John Barry - The Deep: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977) 2CD Expanded Edition 2010

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John Barry - The Deep: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977) 2CD Expanded Edition 2010

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Long-awaited world premiere release of classic John Barry soundtrack in a 2-CD set! After two years of effort with two major licensors (UMG & Sony Pictures), Intrada realizes complete presentation of score plus classic original 1977 album! Peter Yates directs Nick Nolte, Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset in big screen version of Peter Benchley novel. John Barry supplies sensational score to match excitement, danger of underwater tale. Barry melds haunting, richly beautiful theme with abundance of dark, dangerous material to create unusually wide-scale score, replete with dense underwater motifs, aggressive action licks… ever-anchored by stunningly beautiful main theme. Intrada presents complete score on CD 1, in mono from only surviving 1/4" session masters vaulted in excellent condition by Sony, then offers complete (and generous) original Casablanca soundtrack album in stereo from superb condition actual album masters vaulted by UMG - and yes! - including great Donna Summers rendition of Barry's love theme! Unusual at the time, Barry assembled highlights of his score into single 24-minute suite, a technique reprised by Jerry Goldsmith the following year for his THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL album. While Barry covers major highlights, he only touches on half of his score. Complete presentation allows entire hour of music to play in picture sequence, offering rich variations on theme, sizzling danger motifs, other highlights deleted from LP version. Both discs stand by themselves as great listening experiences! John Barry conducts.

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Tech Talk From The Producer…

This special Intrada release marks the CD debut of the original soundtrack album for The Deep, as presented on the Casablanca label in 1977. For that album, John Barry extracted approximately 24 minutes of his one hour score and arranged the selections into a vivid, single ballet movement he called “Return To The Sea—2033 A.D.” The remainder of the LP contained lengthy disco versions of the theme performed instrumentally by John Barry as well as in two vocal treatments by Donna Summer. The generous running time of the LP also included a disco piece by Beckett. For our 2-CD set, this entire LP program can be heard on disc two, presented from the actual stereo album masters vaulted in mint condition by the Universal Music Group.

But there is a lot more. Our first disc contains the world premiere release of the complete one hour John Barry score, presented in mono from the only surviving complete master elements, recorded on ¼” reels and stored at Sony Pictures in excellent condition. Locating these masters allowed us to present more than a half hour of music not previously released, and assemble the entire score in chronological order for the first time.

John Barry’s score contains an unusual amount of underwater scoring. It is thick, dense, rippling and flowing, with an emphasis on one beautiful theme enrobed in dramatic, colorful orchestrations. Barry evokes the sea… not one of sparkle and beauty but rather one of mystery, danger and darkness that—as the theme song suggests—comes from “down, deep inside”. Keep your wetsuit and scabbard close at hand and immerse yourself in John Barry’s music for The Deep.

—- Douglass Fake

Original 1977 Soundtrack Album:

Casablanca released the original motion picture soundtrack to The Deep on blue colored vinyl, one of the few highlights of this work conducted by the legendary John Barry. He teams up with Donna Summer, who had a couple of gold records prior to this but had not ascended to the "Queen of Disco" level quite yet. Together they write "Theme From the Deep (Down, Deep Inside)," which is actually a decent orchestrated tune from Summer's dance world. It sounds influenced by Barry White's 1973 work with "Love Unlimited Orchestra" and could have fit into any number of James Bond films. Like the movie, which featured Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, Louis Gossett, and Eli Wallach, the soundtrack has faded into the 1970s – an artifact of the disco era. Beckett's "Disco Calypso" is innocuous and somewhat monotonous, produced by Buddy Scott and engineered by Ed Sprigg. It comes between the three variations of "Down, Deep Inside" – the film "theme" that makes up side two. Side one is a 24-minute-plus ballet based on the score from the motion picture The Deep, which Barry titles "Return to the Sea - 2033 A.D." It doesn't have the attraction of Jerry Goldsmith's Planet of the Apes work, or Barry's beloved award-winning moments, but it is still pleasant enough. Summer has her "Love to Love You Baby" orgasms in the first of the two versions she sings on, which is amusing, though the slower take that ends the disc has more intrigue. On the up-tempo track that opens side two she almost sounds like an on-key Yoko Ono with the "Something warm is coming inside of me" line. Would make a nice mix with Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" and should have been a big hit. Along with the blue vinyl, it is the best thing about the record.

Joe Viglione, All Music Guide

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John Barry - The Deep: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977) 2CD Expanded Edition 2010

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John Barry - The Deep: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977) 2CD Expanded Edition 2010

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John Barry - The Deep: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977) 2CD Expanded Edition 2010

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