Back in 1990, I owned exactly one soundtrack featuring music by John Barry. It was 1987's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, the first of two movies in the James Bond series starring Timothy Dalton. And it was on cassette. I hadn't yet ventured into tracking down more of Barry's music for 007 or even the other immensely popular scores of his by that time - BORN FREE, SOMEWHERE IN TIME and OUT OF AFRICA. I was still pinching pennies and selecting purchases very carefully. I also needed more time to truly plug into Barry, his unique sound and approach. I think a more mature mindset had to develop, an understanding and appreciation of how he incorporated jazz idioms early on before moving into his more lush, romantic stage. In THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, I not only discovered a Bond film that's remained a favorite of mine, but also a fantastic score from Barry brimming with so much variety - three memorable songs, from which he drew melodies for danger, action and romance, a more pop-influenced rhythmic element and gorgeous music for the desert-set sequences. I'd found my first entry point into the world of John Barry.
DANCES WITH WOLVES became that quintessential, late-era John Barry score, attaining and even overtaking the heights he achieved with OUT OF AFRICA in 1985. Every major review mentioned its impact on the film, audiences everywhere fell in love with it and even radio friendly versions of the main theme hinged to a pop backbeat were produced. It became the second John Barry soundtrack I purchased. Barry's contribution proved to the absolute soul of the movie. It never simply filled the silence or existed as generic window-dressing. It was specific in its use and had a point of view, qualities evident in music from the very best film composers. The score eloquently speaks for the open land, its indigenous people and for John Dunbar's yearning to belong to something greater than himself. Without feeling overstuffed or haphazard, it's a multi-faceted work showcasing nearly a dozen themes and motifs, while maintaining a clarity of purpose behind each cue. The John Barry sound embarked on the 1960's as quixotic and jazz-tinged, later blossoming in the late 70's into a richer orchestral arena. It is this latter stage which reached its apotheosis in DANCES WITH WOLVES. What remained consistent throughout and what an interested listener can follow is Barry's song-like structure of his cues (verse/chorus/verse), his preferred harmonic and melodic intervals and the subtly bittersweet nature inherent in all his music.
Anyway, my senior year in high school was in full swing, chock-a-block with juggling classes alongside the Fall theater production. Of course, I suspect that when compared to today's high school students' stacked agendas, mine was pretty darn paltry, but I digress. My social calendar finally had spiked - dates, party invites, lunch companions - ever since the year before. I'd silently hoped this would happen throughout those turgid preceding grades. The theater geeks and band nerds welcomed me into their colorful fold. A number of us had formed a fairly tight circle both in and out of school, our own non-threatening posse of bright-eyed actors, singers and musicians, full of promise and light on angst. We never gave our respective parents much reason to pause and worry when we gathered together. No one returned home smelling of booze and cigarettes (that I know of). Maybe we were all collectively, unknowingly saving up those regretful adventures for college and beyond.
Several months later, one weekend afternoon, Paula and I were chatting on the phone, the old handheld variety, of course. We'd decided to attend prom together, even though we weren't really dating or romantically involved. I think it seemed like a natural decision to both of us; we had such easygoing fun together. In addition, there was a tendency in our immediate circle to couple up, possibly for safety and familiarity. In our case, the friendship wasn't capable of progressing past platonic, though. The fuel that launches a close friendship isn't always the same propellant which can fire up a romance. Maybe unconsciously neither of us wanted it hard enough. So on this particular phone call, she said she had something to share with me and, following a few silent moments, I heard her playing "The John Dunbar Theme" on her trumpet. I was so damn impressed. Here was a girl I was taking to the prom, playing a John Barry-composed theme on her trumpet over the phone for me. I've listened to this score far too many times to count over the years and I can't help but be reminded of this memory each time that solo trumpet opens and closes the album.
Returning to my main topic, when I'm talking soundtracks with most people, often the initial assumption is that my personal favorites align with high profile popular titles, the aforementioned STAR WARS, TITANIC, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, THE LION KING, etc. As stellar as these scores are (sidebar - even as a major fan of James Horner, I never felt that TITANIC approached his best work), I normally lean towards the "deep cuts", the under appreciated gems. Maybe I could chalk it up to a "too cool for school" mentality, akin to how in a hipster cliques there might be pressure to prefer only bands that no one else has heard of. Maybe I'm just aiming at unpredictably or showboating my vast movie music knowledge. Honestly, I can't help what I love (or don't). And in the case of the very well-known, award-winning, top-selling DANCES WITH WOLVES, I unashamedly list it among my personal favorites.
A dozen more projects for John Barry trailed after this, some quite notable like CHAPLIN (1992), however it was becoming sadly apparent that his distinct musical voice and viewpoint was less in demand, while ironically still sorely needed in film. I think DANCES WITH WOLVES represents major turning points both within the context of its story and also professionally for its composer. We as the audience witness the turning point of one man's life into significance, juxtaposed against the turning point to diminishment of an entire Native American tribe. Arguably, the film represents the last major highpoint of Barry's career in film scoring. What DANCES WITH WOLVES portrays onscreen, that of the passing of an era and way of life, both by its visuals and observed narratively by the character of John Dunbar, could almost parallel how Barry's musical gifts became hemmed in, dismissed and pushed aside by the progression of a homogenized modernity.
A dozen more projects for John Barry trailed after this, some quite notable like CHAPLIN (1992), however it was becoming sadly apparent that his distinct musical voice and viewpoint was less in demand, while ironically still sorely needed in film. I think DANCES WITH WOLVES represents major turning points both within the context of its story and also professionally for its composer. We as the audience witness the turning point of one man's life into significance, juxtaposed against the turning point to diminishment of an entire Native American tribe. Arguably, the film represents the last major highpoint of Barry's career in film scoring. What DANCES WITH WOLVES portrays onscreen, that of the passing of an era and way of life, both by its visuals and observed narratively by the character of John Dunbar, could almost parallel how Barry's musical gifts became hemmed in, dismissed and pushed aside by the progression of a homogenized modernity.
