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• The Score:
• The CD: Just the record, from EMI.

• The Score: John Barry's first Bond score, it features the "007" theme for the fist time (which is incidentally track 7). It's not great, but a good score. Track 18, "007 Takes the Lektor" is especially good.
• The Song: Sung by Matt Monro, "From Russia With Love" isn't really very interesting. Pretty bland.
• The CD: What you see is what you get, it's simply the record put on CD. CDP-7-95344-2, from EMI.
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• The Score: One of Barry's best, it's full of action, tension, and suspense. Great to listen too.
• The Song: Sung by Shirley Bassey, "Goldfinger" is great; the song which other Bond songs would be measured by. A delight. It reached #8 on the charts when it was first released.
• The CD: Again, just the record put on CD. CDP-7-95345-2, from EMI.
• Chronological Order: (with songs) 4-1-2-3-5-6-8-9-10-7 (track #7 is just a instrumental version of "Goldfinger").
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• The Score: It's nice, but not as good as Goldfinger. It sometimes has a Caribbean beat. "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is also instrumentally featured in many songs (it's also track 12). There's also a different version of the "007" theme.
• The Song: Sung by Tom Jones, "Thunderball" was a last-second replacement for Dionne Warwick's "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (which is instrumental on this album). "Thunderball" is a good song, nothing special.
• The CD: Just the record, again. CDP 7 90626 2 from EMI-Manhattan.
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• The Score: Less action-y than some of the others, this features some soft, Japanese-ish tunes. There is some action, still, and plenty of tension. This isn't one of Barry's greatest.
• The Song: Sung by Nancy Sinatra, "You Only Live Twice" isn't that great. Not very memorable.
• The CD: Just the record again. CDP 7 90626 2 from EMI-Manhattan.
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• The Score: Another one of Barry's best. There are some great, thrilling, pulsating tunes. Barry uses some electronic effects this time. "Ski Chase" and "Battle At Piz Gloria" are good, as is the main theme.
• The Song: There isn't one, really. The main title is electronic, since the producers hadn't come up with the idea yet to use something that had nothing to do with the movie (like "All Time High" or "Nobody Does It Better"). There is Louis Armstrong's "We have all the time in the world," which is nice as Bond & Tracy's love theme.
• The CD: Again, just the record. CDP 7 90618 2 from EMI-Manhattan. Filled with a lot of useless stuff, like Nina's "Do you know how Christmas trees are grown?" and "Try", some kind of Lounge song.
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• The Score: Not that many interesting tunes here, a disappointment after the last movie. A variety of musical styles are here. There are three different versions of "Diamonds Are Forever" which is too many for me, even for a good song!
• The Song: Shirley Bassey's back with "Diamonds Are Forever." It's a good song, but not as good as "Goldfinger."
• The CD: Just the record. CDP-7-96209-2 from EMI Records USA.
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• The Score: George Martin's style is a lot different than John Barry, but the music doesn't really suffer. In fact, there are many exciting cues. It's better than the last one.
• The Song: Paul McCartney & Wings' "Live & Let Die" is the first of many rock songs in Bond films. It's one of the better ones. Reached #2 on the US charts.
• The CD: Just the record again. CDP 7 90629 2 from EMI Manhattan.
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• The Score: Average stuff from John Barry, this time with annoying effects in the middle of songs. Sometimes it's kind of fun. "Let's Go Get 'Em" is really marred with that whistle or whatever it is. "Scaramanga's Fun House" switches musical style twice in the middle of the song.
• The Song: Lulu's "The Man With The Golden Gun" is pretty revolting, or an interesting curiosity item. It gets even worse in the end title. The song would have been better if the filmmakers decided to have a song which didn't have to do with the movie's title, a la "Nobody Does It Better". The jazz instrumental version of the song (track 4) is kind of good, though.
• The CD: Just the record. CDP 7 90619 2 from EMI Manhattan. Note: track 3 is listed on the CD as "Chew Me In Crisly Land", but inside as "Chew Me In Grisly Land", which I guess makes more sense…

• The Score: Sometimes it's good…often it isn't. A bit to 70's-ish for my taste.
• The Song: Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" was the first of the Bond songs not to be named after the movie. It's also the first of the songs which is about Bond himself. Anyway, it's a rather good song, and has since become a classic and a catchphrase.
• The CD: Only the record again.
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• The Score: Barry's back, with an interesting score that recalls, but does not equal some of his best earlier work. The best tracks are the two that accompany scenes of Bond in space: #2, "Space Lazer Battle" (it is spelled like that) and #6, "Flight Into Space." The "007" theme also returns in track #7, "Bond Arrives in Rio And Boat Chase."
• The Song: Shirley Bassey also returns for her last Bond song. It's not as good as the others and poorly written, the lyrics making almost no sense.
• The CD: Again, just the record. CPD 7 09620 2 from EMI-Manhattan.
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• The Score: Bill Conti takes a more modern bent, without good results.
• The Song: Sheena Eastons's "For Your Eyes Only" is okay, mostly forgettable.
• The CD:

