JOHN BARRY
The Beyondness Of Things (London)
Rating: 5 1/2 out of 7
By Ken Micallef

   One of this eraÕs most important and creative soundtrack composers, John Barry is best known for such James Bond scores as Thunderball, Goldfinger, and You Only Live Twice, as well as Midnight Cowboy, Field Of Dreams, Born Free, and Dances With Wolves. The Beyondness Of Things is as elegant as any of BarryÕs film scores, but with a twist: Quoting Paul Bowles, Bruno Bettleheim, Nabokov, and Henry Matisse in the albumÕs liner notes, Barry seems intent on revealing the inspiration behind his singular sound. Beyond simple movie romanticism, we get the idea that BarryÕs best work is about a spiritual quest for enchantment, a meditation about an experience once cherished and remembered but now lost forever to time. WeÕre talking epic here, and Barry always delivers. Using a palette of warm harmonica, misty French horn, oboe, and those ever-present, majestically swirling strings, Barry creates gorgeous tone poems that soar with sentimentality.  Blatantly beautiful, The Beyondness Of Things sounds like the  culmination of one manÕs lifework. Heady, dream-filled stuff for true romantics everywhere.