From Russia With Love – SOUNDTRACK****

James Bond Theme/Tania Meets Klebb/Meeting In St Sophia/The Golden Horn/Girl Trouble/Bond Meets Tania/ 007/Gypsy Camp/Death Of Grant/From Russia With Love/Spectre Island/Guitar Lament/Man Overboard-Smersh In Action/James Bond With Bongos/Stalking/Leila Dances/Death Of Kerim/007 Takes The Lektor

The soundtrack album from the second James Bond movie From Russia With Love starred Sean Connery and was based on the Ian Fleming spy novel. The music was scored by John Barry, and the title track was a No. 20 hit single for Matt Monro in the UK. (US:27)

"Compared to later scores, the music for From Russia With Love is subtle, almost sensual."

"From Russia With Love was Barry's first full score for the Bond series, and it is amazingly rich and varied. Barry's skill at weaving local and exotic idioms into his scores is evident here with some Turkish and gypsy touches. The title song was written by Lionel Bart and works much better as an instrumental arranged by Barry, than as a vocal sung by Matt Monro."

"Barry was an emerging talent with From Russia With Love, but his skills are unmistakable, integrating suspense, action, menace and romance as few film composers can."

"John Barry firmly establishes himself in the musical annals of cinema history with this classic soundtrack From Russia With Love. It is an example of exceptional film scoring, and a very satisfying album, drawing on all the elements of the film to deliver a product that musically runs the gamut of rhythm, romance, intrigue and flavourful vignettes of the film's locale."

"The From Russia With Love soundtrack album gets it right. The themes are shining and original, and even when composer John Barry revisits certain themes, he manages to rework them to make them sound fresh."

"This is a great soundtrack that really begins to show the great music in the James Bond series. All the tracks are good and have a real From Russia With Love feel to them. There are some orchestral pieces, but most of the time Barry keeps the music very simple, e.g. his approach to Spectre Island or Gypsy Camp."