Essentially this is Silva’s Classic John Barry Volume 3. A Producer’s
Note from James Fitzpatrick explains a personal longing for a stereo version
of Zulu, which explains the title change. It’s also an
acknowledgement of similar prominence on many a collector’s wish list.
So let me deal with the obvious first - yes, the stereo recording is superb.
Barry’s regular orchestrator Nic Raine does a great job conducting the
City of Prague Philharmonic. Placed first, and with the special ‘fan’
association, Zulu is the benchmark by which the album will stand or
fall to its listeners. Thank goodness it’s been worth the wait.
By and large, this disc also addresses a mistake made elsewhere by the second
Moviola album, which Barry insisted being subtitled as
‘Action’ music. It seems achingly predictable that Barry collections
are going to be made up of suites of the romantic main themes from chosen
films. Of course, there is the fair share of that here, but since it also
sells itself on previously unavailable material, it does well to showcase
the ballsy unpredictable side of Barry too.
It is notable for being considerately sequenced. The flow from piece to piece
is very easy on the ear. Some might argue that this is not too hard with
Barry !
Reviewer
Paul Tonks
|
The City of
Prague Philharmonic conducted by Nic Raine
