Of all the Bond scores reissued in 2003, the one to benefit most was probably Diamonds are Forever.  Sean Connery's last film (for MGM) as Bond, it was a very camp affair and probably his weakest Bond film, but there was still enough action and excitement to inspire some great music from John Barry - the only man who should be allowed to score Bond films.  Unfortunately, the original soundtrack released with the film (and later released on CD by EMI) eschewed much of the vibrant and exciting action music for various source instrumentals in a lounge jazz style.  This is now rectified and Barry's score can be revealed and enjoyed in its entirety, with superb sound quality to boot.  Well, it can be enjoyed in its entirety providing you reprogram the CD to get rid of the ridiculous, stupid running order which otherwise wrecks the album.

The title song is surely one of the best, most iconic Bond songs; certainly it features Don Black's cleverest, most inspired lyrics, a delightfully catchy Barry melody and a typically forceful Shirley Bassey vocal - indelible stuff.  Then comes the original running order of the first Diamonds are Forever album (with additional music added to a couple of tracks), then comes the extra material.  Presenting the CD in this way does the music no favours, with there being little or no dramatic flow - it's most unfortunate that there were legal reasons preventing the album's producers from putting the score in chronological order.

First, the music all Barry/Bond fans already know and love - the sly action of "Moon Buggy Ride"; the languid "Death at the Whyte House"; the suave "Bond Smells a Rat"; "007 and Counting", the distant cousin to You Only Live Twice's classic "Space March"; the gleefully jazzy and catchy "Q's Trick"; and the freshly-extended "To Hell with Blofeld", now three times as long as before, the score's action highlight, with its reprise of From Russia with Love's "007 Theme".  Then we start all over again in "Gunbarrel and Manhunt", the delightful action piece that score's the film's opening.  Much of the rest of the new music does resemble parts of what has already been released, but now the balance of action to source music is far more balanced in favour of the former, which can't be a bad thing.  The highlight of the new material is "Slumber, Inc.", which seems to come out of nowhere (though its inclusion is obvious when you see the film); opening with a kind of cheesy organ solo it develops into a choral piece of epic, mammoth proportions and is actually strangely moving.

Taken on a purely musical level, this is a top-rate Bond score; it's a great pity that the album has to be sequenced in this way, but never mind.  As with all the other new releases the liner notes are a disappointment - surely anecdotes about the scoring, or pictures from the sessions, or interviews with Barry or Black would be better than a several-page description of the film and then a couple of cursory paragraphs which mention the music. But ultimately it's the music that counts - and it sparkles like a diamond.  Touch it, stroke it and undress it.