"On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" by JOHN BARRY - November 1969 UK Soundtrack Album to the Sixth James Bond Film on United Artists featuring Louis Armstrong as Guest Vocalist on the Final Theme Song and a Christmas Song Sung by Nina Van Pallandt (February 2003 UK EMI/Capitol 'James Bond 007 Remasters' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Four Extended Tracks and Ten Previously Unreleased Bonuses – Michael McDonald and Doug Schwartz Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Majestys-Secret-Service/dp/B000087DS2?crid=1CP6Q8C854HG7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GLK18Gg_wgva60-xKtOd4Q._DH_o3dOcZm2pgNkugXHT126YDysMHeEgNN2b76I9Ok&dib_tag=se&keywords=724354141928&qid=1705259722&sprefix=724354141928%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=31337b75adaece13f84688b50ec51c77&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"...This Never Happened To The Other Fella..."

 

In September 1969 - through their United Artists label - EMI UK prepped a hungry James Bond audience with a new compilation LP called "The Best Of Bond - The Original Soundtrack Themes" on United Artists UAS 29021. With the bulk of it by JOHN BARRY - it featured cuts from the first five 007 films from "Dr. No" in 1962 to "You Only Live Twice" in 1967. You can pick it up in 2024 for under two pounds on original vinyl and is a bit of a winner frankly. Which brings us to rusty door No. 6…

The sixth James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - and some would argue the best John Barry soundtrack of all the 007 outings - came to the UK public (in a vinyl gatefold sleeve) in late November 1969 on United Artists UAS 29020 (Stereo only). With newcomer George Lazenby in the lead role (replacing Sean Connery) - the movie itself premiered 18 December 1969 in the UK and 19 Dec 1969 in the States with Lazenby already stating that he would NOT do a second film. 

Perhaps just as well because as everyone knows, neither "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" or Lazenby was particularly well received - some even scathing of the new incarnation of Bond and his hammy weak-kneed portrayal of Dr. Hilary Bray. And this was despite the fact that OHMSS secured huge box-office takings worldwide - but because it was a lot less than both of its predecessors "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice" - it was technically considered to be a flop. 

Its John Barry melody-filled motion picture music (that included the first use of synths too) - initially anyway - did not make much of an impact either. It barely scraped into the US charts in February 1970 (again on United Artists) arriving at a lowly peak of No. 103 whilst not charting in the UK Top 40 at all. Jazz Vocalist legend Louis Armstrong would die two years later (it was last vocal performance and full of pathos for it – now a wedding standard) while not even Kojak Telly Savalas as arch-enemy Blofeld or the Emma Peel gorgeous Diana Rigg as Bond’s first wife Tracy Di Vicenzo could help save it in the public's eyes.

But time has proven a healer - especially amongst JOHN BARRY aficionados who have always adored its music. So, when the entire Bond catalogue turned up on 'James Bond 007 Remasters' CD in 2003 - many JOHN BARRY fans got whomped – and whomped good in this 1969-case. Not only is there ten tasty Soundtrack outtakes available for the first time (practically more than doubling the original music count of thirty-seven minutes to seventy-nine forty-six minutes) – but four crucial songs are now extended versions with original Barry music reinstated. Those four are "This Never Happens To The Other Fella" (extended from 4:25 to 5:06 minutes), "Ski Chase" (extended from 2:52 to 3:39 minutes), "Journey To Blofeld's Hideaway" (extended from 3:25 to 4:53 minutes) and "Over And Out" (extended from 2:40 to 3:11 minutes). As you can see from the playing times – some are maybe only some fifty-seconds longer – but "Journey To Blofeld's Hideaway" is so radically altered as to warrant a note in the booklet to say, 'Contains Previously Unreleased Music Within Cue'. The listen is so much better and deeper. 

Remastered with pure love from the original master tapes by top Engineer DOUG SCHWARTZ (assisted and remixed by Michael McDonald) – the audio is truly spectacular. Much like the actual films would be lifted-up into something glorious with the Lowry Process a few years later (frame-by-frame restoration) - here the revelations of how good Barry was comes at you on every track except of course the cloying Nina Van Pallandt Christmas trees schlock. To the details… 

Sir. Hilary Bray, my heraldry charts please...

