that would never be heard by most of Barry's fans. Some of them (like Hammett) would later be released, but items like The Tamarind Seed, Love Among the Ruins and Mister Moses are still unavailable in any format (excluding bootlegs); The Deep is still only available on LP; and Frances is expensive and hard to find.
But film music is the very definition of a niche market, purchased by a very small number of fans of a particular composer or film. In order to make a CD of rare Barry music sell more than a hundred copies, Raine rerecords the hits. In this case it was Barry's famous Zulu, one of his first non-Bond scores that established him as a first-tier film composer who could handle a variety of assignments. Even though Zulu's original soundtrack is as prolific as red stripes on flags, it's still a signature piece and a big draw. And Zulu makes it possible for Raine to also sell the rarities like Mister Moses, then bring it on. |
