The Knack...and how to get it (1965)

John Barry is one of the best-known composers of soundtrack music of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but his career has carried him through a multitude of music genres and styles. He is best-known in film in connection with his work on the James Bond pictures, but Barry is also the holder of five Academy Awards, none of them for the Bond movies.

A superbly atmospheric John Barry score effectively conveyed the mood of swinging London for this 1965 film by Richard Lester. Usually playing around with variations of the haunting main theme, Barry used vivacious horns, melancholic strings, and above all a groovy jazz organ (played by Alan Haven). A couple of the tracks don't work well in isolation: the vaudevillian "Something's Up!," and the vocal version of the main theme (not used in the film) by mediocre singer Johnny De Little. But overall, it's got a consistently captivating groove, rating as one of Barry's best scores; the Rykodisc CD reissue has extensive liner notes about the film and the soundtrack, as well as good stills from the movie.