James Bond compilation albums

DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
edited April 2016 in Music Posts: 23,448
Anyone ever fell into the trap of buying one of these? Don't get me wrong, some are good, but some are terrible.

Here, let me kick this off with a really terrible one. Released in 1988, folks! I give you

The Living Daylights
20 James Bond Film Themes

by E. Starink

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So this artist Ed Starink did a lot of synthesizer themes and whatnot back in the day and the Bond tracks fell victim to that. Themes the man would re-do synth style:
- The James Bond Theme
- FRWL
- GF
- TB
- YOLT
- We Have All The Time In The World
- DAF
- LALD
- TMWTGG
- Nobody Does it Better
- Bond 77
- MR
- FYEO
- AVTAK
- All Time High
- TLD

His Bond 77 version is perhaps the only track I can somewhat recommend. Others carry the typical 80s synth flavours, rather robust and hardly innovative, with - in some cases - truly poor effects. For instance, we all know that the Goldfinger Theme begins by repeating its two "lines" twice, once loud and clear, the second time lower and a little toned done. (I'm not a musician so forgive me if I can't phrase my thoughts more technically.) However, in most amateur re-do's, the second time we hear the familiar lines, it's just an exact copy of the first set of lines but with the volume turned down a bit. That's bad.

At the end of the LALD Theme, the percussions goes bug nuts crazy. Yeah, synth and stuff. Getting to have fun with the sound effects... Well fine. But not in my Bond music. It stinks!

Most of these tracks are acceptable, except that none of this could possibly substitute for the real thing.

But wait, doesn't the title mention "20" themes? Where are the other 4? Get this, there are four more tracks, called:
- Dial 007
- Miss Moneypenny
- The Japanese Connection
- Space Regiment

All of these were composed by Starink himself and they contain nothing - NOTHING! - of any material ever written for the Bond films, which begs the question why '007' and 'Moneypenny' were allowed in the title in the first place! Furthermore, why call this "20 James Bond Themes" when only 16 of them are? Why didn't he also do OHMSS, 007, Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and - I dunno - NSNA perhaps? Because look at the disc cover. That's the Sean Connery from NSNA right there and that film isn't even used for this CD.

This goes to show how unsophisticated consumers were in the day. Scramble together a pic of Grace Jones, Roger Moore in one of his least flattering moments as Bond, a little one of Tim in the lower left corner for those keeping up with the times, Sean Connery in a film that's not even used for this compilation and forget about Lazenby altogether. Call it "20 James Bond Film Themes" and deliver only 16 of those, ending the CD with four bland creations by an almost-nobody.

And people must have bought this enough because this Starink guy has several other Bond compilations under his belt. He'd re-do TLD at one point and also insert LTK, which is basically LTK without the words. But the other tracks would remain the same. For a synthesiser compilation,
s-l500.jpg

some producer would simply bring all of the above back, except Starkink's own creations. Good, you say. Well, no, because they were just replaced with three new creations by a certain "T. Eyk", which also have little or nothing to do with Bond music at all yet are called
- My Name Is Bond
- He Never Shoots Twice
- Mr. Lady-Killer

So how come I have them? Two things: A) I was a child and my mom bought the second one for me. B) My aunt gave away her copy of the first one, not realising it contained 80 % the same music as the one I already had. She didn't care because, well, she was going to throw it away anyway. I only keep them for sentimental reasons. I bet ebay could make me earn back whatever money was spent on these back in the day. ;-)
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Comments

  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    I got this one over 20 years ago :) listened to it a zillion times, the radio spots are especially marvelous :))

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  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    @BondJasonBond006

    I begged my parents for that but they felt that it was too expensive. So I had to wait a long time until friends of the family allowed me to tape (!) their copy. Needless to say I wore that tape out like sport socks. One major problem though. Their copy was the one CD album. By the time I finally got permission to buy it myself, the limited edition wasn't available any more and I had to settle for the lesser one disc copy. :( I remember reading the inserted booklet about a thousand times. It helped me to learn a lot of English. :-)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    I have the 40th anniversary version of that soundtrack that includes Die Another Day. Shame it didn't come with the 4 original tracks. I'm curious to see how those sound. I have quite a few compilation albums. The best being The Ultimate James Bond Music collection by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

    Their work is top notch. I also have a few John Barry compilation albums. One I acquired recently finally finding a specific version of the James Bond theme after 8 years or searching. That album is called The Concert John Barryfrom 1972. It would be the first time his Symphonic version of the James Bond theme common in Roger Moore's era was ever done and two years before he would return for The Man with The Golden Gun. I highly recommend that. Another I have is John Barry Film and TV Hits That's a really good compilation album. Lots of new arrangements to his Bond music and some other great themes in it as well like The Persuaders and The Ipcress File.

