Seductive Barry

John Barry died today at the age of 77. Without him, the Sixties wouldn’t have swung quite as bold or nearly as brassy. You don’t need me to tell you of his work on 11 Bond films, or that his musical scores packed full of stabbing brass, sweeping orchestration and exotic leads (dulcimer! vibes!) often conjured up images of carefree playboys at the wheel of a Jaguar, speeding through the Swiss Alps with a Ray Ban-ed and mini-skirted female for company (although that sounds a lot like a spoof scene from Austin Powers, but you know what I mean.)

Barry ‘n Birkin

John Barry was a bit of a real-life Austin. He was married 4 times, once briefly to Jane Birkin until, in 1968, she went off to work with Serge Gainsbourg and, well, I’m sure you know what happens when old Gauloises ‘n garlic Gainsbourg takes a shine to a lady…

In a career that took in amongst others big band jazz, neo-classical orchestration, easy listening croon and off-beat quirky pop instrumentation, his music can be equal parts mesmerising, life-affirming and downright seductive. Indeed, Pulp put a track called Seductive Barry on their under-appreciated This Is Hardcore album. A brooding 8 and a half minute paean to seedy lust, it’d be great to think that Jarvis was singing about an ordinary northern lothario called Barry, or maybe even Barrys White or Manilow, but it must surely be some sort of tribute to John Barry – Jarvis is a gen’d up scholar of music and had Barry play at the 2007 Meltdown he curated. I can remember reading how Jarvis liked to walk around Sheffield with John Barry playing on his Walkman, as the music transformed his city into a magical place.

Here’s some of my favourite John Barry tunes. Play them as you take the journey into work tomorrow and pretend you’re some sort of libidinous Cold War spy. That’s what I’ll be doing.

Into Miami/Alpine Drive/Auric (a suite, if you like, from Goldfinger)

The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair

Midnight Cowboy (my favourite instrumental ever)

*Bonus Track!

Another Barry, Mr Adamson formerly bass player with Magazine, has released a good half dozen records filled with the sort of arrangements and instrumentation that could’ve had John Barry reaching for the nearest copy of Plagiarism Monthly. Adamson’s ska version of the 007 tune is a belter.