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Original score composed by and conducted John Barry. Recorded at CTS Studios, London, England in July 1964. Includes liner notes by Jeff Bond. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" wasn't the biggest hit from the James Bond movies, but it remains the archetype. With Bassey's bold, blaring delivery of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's over-the-top lyrics, her voice as brassy as the unforgettable horn fills that punctuate the verses, "Goldfinger Into Miami (Main Title)" (as the song is more prosaically identified here) is a true swinging-'60s pop treasure. Though the rest of the album isn't John Barry's all-time best James Bond score--that would be 1965's thrilling THUNDERBALL--it's certainly top-drawer work. Tracks like "Oddjob's Pressing Engagement" and the subtle "Gassing the Gangsters" rework the main theme in imaginative ways, and the climactic "Dawn Raid On Fort Knox" is effectively tense even without the visuals. The brief "Teasing the Korean" is a similarly impressive exercise in atmospherics, proving anew that John Barry was one of the most gifted soundtrack composers of the '60s.