UK released 11 February 2003 (UK/EUROPE reissued 2012 as EMI/Capitol 00724354141928) - "On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" by JOHN BARRY on EMI/MGM/Capitol 72435-41419-2-8 (Barcode 724354141928) breaks down as follows (79:46 minutes):

1. We Have All The Time In The World (Vocals by Louis Armstrong) – Side 1
2. This Never Happened To The Other Fella *
3. Try
4. Ski Chase *
5. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? (Sung by Nina)
6. Main Title - On Her Majesty's Secret Service [Side 2
7. Journey To Blofeld's Hideaway *
8. We Have All The Time In The World (Instrumental)
9. Over And Out *
10. Battle At Piz Gloria
11. We Have All The Time In The World – James Bond Theme
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" - released November 1969 in the UK on United Artists UAS 29020 in Stereo and in the USA on United Artists UAS 5204.
NOTES: 
All music by JOHN BARRY - HAL DAVID wrote the Lyrics for Tracks 1 and 5. 
Tracks 2, 4, 7 and 9 are marked * because they are Extended Versions; timing differences to the original 1969 LP are noted in the paragraphs above. 

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS:
12. Journey To Draco's Hideaway (3:41 minutes)
13. Bond And Draco (4:34 minutes)
14. Gumbold's Safe (4:49 minutes)
15. Bond Settles In (2:16 minutes)
16. Bond Meets The Girls (3:27 minutes)
17. Dusk At Piz Gloria (2:32 minutes)
18. Sir Hillary's Night Out (Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?) (4:46 minutes)
19. Blofeld's Plot (5:19 minutes)
20. Escape From Piz Gloria (4:53 minutes)
21. Bobsled Chase (2:03 minutes)

The 10-page booklet has affectionate, witty and informative liner notes from JEFF BOND (no relation) with Page 5 being a double foldout sporting an array of colour stills from the movie on one side – our own Emma Peel in her Spanish ensemble, the wedding ceremony with Diana Rigg as Teresa the only woman Bond marries, the famous silver Aston Martin, Ski Scenes, Blofeld's assassin woman Irma Bunt played by the decidedly creepy Ilsa Steppart (who died in real life only three days after the movie came out – 21 Dec 1969) – while the rear has George Lazenby as James Bond laughing (and why wouldn't he) with the bevvy of girls all living in the Swiss Alpine Retreat Piz Gloria – Blofeld’s Angels of Death. The last page has reissue credits and some discography info.

But the big news here is the SOUND - this CD sounds utterly glorious. Recorded in October 1969 by Barry at CTS Studios in London (Engineered by John Richards) - it was afforded all the luxury of modern recording facilities - and man does it show. The Louis Armstrong song was in fact sung at the end of the movie and not at the beginning – a first for Bond. Barry wrote the music; Hal David the Lyrics and an already ill Armstrong sang his warmest gravel-voice into the microphone with extraordinary tenderness – as if the married-to-the-job but never to be actually-married Bond had indeed fallen in love with Teresa Tracy Di Vicenzo. The swish and sway of the instruments and those plucked strings lend it real heart-wallop power. The first of three instrumentals elevate Side 1 of the album even more – that Extended "Ski Chase" sending your imagination right back to the slopes of the Alps and colour on the snow that would really please Count Dracula. 

The less said about the dreadfully twee Nina song about Christmas Trees the better – and thankfully the gorgeous instrumental melody in the Main Theme of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" that opens Side 2 blasts that bad taste right out of your mouth. For most fans the different opening (cue in) to "Journey To Blofeld's Hideaway" but in a very nice way – one the best instrumentals on the Soundtrack now given room to breathe and relay its magic. And again, your mind goes to cable cars, bobsleds, fur around hoods and goggles the size of American and Australian satellite dishes covering the 1969 moon landing only five months before. I am ambivalent towards the use of the synth on the James Bond Theme – but I know others would be bereft if it was not there. Far better for me is the double whammy of "Over And Out" followed by "Battle At Piz Gloria" – bombs and babes depicted by the dapper gent. 

I kind of knew that the Bonus Tracks would be good – but they are surely the reason why this CD has garnished a bit of a price tag since 2003 issue in February of that year. The four and half minutes of "Bond And Draco" is unbelievably good – while "Dusk At Piz Gloria" evokes such a great Sixties all-things-are-possibly vibe. The bachelor pad sway of the strings too as Bond lays eye son all the girlies will probably make you laugh out loud – big cheesy grin – Barry in his smoker-jacket with Martini in hand. Fabulous stuff. 

Poor Lazenby never did recover as an actor and James Bond 007 would have to wait until 1973 for Roger Moore and "Live And Let Die" (the Wings single doing the business). But this is where the middle magic of JOHN BARRY lies – the unholy triumvirate of "You Only Live Twice" in 1967 and my personal fave, the 1971 gem "Diamonds Are Forever" bringing up the rear and pushing out the front. I can feel a magnetic zipper joke coming on – buy it and wallow...