A fun Bond score for a mediocre Bond film. I can remember going to see this one with my family for Father's Day and the most exciting part before the movie was seeing a preview for Rocky IV. And after I got it on tape, I wanted the soundtrack very badly but news was that it was next to impossible to find and if you did, you would have to cough up a lot of cash for it. Luckily, I was able to find a copy at a library book sale and picked it up dirt cheap. It's case wasn't in the best of conditions but hey, the music was all I was worried about and thankfully it turned out to be in good shape.
Okay, enough reminising, how is Barry's score for Bond? Well, it has a very, very 1980s song performed by Duran Duran at the start and end. This one was written by John Barry himself, it is really kind of fun. It went on to become one of the two best selling James Bond theme songs in the history of the Bond franchise, (Nobody Does It Better from The Spy Who Loved Me is the other). It is still a cult classic in the 80s rock genre.
As for the rest of the score, the theme from the song is adapted into two beautiful instrumentals. I'd rate them as being more melodic than the love theme from Octopussy. The action tracks have their own theme, a pulsating, deep brassy rumble with a whaling electric guitar in the background. The joining of these two themes makes A View to a Kill a very coherent score unlike Goldeneye's. And what Bond movie would be complete without the James Bond theme surfacing to maintain continuity with the franchise. In all this is another superb score by John Barry who has set the standards for the Bond films. Since his departure after 1987's The Living Daylights, his shoes have been hard to fill and after listening to this soundtrack it's easy to understand why. If you find it, by all means get it, but be ready to spend some major cash.
Total time: 38:15
1: Main Title/A View to a Kill (3:35) - Duran Duran
2: Snow Job (2:28)
3: May Day Jumps (2:51)
4: Bond Meets Stacy (2:30)
5: Pegasus' Stable (3:23)
6: Tibbet Gets Washed Out (1:42)
7: Airship To Silicon Valley (2:32)
8: He's Dangerous (2:16)
9: Bond Underwater (2:35)
10: Wine With Stacey (1:54)
11: Bond Escape Roller (1:24)
12: Destroy Silicon Valley (2:23)
13: May Day Bombs Out (3:01)
14: Golden Gate Fight (3:31)
15: End Titles (A View to a Kill - reprise) (2:04) - Duran Duran