    I also have 007 Classics: The Music of James Bond by the London Symphony Orchestra. This one is pretty decent. It has some interesting arrangements of the various themes from the film and a slow western sounding version of The James Bond Theme. This album is significant to me because back in 8th grade one of my teachers would play this album while we read. ;)

    Next up I have Bond and Beyond (1991) by Erich Kunzel and The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. This one is really good and I highly recommend it. It's got plenty of Bond and a great suite of various spy show themes on it.

    And lastly I have David Arnold's brilliant Shaken and Stirred album. I hope one day he decides to do a volume 2 of it.

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    @Murdock

    Shaken and Stirred... I love that album. The Bond Theme is slightly weird but everything else rocks. I love DAF and OHMSS, the latter especially because of the inclusion of the Space March from YOLT.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    @Murdock

    Shaken and Stirred... I love that album. The Bond Theme is slightly weird but everything else rocks. I love DAF and OHMSS, the latter especially because of the inclusion of the Space March from YOLT.

    Agreed. I really enjoy it.My favorites are Moonraker and Diamonds are Forever as well as OHMSS.

    As for the Bond Theme this is the version that starts the chill weird track so you can add this to that album as the unedited mix. :)


    Then of course this is the clean Orchestral mix used in the Propellerheads version without the electronic elements.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    @Murdock, you are a god amongst men. Don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise!
    Thank you so much, sir.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    My pleasure @DarthDimi, finding the rare gems of Bond music is my specialty. :)
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    The Propellerheads have done some marvelous work on Bond music.

    Besides their well known OHMSS re-work of which 3 versions exist on the CD-EP
    they have also re-worked Bassey's Goldfinger for Bassey's 2000 The Remix Album (where also a great version of Diamonds Are Forever can be found (Mantonik 007 Mix)).

    Then Bassey herself covered You Only Live Twice for her 2007 Album Get The Party Started.

    The David Arnold James Bond Project belongs in any good music collection anyway!!

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  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    I really love the collab of YOLT done by David Arnold and Björk
  • Posts: 4,023
    I think the OP was talking more about "duff" cover / compilation albums.

    Think this is the guy in question

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited April 2016 Posts: 17,727
    Yes, I had a cassette tape (remember them, kids?) version of one of these in the mid-1990s. It was cover versions done by "Various Artists". I still have the tape somewhere. It was my first chance to listen to the Bond themes in-depth though so I give it that.
  • edited April 2016 Posts: 6,432
    I got this one over 20 years ago :) listened to it a zillion times, the radio spots are especially marvelous :))

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    I had that on Vinyl, Ill try to find an image of the first cassette I had which I used for years.

    Presently on CD I have countless compilation CDs, including Barry specific compilations and the rather good Shaken n Stirred by Arnold.

    I have bought many dud soundtrack albums over the years, one recently was the Dollars trilogy box set. Fist full of dollars and A few dollars more were original, The Good the Bad and the Ugly was not the original score strangely. I have The Good the bad and the ugly on other formats so know that score to the note.
    is?jxcS3Qf1us6_lUJDLhPqvWLGr9XAfYYREUmIZR-bThY&height=324
    Thats not the album I am looking for though had this also, Geoff Love big band did a decent job of many classic themes.

    The Best of... the most recent version is my go to album, though recently I purchased ever Bond album on digital download so make up my own play lists.
  • Posts: 38
    1) Hate, loathe, and detest THE ESSENTIAL JAMES BOND on Silva, badly arranged and sluggishly conducted by Nic Raine; lousily performed by the City of Prague. (Reviewed by me for Amazon, if anyone's curious). A tosser.

    2) Non-purists may enjoy SOUNDS ORCHESTRAL MEET JAMES BOND on Sequel. Johnny Pearson's jazz piano trio with strings and sound effects. Only about half the tracks are from the films. The others are originals ('inspired by characters in the James Bond books...') by Pearson, Denis Farnon, et al. Rather fun.

    3) Can't stomach Arnold's SHAKEN NOT STIRRED.

    4) Anyone remember Tamiko Jones's late-60's recording of "You Only Live Twice" on A&M?
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    edited April 2016 Posts: 3,157
    Shamelady wrote: »
    2) Non-purists may enjoy SOUNDS ORCHESTRAL MEET JAMES BOND on Sequel. Johnny Pearson's jazz piano trio with strings and sound effects. Only about half the tracks are from the films. The others are originals ('inspired by characters in the James Bond books...') by Pearson, Denis Farnon, et al. Rather fun.

