From Russia with Love is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.
Following the decision of the producers not to use Monty Norman, though keeping his "James Bond Theme", Harry Saltzman decided on using the then popular Lionel Bart of Oliver! fame. Bart was unable to read or write music, but he offered to compose the music and lyrics for a title song to the film.
The producers chose John Barry to score the film. Barry had not only arranged and conducted the "James Bond Theme" from the previous film, but had already scored some films such as Beat Girl and Never Let Go. Barry's group also charted at No. 13 in the November 1962 UK charts with a different arrangement of the Bond theme from that heard in the film.[1]
The title song was sung by Matt Monro. Monro's vocal version is played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film's end titles. The title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune preceded by a brief Barry-composed "James Bond Is Back" then segueing into the "James Bond Theme". On the original film soundtrack, Alan Haven played a jazzy organ over the theme but this version was not released on the soundtrack album. The tune also appears in a soft string arrangement as a theme for Tania. In Germany, the original release featured an end title track cover version called Die Wolga ist Weit sung by Ruthe Berlé.[2]
A 15-second sample of "From Russia with Love", the title track. Reception towards the song was negative, though critics admitted the song, as the first Bond theme, "establish[ed] a tone" for future songs.[3][4]
Originally planning to use local Turkish music as Norman had used Jamaican music on Dr. No, Barry accompanied the film crew to Istanbul, however he found nothing suitable for the film.[5]
Recalling his visit to Istanbul, John Barry said, "It was like no place I'd ever been in my life. [The Trip] was supposedly to seep up the music, so Noel Rogers and I used to go 'round to these nightclubs and listen to all this stuff. We had the strangest week, and really came away with nothing, except a lot of ridiculous stories. We went back, talked to Lionel, and then he wrote 'From Russia with Love.''[6]
Album and cover versions
The soundtrack's original recordings are thought to be lost and did not appear when the Bond soundtrack albums were issued in remastered form on CD. The album is different from the film with the album's recording of the main titles sounding slower and not featuring the organ played by Alan Haven. Several tracks on the album do not appear in the completed film. The album was the last of the Bond soundtrack albums to feature more than the usual six tracks per record side.
The soundtrack album reached No. 28 on the Variety charts in March 1964 with the title song becoming Unart Music's most recorded song.[7] Other cover versions of the "James Bond Theme" were also released to coincide with the film. Barry also released different cover versions of the title song and "007" on his Ember records for the pop charts. The Roland Shaw Orchestra performed cover versions of most of the music of Barry's soundtrack on several albums.
In 1965, KYW-TV in Philadelphia adopted the "007 Takes The Lektor" track as its longtime theme for its Eyewitness News format. It went on to be used in other Group W stations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and San Francisco for their newscasts. Two years later, "007 Takes The Lektor" would be recycled for further Bond use, in the autogyro scene in You Only Live Twice.
The podcast Mueller, She Wrote uses an instrumental version of the theme song as its intro and outro theme music. This serves as a humorous theme, as the podcast centres on Russian relations to the presidential campaign for Donald Trump in 2016, and the following special counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III.
^Willman, Chris (8 October 2021). "Every James Bond Theme Song, Ranked Worst to Best". Variety. Retrieved 16 March 2024. As the first true pop song written for a Bond film, it merits credit for loosely establishing a tone that would follow in many of the tunes...
^Rowin, Michael (4 October 2021). "Every James Bond Theme Song Ranked". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 16 March 2024. Matt Monro's "From Russia with Love" marks the first specifically tailored theme for a James Bond film, though with only two efforts under its belt, the franchise was still refining its trademarks in 1963
^p.36 Smith, Jim & Lavington, Steven Bond Films 2002 Virgin Books
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