I'm not really sure what went into the thought process of pairing up these two John Barry scores on one CD but it does seem a most unusual combination.  A typically lush, sweeping romantic score for Until September (director Richard Marquand's follow-up to Return of the Jedi!) is paired with one of Barry's most atypical works, for the science fiction movie Star Crash.

Until September is a prototypical Barry romance score.  Right up there with the best of them (like Frances) it features one of his most alluring and attractive themes.  Whereas some Barry scores are criticised for repeating a theme to death, in Until September he sends it through enough variation and adds enough other material to make it never outstay its welcome.  There are many secondary themes - one of them, "One More Time", being surprisingly similar to Jerry Goldsmith's feather-light theme from Sleeping with the Enemy, written a decade later - and various other interesting ideas.  

The main theme gets performances by the usual strings-and-horn orchestration that Barry has favoured for years; its rapturous performance in "He Catches Her" is backed by a truly delightful electric guitar solo; and then later it is heard on tenor sax.  Barry even finds time to fit in a short solo for his favourite, the harmonica, in "Waiting".  With a beautiful end credits suite, Until September is a really lovely score and any fans of Barry's romantic efforts will find one of his most lush and rewarding entries in that genre.

All of which brings us to Star Crash...  Actually, it's not terribly fair to criticise the score - the composer can only score the film he is given - but the film must rank as one of the very worst in Barry's filmography (which does, it has to be said, contain rather too many candidates).  It was an Italian production designed to cash in on Star Wars, hoping to launch a kind of "James Bond in space" series of films (which is where the idea of hiring Barry came from).  Despite featuring the lovely Caroline Munro in a deliciously revealing costume, the movie met with limited success...

Barry's score is rather dry and turgid.  It does have a somewhat striking (if rather cheesy) main theme but after then, while always remaining melodic, Barry seems almost content to just acknowledge the mysterious atmosphere rather than make any other dramatic statements.  Unsurprisingly, the highlight apart from the main theme is a kind of love theme variation on it, "Goodbye Akton", though it's painfully slow.  In any case, The Black Hole it ain't.

Overall, this is a pairing of one excellent and one below-average Barry score.  Sound quality is poor given the relatively recent age of the scores and the cover is downright awful, but nevertheless this is a recommended album.

Buy this CD by clicking here!

Tracks