    I'm listening to the Thunderball track on YouTube. That's great! I guess I'll buy the full album.
  • Posts: 38
    These slipped my mind. A few other Bonds I'm aware of that someone might like to chase down on YouTube or elsewhere:

    1) Jack Jones's "From Russia With Love" from BEWITCHED (Kapp)
    2) Gary McFarland's "From Russia With Love" from SOFT SAMBA (Verve)
    3) Jack LaForge's "Goldfinger" from GOLDFINGER & OTHER GREAT MOVIE THEMES (Regina)
    4) Peter Nero's "Thunderball" from THE SCREEN SCENE (RCA)
    5) Vic Damone's "We Have All the Time in the World" from OVER THE RAINBOW (Hallmark)
    6) Percy Faith's "Diamonds Are Forever" from JOY (CBS/Columbia)
    7) Lalo Schifrin's "The James Bond Theme" from FILMCLASSICS (Aleph)
    8) Another Bond compilation I reviewed for Amazon is Count Basie's BASIE MEETS BOND (United Artists LP, now on Capitol Jazz/Blue Note CD), which includes "Thunderball"; the remaining tracks are from the first three Bond films.

    I know that #3, 4, and 6 were also issued as singles.
    I have #1, 2, 4 on LP; 5, 7, 8 on CD.
  • Posts: 4,023
    Anyone here tried Roland Shaw's Bond covers?

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,448
    A first for me, @vzok. Thank you!
  • EmilioLargoEmilioLargo Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 15
    Roland Shaw's covers were ace and the sound was excellent. Geoff Love's Big Bond Themes LP gave them a good go. I have a pressing of it with the Moore artwork from Live and Let Die which curiously on a later pressing changed turning Bond around so you were looking at the back of his head and shoulders. A copyright issue I suppose. Franck Pourcel's album from the same period had a great gunbarrel sleeve art and he added his own take on the music. Some were really good, one or two not the best. I especially like his take on Barry's 007 theme.
  • Posts: 6,682
    Roland Shaw's covers were ace and the sound was excellent. Geoff Love's Big Bond Themes LP gave them a good go. I have a pressing of it with the Moore artwork from Live and Let Die which curiously on a later pressing changed turning Bond around so you were looking at the back of his head and shoulders. A copyright issue I suppose. Franck Pourcel's album from the same period had a great gunbarrel sleeve art and he added his own take on the music. Some were really good, one or two not the best. I especially like his take on Barry's 007 theme.

    Pourcel's version of the 007 theme is rather relaxing and pleasant.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 12,914
    Came across this modern example. Links on the page.

    A GIRL AND A GUN - a global pop subterfuge
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    A Girl And A Gun
    by Various Artist
    https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/a-girl-and-a-gun

    Sold Out
    1. Jack Hayter - Die Another Day 04:22
    2. Robert Rotifer - GoldenEye 03:31
    3. The Weisstronauts - James Bond Theme 02:39
    4. World Of Fox - All Time High 04:16
    5. Michaelmas - We Have All The Time In The World 03:38

    6. the Sly and Unseen - A View To A Kill 05:31
    7. Darren Hayman - Goldfinger 02:44
    8. Citizen Helene - Nobody Does It Better 03:08
    9. Deerful - Three Blind Mice 02:55
    10. the Great Electric - James Bond Theme 02:46

    11. Crock Oss - The Man With The Golden Gun (instrumental) 03:45
    12. Papernut Cambridge - The Man With The Golden Gun 02:54 video
    13. the Elderly - Live and Let Die 02:57
    14. Seks Bomba - Casino Royale 02:29
    15. Jeff Mellin - You Only Live Twice 03:07

    16. Picturebox - Surrender (from Tomorrow Never Dies) 03:47
    17. Ralegh Long and Friends - Tomorrow Never Dies 03:51
    18. Ani Glass - Tomorrow Never Dies 03:41
    19. DJ Downfall feat. Theoretical Girl - Moonraker 03:48
    20. the Left Outsides - Diamonds Are Forever 02:54

    21. Pam Berry - Underneath The Mango Tree 03:57
    22. Charm Bracelet and Ramesh - For Your Eyes Only 02:22
    23. Maija Sofia - Never Say Never Again 04:07
    24. Snow Leopard Brotherhood - the Living Daylights 07:09
    25. Tim The Mute - Licence To Kill 03:19

    26. Keiron Phelan with Drita Kotaji - Another Way To Die 02:53
    27. Rory McVicar - Writing's On The Wall 04:17
    28. Ms Goodnight - Skyfall 04:31
    29. Rebecca Jade aka Lady Lowrey - You Know My Name 04:49
    30. The Fenestration - The World Is Not Enough 03:23

    31. the Vatican Cellars - Thunderball 03:22
    32. Cee Bee Beaumont - Death of Fiona (from Thunderball) 02:32
    33. the Leaf Library - From Russia With Love 04:32
    34. The Autobahn Of Life - OHMSS 03:03
    35. Cecilia Lund - Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? 03:36

    36. Hacia Dos Veranos - We Have All The Time In The World 03:18
    37. Red Red Eyes - Where Has Everybody Gone? 03:33
    38. Melinda Bronstein - No Time To Die 03:39
    39. Ed Dowie - James Bond Theme (Union Chapel organ version) 02:20

    about
    A Girl And A Gun is a celebration of the music of 007, come back every Friday to hear and download new interpretations of your favourites for free.

    wiaiwya - nobody does it better!

    released October 23, 2015
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,656
    Came across this modern example. Links on the page.

