You Only Live Twice was to be Sean Connery's last outing as the superspy, but he was of course enticed back one more time for Diamonds Are Forever. By this stage, John Barry had established himself as the composer for Bond and was broadening his standing as a film composer of some note after winning his first Oscar for best original score in 1966 with Born Free and in another in 1968 for his stupendous choral led writing for The Lion in Winter. Quite how Barry never received even a nomination for any of his Bond work seems quite staggering. Bond isn't obvious Academy material, but the songs are certainly as good as anything else nominated for Oscars and in many cases, a lot better.

Perhaps the most famous aspect of You Only Live Twice is the descending string motif that opens the song and becomes a low key accompaniment throughout. Anybody familiar with Robbie Williams' song Millennium would instantly recognise its use as a background sample. The song melody itself is classic Barry, Leslie Bricusse's lyrics make more sense than usual, a relative measure of course and Nancy Sinatra's performance of predictably high quality. I've never been a huge fan of the arrangement, the aforementioned string phrase is so gloriously dramatic that it really calls for a bolder use within the song itself, but is unfortunately reduced to appearing as a synthesised background during the vocal sections. The depressingly poor sound quality on the album release doesn't help.

It might be of disappointment to Bond fans that Barry's score here is very low key. The brashness of Goldfinger and Thunderball is largely absent and is replaced with a more subdued tone. The most memorable track outside the title song is undoubtedly Capsule in Space with Barry's broad interval bass line and haunting melody. It is very simple, but incredibly effective. It isn't quite as grand as its later use in Moonraker, but is an interestingly suspenseful addition. The Japanese location call for some ethnic scoring and so Wedding provides some faux Oriental textures which are pleasant, but not terribly exciting. The use of the song theme as a broad melody for landscapes is quite notable, particularly in Mountains and Sunsets, which previews Barry's more recent style of writing.

I am somewhat puzzled as to why this is often considered one of Barry's best Bond scores. It has some great moments to be sure, but frankly, it just isn't all that exciting. The suspense music is credible, particularly when the Capsule Into Space theme is used, but outside of that, quite a few of the cues are a little on the meandering side. One can only assume that some of the best tracks are missing off yet another poor release from EMI. I can't bring myself to be as inspired by the score as many fans, but there are enough good moments to recommend it.

Rating ~

1. You Only Live Twice (2:47)
   Performed by Nancy Sinatra
2. Capsule in Space (2:45)
3. Fight at Kobe Dock - Helga (4:03)
4. Tanaka's World (2:08)
5. Drop in the Ocean (2:23)
6. Death of Aki (4:21)
7. Mountains and Sunsets (3:14)
8. Wedding (2:49)
9. James Bond - Astronaut (3:31)
10. Countdown for Blofeld (2:38)
11. Bond Averts World War Three (2:18)
12. You Only Live Twice (End Title) (3:29)
    Performed by Nancy Sinatra

Total Time ~ 37:20