I could be persuaded

I spoke about the John Barry Seven yesterday. (I know, I need to get out more.) I mentioned in particular a rather jaunty tune that was obviously based on Brubeck's Take Five - loads of sax and a time signature to tie you in knots. Today I want to talk about Barry's theme for a 1971 Lew Grade ITC show that paired Tony Curtis & Roger Moore and, with what must have been one hell of a budget, dropped two of the biggest movie stars of the day on location in Monaco. Throw in a few bronzed supermodels (long before leggy blondes were known as supermodels), a couple of car chases, the ubiquitous cheesy dialogue and, voila, The Persuaders was born. 

Barry's progression from Cutty Sark to The Persuaders is his Love Me Do to Her Majesty, his Hamburg to Apple rooftop; Barry was using a Moog for heaven's sake. Eat yer heart out, Keith Emerson.

Still, to these ears, one of the most haunting TV theme tunes. Ever.

John Barry - The Persuaders - Intro (1971)

The power of seven

If ever a piece of music conveyed a time and a place then Cutty Sark by the John Barry Seven nails early 60s London; not quite swinging, but in its brief two mins 40 seconds you can detect that changes are afoot, something's coming down the tubes. The end of innocence? Probably. 

JB far left & next to him, Dennis King 

The Paul Desmond soundalike on sax is actually a guy called Dennis King. He played with the JB7 from 1957 to 1963 when the bandleader's head was turned by the lure of another 7, James Bond 007. I could listen to this all day long...

John Barry Seven - Cutty Sark* (1962)

* Cutty Sark - Scottish slang for short skirt.

Barry, John

(Yes, I know it's Barry John)

With today's news of the sad passing of John Barry (fast forward to Brother Mondo's boutique blog), now is probably a good a time as any to finally give Barry his proper dues for writing that theme; the theme his sparring partner Monty Norman took all the credit for. The roots of the James Bond ident can be traced back to The John Barry Seven and the soundtrack he was commissioned to write for the Beat Girl movie in 1960: featuring the evocative sound of Vic Flick (of whom more later in the year) on guitar. Listen to this and tell me what it reminds you of.

The John Barry Seven: Beat Girl



Barry and Monty Norman tussled in the High Court many times over paternity of the 007 theme, and its associated riches, but Norman's legal team shaded it on points. And anyway, if Norman had written the bloody thing, why was he never asked to contribute to any more Bond movies? As you can read here (if you've got a couple of hours to spare), the studio probably weren't happy with Norman's final offering and got Barry to do a total rewrite.

Bond aside, John Barry's legacy will be with us for generations to come. Composers and musicians alike love to reference and name-check him; not least The Special Agents who, along with the afore mentioned Vic Flick, supplied the soundtrack to spoof spy movie Wilson Chance in 2005.

The Special Agents: Wilson Chance Theme