    ...
    Omigod, this is awful. I listened in on maybe four samples, and none of the singers could really sing.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,921
    I loved that '80s synthesizer one that kicked off this thread! Well, I was a teenager, and well, it was the '80s.

    You had to be there.
  • Posts: 6,682
    echo wrote: »
    I loved that '80s synthesizer one that kicked off this thread! Well, I was a teenager, and well, it was the '80s.

    You had to be there.
    Speaking of that, this didn't occur to me until now, but isn't The London Starlight Orchestra possibly an alias for Ed Starink (aka Star, Inc.)?

    The video posted by vzok credits the music to Star, Inc., but later albums feature the same tracks credited to the London Starlight Orchestra.

    Anyway, I love his/their versions of AVTAK and TLD.





    I don't enjoy the other tracks so much, because they are translated into the music style of the 80's, rather than belonging in it already. But it's been a while since I listened to those; I should give them another listen.

    If you allow me a brief digression, I also love Starink's version of Rain Man:




    Murdock wrote: »
    Next up I have Bond and Beyond (1991) by Erich Kunzel and The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. This one is really good and I highly recommend it. It's got plenty of Bond and a great suite of various spy show themes on it.
    I really like their version of the Bond theme. It seems so obvious to me now, but some reason it took me a bunch of listens to realize there is a windy-sounding synth in the background. It doesn't add much to the arrangement, but it's a choice that intrigues me.




    Shamelady wrote: »
    1) Hate, loathe, and detest THE ESSENTIAL JAMES BOND on Silva, badly arranged and sluggishly conducted by Nic Raine; lousily performed by the City of Prague. (Reviewed by me for Amazon, if anyone's curious). A tosser.
    They've got their little quirks but I enjoy Raine's versions a lot. The Essential James Bond has an OHMSS/AVTAK suite that's really cool.




    Murdock wrote: »
    I really love the collab of YOLT done by David Arnold and Björk
    I'm not a big fan of Björk's high-pitched voice, though I still consider her a good singer. When she decided not to allow this song on the Shaken and Stirred album, her vocals were replaced with Natacha Atlas' and the new track was released as a B-side of some other album I can't remember. I like her voice better but I'm still not crazy about this version of YOLT, because the way both of them sing certain parts is a little affected. That was probably by design, given that the song has no beat and kind of demands the singer to fill it with their voice. But it doesn't quite work for me. The arrangement is still nice, as is generally the case with the tracks recorded for Shaken and Stirred.


    Murdock wrote: »
    As for the Bond Theme this is the version that starts the chill weird track so you can add this to that album as the unedited mix. :)
    I'm curious as to what this video contained.

    ---

    Damn, this post is probably a mess to read. Sorry about that.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,664
    Synth legend Hideki Matsutake (Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ryuichi Sakamoto) has a fun synth-based Bond album called Digital Moon from 1979 that is absolutely worth a listen. It goes up to Moonraker (and omits Thunderball), and some of the covers are bangers, in my opinion. OHMSS is a particular highlight, and features a bizarre fiddle solo toward the end. If you enjoy early synth music, it must be heard.

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wzfh2

  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,921
    LOL at The Living Daylights being marketed as a "great dancing hit" above. Is it?
  • j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Came across this modern example. Links on the page.

    ...
    Omigod, this is awful. I listened in on maybe four samples, and none of the singers could really sing.

    The singing is pretty unlistenable on many of these. I do like the instrumentals of "All Time High" and "A View to a Kill," though perhaps that says more about the brilliance of Barry's themes than anything. The vocal version of "The Man with the Golden Gun" is interesting. CR 67 isn't bad either, but it's also not terribly different from the original.
  • edited July 2022 Posts: 4,023
    Rahi Malik - Bond Reimagined
  • Posts: 6,682
    Per the official 007 website, Bond 25 is now releasing on the 23rd of September. Just a month to go!

    bond-25-cd-performed-by-the-royal-philharmonic-orchestra-pre-order-music-universal-199359_600x.jpg?v=1635698078
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,328
    mattjoes wrote: »
    I'm curious as to what this video contained.
    @mattjoes, I will satisfy your curiosity. Unfortunately I couldn't find a new video reupload so I'll just send the file manually. https://ufile.io/71x0ncx5

    It's David Arnold's original version of the Bond theme. The opening of it was sampled for this remix.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    Posts: 1,664
    I've never been able to figure out how that song is the James Bond theme.
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