Home → John Barry → You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice
Soundtrack / Score · 1967 · 12 tracks

You Only Live Twice

John Barry

Sweeping orchestral grandeur meets delicate Japanese-inspired textures. Nancy Sinatra's breathy vocals drift over high-altitude strings and sharp, suspenseful brass.

1967 · Sunset Records

Find on Amazon

This album is the sonic embodiment of mid-century elegance meeting the exotic unknown. John Barry moves away from the gritty, urban jazz of earlier Bond scores toward a more ethereal, high-altitude sound. The music feels vast and panoramic, defined by a signature two-note string motif that seems to hang in the air like fog over a volcano. It is an album of dualities: the lush, romantic yearning of the title theme contrasted with the cold, metallic precision of the space-age cues.

Tracklist · 12 Tracks
01
You Only Live Twice
2:48
02
Capsule in Space
2:45
03
Fight at Kobe Dock / Helga
4:04
04
Tanaka’s World
2:07
05
A Drop in the Ocean
2:24
06
The Death of Aki
4:22
07
Mountains and Sunsets
3:14
08
The Wedding
2:50
09
James Bond – Astronaut?
3:32
10
Countdown for Blofeld
2:39
11
Bond Averts World War Three
2:18
12
You Only Live Twice (End Title)
3:31
Moments Worth Listening For
the way the opening two-note string motif in the title track feels like a slow-motion ascent over a mountain range
the sudden, jarring brass explosion in Capsule in Space that mimics the mechanical coldness of a docking sequence
the delicate, plucked koto patterns in Mountains and Sunsets that provide a fragile counterpoint to the sweeping violins
Where This Album DepartsEach spoke is a trait. The orange shape shows where this album pulls away from — or holds to — the rest of the artist’s catalogue. Tap for more.

How does You Only Live Twice sound next to the rest of John Barry's catalogue?

Mountain+4.0σ

Mountain saturates this record far more than the artist's norm.

Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →