By Stephen Pytak 

     The people behind 007 are finally getting some of 
his soundtracks right.
     A handful of the James Bond scores are being 
re-released in expanded editions. Some are dreams 
come true. This is one of them.
     I'm sure Timothy Dalton will even buy a copy. It's 
that good.
     If you're a fan of these films, then you love the 
music at the start of each, when Bond walks past that 
famous gun barrel.
     If you're a fan, then you also know all too well 
that that music was cut from many of the soundtrack 
releases.
     It's a famous cue and everybody knows it. But, if 
you notice, it sounds a bit different in every film. It's 
tailored. Therefore, logic dictates, this signature should 
be at the top of every Bond soundtrack recording. 
     I'm not sure why these cues were skipped. But the 
notes inside the booklet you'll find inside this CD gives 
us some clue.
     "The soundtrack to 'The Living Daylights' was 
originally released in the twilight of the LP format, 
when recordings rarely exceeded 40 minutes," the 
booklet states.  
     Some of these remastered soundtracks are 
including those signatures and the opening scores 
that followed them.
     It's hard to believe the original release of "The 
Living Daylights" soundtrack didn't include "Exercise 
at Gibraltar," the music that highlights the film's 
exciting first few minutes. 
     The energetic music starts at the gun barrel, 
follows Bond on a training exercise and pumps with 
adrenaline as Bond pursues a Russian mercenary. 
Great stuff.
     Other bonus tracks here include "Approaching 
Kara," "Murder at the Fair," "Assassin and Drugged," 
"Airbase Jailbreak," "Afghanistan Plan," "Air Bond," 
"Final Confrontation" and "Alternate End Titles."
     Bond score veteran John Barry, who has done more 
007 music than any other composer, composed the 
music. This was his last Bond score to date.
     It's a dramatic score, which features instrumental 
variations of three rock songs, which were composed 
for the film. The first is the title track by A-ha. The 
other two are "Where Has Every Body Gone" and "If 
There Was A Man" by The Pretenders.
     There are a total of 21 tracks on this disc. And the 
colorful booklet inside the CD is informative enough 
to give us a listing of how the tracks fall in the course 
of the film.
     "To hear the entire album in film sequence, 
program: 13, 1, 3, 6, 2, 7, 14, 5, 4, 15, 16, 17, 10, 
18, 9, 11, 19, 20, 12. Tracks 8 and 21 are not heard 
in the film," the CD notes state.
     The booklet folds out into a poster. It's kind of 
clumsy, but packed with information and some great
photos. Among them are shots of the original front 
and back cover art which came with the old album
cover years ago.
     Other Bond soundtracks that were given similar 
treatment were "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," 
"Live and Let Die," and "Octopussy."
     By the way, some Bond soundtracks rereleased 
as part of this collection don't have bonus tracks.
They are basically the same soundtracks with new
packaging. Among them are "Dr. No" and 
"Goldeneye." Bummer.