Books
For more information, check the John Barry: A Life in Music website. Reviewed by David N. Butterworth A long time in the making but ultimately worth the wait, John Barry: A Life in Music is the ultimate compendium for Barryphiles, soundtrack enthusiasts, and music historians. This large, glossy, and thoroughly engrossing book chronicles Barry's long and varied career, from his pop roots with the John Barry Seven up to and including his celebrated April 1998 sellout performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. Originally conceived as "Bond and Beyond," John Barry: A Life in Music is an authoritative 243 page guide that contains over 300 photographs, over half of them in color, and many not previously published. The highlight of the book, if you're looking for one, is an exhaustive 30-page discography which serves to illustrate the composer's amazing versatility as performer, producer, arranger, and writer. The discography section is augmented by a stunning full-color gallery of album covers that will make even the most conservative of Barry collectors drool in delight. Since Barry has never been much interested in--or forthcoming about--his back catalog, the authors were forced to concentrate their efforts on Barry's early career with the Seven, backing Adam Faith with those instantly-recognizable pizzicato strings, and serving as associate producer and creative A&R man at Ember Records, since they had greater access to those who worked with the composer during that time period. That said, Barry's innumerable film scores, stage musicals, and work for television and radio are all discussed here in meticulous, doe-eyed detail. John Barry: A Life in Music is clearly written with a passion for its subject matter and remains a fascinating reference for anyone the slightest bit interested in the veteran British film composer and his magnificent body of work. |
John Barry: A Sixties Theme
by Radio 1 journalist Eddi Fiegel Hardcover published in November 1998, 352 pages. Softcover published in November 2001, 271 pages. Available from Amazon.co.uk Reviewed by James Ollinger
I put off buying and reading this book because of the subtitle. Fiegel's interest here
is 1960's British culture and John Barry's place in it. I had heard that the book was supposed to be
much more about Barry's personal life than his music; so I expected precious little about the scores to
the films from that era, and instead I expected the standard celebrity magazine flotsom about the cars
he drove and the girls he had on his arm and how he decorated his fashionable yet cozy flat, and the
parties he went to and the other 60's icons that he rubbed elbows with--until I wanted to throw the book
into the fireplace.
There was plenty of all that, but the book had meat as well as dressing; Fiegel was as
interested in the music as well as the culture. In the forward she said that she began by enjoying the
music and later wanted to know how it had come to be, which meant an examination of the pop-culture of
the time. And Barry was not just part of pop culture--Barry helped create pop culture. The 1960's began
with Barry as a rising pop band leader and ended with him scoring the mega-hit Born Free.
In the UK, the decade became known as the era of the three B's: Bond, Barry and The Beatles.
It was, in fact, the three B's that made London the entertainment mecca of the western world during that time. There was tremendous resurgence in British music and movies, led by the Bond movies and fueled by the success of Tom Jones, A Hard Day's Night and Alfie. John Barry had a foot planted squarely in both, and that made him a nexus in a world where working hard and playing hard fed each other. For all that, this is a fascinating book. But at the same time this biography is a disappointment. In the scope of the book, Barry would marry and divorce three times, and sire three children, with hardly a comment other than "it was the 60's." Like so many rose-colored reflections of those times, noone is willing to discuss the cost of hedonism. This biography was authorized by Barry and his cooperation is evident throughout, but it obviously goes nowhere that Barry won't allow, and this is where the book comes up short. For all the parties, the girls, the glamor and the music, this is not a tell-all biographry; Barry is a private man and enigmatic--most of us are only going to know him through his music and infer what we will. As with any printed interview, it is impossible to tell whether the hard questions were never asked or simply not answered. The bottom line here is that by the end of the book, the reader won't really understand the mind of John Barry much better than when he began. His drives, his emotions, his personal character are not in print. Barry is a reflective man, but it comes from a mirror that only he will see. |
