Search - Various Artists :: Best of Bond: James Bond

Martinis, Girls & Guns

Itamar Katz | Ramat-Gan, Israel | 08/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The theme songs, along with the always imaginative opening sequences that accompany them, have been an essential part of the cultural icon that is 007 for the past four decades, and often help distinguish between otherwise barely distinguishable movies. This CD is the most extensive collection of Bond themes currently available, covering every movie from Dr. No (1963) to Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), i.e. 35 years of Bond, which means the only ones missing are Garbage's forgettable 'The World is Not Enough' and Madonna's awful 'Die Another Day', for the lack of which it is none the poorer.



This anthology of Bond themes features some of the leading recording artists of the last four decades, from Shirley Bassey to Tom Jones to Duran Duran to Sheryl Crowe; and even if many of the tracks here sound remarkably dated, they still serve as a fascinating history of a unique phenomenon in 20th century music. Most of the tracks here, though, are wonderful pieces of music in their own right, some powerful and effective, others simply smelling of sweet nostalgia. The songs are all bombastic, melodramatic, full of the kind of blistering wall-of-sound orchestrations and emotional vocals that are an inseparable part of Bond's universe of martinis, girls and guns; but each artist put into it something of their own, be it Bassey's jazzy and seductive 'Goldfinger', Nancy Sinatra's sweet 'You Only Live Twice', Duran Duran's new-wave 'A View to a Kill' or Tina Turner's soulful 'Golden Eye' (composed, in fact, by U2's Bono and The Edge); and they give a fantastic account of how much Bond - and more than that, music and culture as a whole - changed over the last forty years.



Other than Bassey's entries - 'Diamonds Are Forever', 'Moonraker' and 'Goldfinger' - probably the single best known Bond theme and a prototype to the others - and the ones already mentioned above, standout tracks include Tom Jones's blistering, Las Vegas 'Thunderball'; Paul McCartney's 'Live and Let Die', one of the most powerful and darkest of Bond themes, and also one of Paul's best songs; Lulu's energetic and powerful 'The Man With the Golden Gun'; and also Louis Armstrong's 'We Have All the Time in the World', a nearly forgotten gem, one of the best of the Bond songs, which was unfortunately featured in the worst, least successful of Bond films, 'In Her Majesty's Secret Service'. Also among the best tracks in the collection are the ones from the first two Pierce Brosnan films, Turner's 'Golden Eye' and Sheryl Crowe's 'Tomorrow Never Dies'. The latter is in fact one of the best and best-produced of all the Bond themes, a perfect image of Bond's grace, style and strength, and is also a high point in the singer's celebrated career.



The Bond themes are a fascinating cultural phenomenon and the anthology CD is a great one to own. This is the best one around, and it's only one CD unlike some others that stretch out to two with some unnecessary remixes and such to get a few more bucks out of you, so it's your best bet. Well recommended."

Far Away... So Close..!

DL Minor | Chicago, IL USA | 02/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Over the years I've come to know and enjoy just about all of the Bond themes-- the catchy, the outstanding and the um, well, regrettable-- and this CD offers a nice enough selection.



Included here are nearly all of my personal faves: the poignant "We Have All the Time In the World" from the great Louis Armstrong, Matt Munro's yearning, romantic "From Russia With Love," a sweetly seductive Nancy Sinatra crooning "You Only Live Twice" and powerhouse personal best performances from Tom Jones, Carly Simon, Paul McCartney and that electrifying diva of high melodrama, Shirley Bassey (unforgettable as she alternately coos and snarls her way through the witty, cynical "Diamonds Are Forever").



Alas, a few things are missing that keeps me from giving this compilation a 5 star rating-- I would have appreciated the inclusion of "The World Is Not Enough" by Garbage-- not quite first-rate as Bond themes go perhaps, but I like it anyway.



And where where where WHERE is the sensual, sensational "Never Say Never Again" which, all you Bond aficionados will recall, was sung over the derring-do opening credits of the 1983 film of the same name by the great Lani Hall?? (If you're drawing a blank with that name, you can find her immortal vocals on almost all of those classic "Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66" and "Brazil '67" albums.)



I can't find this particular Bond theme ANYWHERE on any compilation--was there even a soundtrack release for NSNA? Are copyright issues preventing the track's inclusion with all of the other Bond themes? Does anyone out there know where this splendid recording can be found?



"

This is the best of Bond... James Bond

mikoyan27 | Moscow, Russia | 10/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This disk contains all the Bond themes until Tomorrow Never Dies. The best songs are the latest, but some of the old ones are good too. It's just that the newest songs that are The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day aren't on this disk."