• The Score: A bit more toned down than most of Barry's Bond scores. There is some action, but it's not as big and bombastic. Actually, a bit boring at times. Worth having if you have the money.
• The Song: Rita Coolidge's "All Time High" is a nice song, nothing special.
• The CD: Just re-released in a nice, deluxe edition by Rykodisc. No new music, but annoying dialogue from the film. A plus is that the old soundtrack cover is included on the reverse of the new one. Also, the theatrical trailer is on this enhanced CD. RCD 10705.
• Order Without Dialogue: (with songs) 1-2-4-5-6-8-9-11-12-13-14.
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• The Score: It's an improvement over Octopussy, with more action cues. However, Barry would continue to improve with The Living Daylights. This is more in the vein of earlier Bond scores. There's plenty of excitement.
• The Song: Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" was the first Bond song to reach #1 on the US charts. Depending on your taste, you'll like it or you won't.
• The CD: TOCP-8813. This is available only as a Japanese import; I got my copy from Amazon. The inside booklet is mostly in Japanese, but the tracks are listed in English and the lyrics for "A View to a Kill" are also included in English. The CD includes:

• The Score: It's a very exciting score from John Barry, full of action and excitement. It's more modern with some synthesized rhythm tracks, which are used well. Trach #4, "Ice Chase," uses that effect especially well. A triumph; definitely worth buying.
• The Song: A-ha's "The Living Daylights" is an okay song, not really special. The Pretenders also provide songs, they are more memorable.
• The CD: Formerly hard to find, Rykodisc recently re-released this with extra music. Fortunately, there is no added dialogue. The extra music is added at the end of the album, resulting in a rather convoluted order.
• Chronological Order: (without songs) 1, 3, 6, 2, 14, 5, 4, 15, 16, 17, 10, 18, 9, 11, 19, 20, 21.

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• The Score: Kamen takes a different bent on Bond, using guitars and other different elements. The results is a score that is different than past ones, but no less exciting. The last and longest track, "Licenced Revoked", which features music from the movie's pre-title sequence, is the best and has a good rendition of the James Bond theme.
• The Song: Unfortunately, a lot of this album is made up of various songs. Gladys Knight's "Licence to Kill" is not very interesting, Patti LaBelle's "If You Asked Me To" over the end credits is barely better. Ivory's "Wedding Party", a Caribbean instrumental song, isn't worth listening to more than once. Tim Freehan's "Dirty Love" isn't so great either.
• The CD: With all the mediocre songs, Kamen's score is featured for less than a half-hour. Still, worth having. MCAD-6307.
• Chronological Order: (without the songs, not sure if entirely correct) 6-7-10-8-4-9

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• The Score: Electronic elements attempt to give the score a "modern" style, but it doesn't really come together.
• The Song:
• The CD: Widely available.

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• The Score: David Arnold's score is one of the best since the heyday of John Barry. It starts off with a bang from the second track, "White Knight" and barely lets up. Track 14, "Backseat Driver", by Arnold and Alex Gifford (of Propellorheads) has electronic elements that work where Goldeneye didn't, it's great. Unfortunately, the score to only about 2/3 of the score is on the album; it was not ready in time. NOTE: According to Film Score Monthly, Compass III records will release unavailable music from the score this year. This is certainly good news!
• The Song: Sheryl Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies" is okay, it has some interesting music but the singing is sometimes incomprehensible. K.D. Lang's "Surrender", written by Arnold and David McAlmont, is much better, a big, Bassey-like song that is just great to listen to.
• The CD: Widely available, it's 31454 0830 2 from A&M Records.
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• The Score: For this bizarre, "unofficial" Bond film which attempted to be a comedy (but only succeeds in a few spots) Burt Bacharach provides a bizarre, funny score. Not to be confused with any "serious" Bond score, this is an exercise in wackiness that is an interesting listen. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass provide the "Casino Royale Theme," which is one of the score's best parts. Track #13, "The Big Cowboys and Indians Fight at Casino Royale" (that gives you an idea of the film) is also particularly good.
• The Song: Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" is by now semi-famous, and appeared memorably in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
• The CD: Just the record (with its famous cover). The liner notes are funny. VSD-5265 from Varese Sarabande.
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 There are two version of this, a 2-CD set and a single CD. The single CD has all the songs from the Bond movies, "From Russia With Love" through "Licence to Kill." There's also Dionne Warwick's "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" ( a rather good song) and Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World." Additionally, the "James Bond Theme" and "007" are included.

The 2-CD set has all that, plus previously unreleased music from "Goldfinger" and other hard-to-find songs.

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