Spy Music

Spy music is not the same as crime and suspense. In the first place, most of the classic crime themes preceded the James Bond films. And without James Bond films and John Barry, there might have been very few spy themes. Crime music is staccato, as in Johnny Staccato, very choppy, or melancholy and cool. Crime is always urban and usually jazz. Spy themes, on the other hand, are all orchestral grandeur. Strong brass and string sections, soaring past a rhythm suggestive of nimble sports cars, give rise to a bombastic expression of worldliness (or sex). Spy music is rarely subtle or quiet, even when a thrush is pausing for breath or effect. And a guitar is likely to plant the orchestra firmly in the 1960s. Spies and "eyes" travel in different circles--described by different music.

To most people, spy music is simply the James Bond soundtracks. Everyone has heard Shirley Bassey belt out "Goldfinger" a hundred times. But how many have heard her sing "The Liquidator" from the soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin? The Bond films inspired not just many more spy films but also a spate of spy-movie spoofs. James Bond films account for just a few of the soundtracks. And beyond soundtracks, there is the same sound in less likely. Tunes on all sorts of other albums from the period, recorded perhaps with no thought of spies or spy movies whatsoever, turn out in retrospect to be very "spy."

Buying: Spy music largely is overrated, but at least guns and bikinis never go out of style. Some of the jazzier budget-label records are better than some of the higher-profile soundtracks. The code is only partly cracked below.