Composed by: Monty Norman (with an assist from John Barry)
Dr. No is the sixth novel in Ian Fleming’s series of British spy novels, but the first in the James Bond film series. After the assassination of several MI-6 agents in Jamaica, agent 007 James Bond (Sean Connery) is assigned to investigate. The trail leads him to an insidious plot by Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), who is considerably toned down from his Fu Manchu-like roots in the novel into a scientist working for international criminal organization SPECTRE. It didn’t quite have the formula of the series down yet. There was no pre-credits sequence, no frustrated Q, and no fantastic gadgets for Bond (but a couple for the titular villain). It’s a solid spy thriller that was good enough to ensure a couple sequels, which in turn catapulted James Bond into an iconic movie franchise.
Among the elements that hadn’t been nailed down yet was the music, which moreso in the 007 franchise has been important. Compared to the \brassy and romantic scores that John Barry would establish as the regular standard, Monty Norman’s Dr. No’s score is almost entirely made up of Jamaican and Caribbean style music, much of it acting as source cues, and so-so orchestral suspense. There’s not even a proper theme song, a surety in following Bond films. The music covering the opening credits is four different cues spliced together in near-haphazard fashion.
The one piece of music that should please fans of the franchise’s music is the first track, “James Bond Theme”. What new can be said about this, one of the greatest themes ever? It evokes coolness, danger, and sexiness (and at times heroism). It’s the ultimate spy theme. The actual creation of the theme is not without controversy. The composer for Dr. No, Monty Norman, has always been credited with its creation in every film, and still receives royalties for its frequent use outside the movies. John Barry, composer of nearly a dozen James Bond movies, claimed that he wrote the theme. It is not known if this is true, but he did arrange the theme in its jazzy form. This particular track would be thrown into several scenes in Dr. No, and for a while it would get spliced into the sequels.
Outside of the first track, there is little to recommend. It’s over half an hour of what sounds like source music, much of it repeated (as can be told from the track titles) with little variation. Norman did compose orchestral music, but not much. A five minute suite of this missing music can be found rearranged by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra on some of their James Bond compilations. It starts off with “The Tarantula,” a basic eerie suspense piece, and is followed by “Killing the Guard,” another suspense cue which contains a few bars of the James Bond theme. The suite concludes with “Death of Dr. No.” This perilous piece covers the villain’s demise and the destruction of his base, with bits of the James Bond theme heroically breaking through. If one wants to create their own Dr. No album, I would recommend latching this onto or near the end.
The Jamaican music isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not something film music lovers and probably most James Bond fans would really appreciate. A large chunk of it fails to appear in the film, making the album baffling for some listeners. Monty Norman certainly had a liking for it. He collaborated with Jamaican band Bryon Lee and the Dragonaires, and also had his wife Dina Coupland sing a few songs in a Jamaican accent (she would also dub over Bond girl Honey Ryder when she sings). One song I do like is “Kingston Calypso”, which juxtaposes a cheerful bouncy tune with dark, violent lyrics. Its first track is sung in Jamaican accent by a male, and the second by Coupland with slower tempo at the start. The theme is something of a villain’s theme, thematically linking to a trio of Jamaican assassins who pose as blind men. It even gets an instrumental variation in “Dr. No’s Theme.”
“Under the Mango Tree” is the closest to a 007 love song. Its lyrics focus heavily on fruits. As with “Kingston Calypso” this song gets multiple outings. First is a straightforward presentation of the song by a female vocalist and next is an instrumental. The third has a slightly different title with “Underneath the Mango Tree” and is sung by a male voice. The third repeating song is “Jump Up,” which is more festive but not really interesting. Beware the second to last track, which is called “The James Bond Theme”, as opposed to just “James Bond Theme”. This is another upbeat Jamaican tune that does not contain the actual famed James Bond theme, though it does also appear in “Twisting with James” and “Dr. No’s Fantasy.” The fact that Norman repeats this tune and labels it as the main character’s theme doesn’t help his case that he devised the much more famous tune.
Some tracks do manage to deviate from the incidental Jamaican music. One oddity is “Audio Bongo,” which sounds like something out of an old sci-fi movie. The gunbarrel sequence at the open does open up in similar style with some radio effects. This is perhaps inspired by Dr. No’s radio waves plot. “The Island Speaks” is a dark percussion-driven cue, not the great suspense that John Barry would come up with, but effective nonetheless. The last track is “Love at Last.” If one is expecting the sweeping send-off that Barry and others would provide, they will be disappointed to find another happy tropical piece.
I would recommend skipping this album. It doesn’t offer much interest unless you really care for the local Jamaican style. It’s more like those “music from and inspired by” albums which feature a bunch of songs that may or may not actually appear in the movie. If you’re in the right mood this album can be an entertaining half-hour listen, but it pales badly in comparison to future installments.
Final Rating: 4/10
Tracklisting
- James Bond Theme (1:47)
- Kingston Calypso (2:42)
- Jamaican Rock (2:03)
- Jump Up (2:08)
- Audio Bongo (1:30)
- Under the Mango Tree (2:20)
- Twisting with James (3:08)
- Jazz (1:04)
- Under the Mango Tree Instrumental (2:40)
- Jump Up Short Version (1:25)
- No’s Fantasy (1:40)
- Kingston Calypso (2:30)
- The Island Speaks (3:18)
- Under the Mango Tree (2:37)
- The Boy Chase (1:30)
- No’s Theme (1:57)
- The James Bond Theme (2:20)
- Love at Last (1:49)
raymondusrex 