SPECTRE

[holyzombiejesus]

Mildly interesting fact re: the title song. I know that St. Etienne were asked to provide a song once. They'd asked all sort of folk ( I think Garbage may have won in the end) and they were given two rules. One was that they had to include the film's title in the lyrics and the other was that it had to build to a crescendo.

[Norton Canes]

I remember some female indie singer saying in an interview once that one of the Bond themes was virtually put out to tender. In the months following the notification of the unsuccessful applicants, many of their sweeping and string-swept efforts turned up as b-sides and bonus tracks.

[CaledonianGonzo]

That's not really a big secret - Pulp, Blondie, Alice Cooper, etc. have all had their efforts appear a few years down the line from the film.  Apparently there's an Ace of Base one for Goldeneye, but I've never heard it.

The one that sounds like the biggest wasted opportunity - a Shirley Bassey /David Arnold theme for Quantum of Solace - is a bit of a red herring in that it genuinely seems to have been done after Jack White was picked - but it's still way better than White's effort.

You can hear a few of them here:

http://badassdigest.com/2012/02/16/on-her-majestys-secret-soundtrack-rejected-james-bond-theme-songs/

[Thomas]

I understand that it was written as if from Bond's perspective, but, to mine ears, 'You Know My Name' sounds better when thought of as being from M's -

Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you
The odds will betray you
And I will replace you
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you
Are you willing to die?

The coldest blood runs through my veins
You know my name

If you come inside things will not be the same
When you return to the night
And if you think you've won
You never saw me change
The game that we have been playing

I've seen this diamond cut through harder men
Than you yourself
But if you must pretend
You may meet your end

Another favourite of mine is, of course, the incredible OHMSS title theme. I think they should have phased out the classic Bond theme and replaced it with that masterpiece. It'd be much easier to fit into scenes, too - the classic main theme is a bit intrusive and camp, even parodical now.

[Panbaams]

That's not really a big secret - Pulp, Blondie, Alice Cooper, etc. have all had their efforts appear a few years down the line from the film.  Apparently there's an Ace of Base one for Goldeneye, but I've never heard it.

The demo's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFIm-90hZrA

The song later became "The Juvenile": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX1oHZ4BKZc

[El Unicornio, mang]

I understand that it was written as if from Bond's perspective, but, to mine ears, 'You Know My Name' sounds better when thought of as being from M's -

Another favourite of mine is, of course, the incredible OHMSS title theme. I think they should have phased out the classic Bond theme and replaced it with that masterpiece. It'd be much easier to fit into scenes, too - the classic main theme is a bit intrusive and camp, even parodical now.

This OHMSS/A View To a Kill orchestral suite is probably my favourite Bond music thing ever, particularly the bit at 3:54

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2GS6kfkTUE

[Thomas]

Oh yeah, that's great, and the circa four minute deal is favourite part too. Urgent and heroic, like Roger Moore himself.

[Rolf Lundgren]

Mildly interesting fact re: the title song. I know that St. Etienne were asked to provide a song once. They'd asked all sort of folk ( I think Garbage may have won in the end) and they were given two rules. One was that they had to include the film's title in the lyrics and the other was that it had to build to a crescendo.

That was Tomorrow Never Dies. Pierce Brosnan apparently liked the St. Etienne one the best and wrote them to tell them so which was a nice thing to do. My favourite is Pulp's effort which they used as a B-side and retitled as Tomorrow Never Lies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3IRv37x6Ws

That's not really a big secret - Pulp, Blondie, Alice Cooper, etc. have all had their efforts appear a few years down the line from the film.  Apparently there's an Ace of Base one for Goldeneye, but I've never heard it.

Someone's posted the link above of The Juvenile and it's a great Bond theme. It's got that whole Russian vibe that goes well with the plot of Goldeneye however you can see why they used the Bono/The Edge penned song that Tina Turner sang. An obvious choice which is to take nothing away from the Ace of Base one.

The best theme that wasn't a theme isn't even really a...err theme. There's various conjecture around this but it's said the Pet Shop Boys were approached to do a theme for the Living Daylights. However the PSB wanted to do the whole soundtrack so were told sorry no lads. When they were in talks though they did some brainstorming in the studio about how a Bond theme will go and came up with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAqmN8Gd39E

I think it's brilliantly atmospheric and emphasises the shift from Roger Moore's style to Timothy Dalton's. I love The Living Daylights by A-Ha so it's difficult to argue against that but the Pet Shop Boys demo seems to nail the concept of a new, brooding, darker Bond.   The song later became This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave.

[biggytitbo]

The best Bond theme after the obvious winner (which is A View To A Kill) is Tommorow Never Dies. It's quality is inversely proportional to the quality of the film, which is cack like all Brosnan's after Goldeneye.

[Bad Ambassador]

I love A View to a Kill. I respect a villain who's trying to bury a fireaxe in Bond's face.

[Talulah, really!]

The best Bond theme after the obvious winner (which is A View To A Kill) is Tommorow Never Dies. It's quality is inversely proportional to the quality of the film, which is cack like all Brosnan's after Goldeneye.

The Oxford English Dictionary Research Department would like an interview regarding this new definition for the word "obvious" you seem to have found.

[biggytitbo]

The Oxford English Dictionary Research Department would like an interview regarding this new definition for the word "obvious" you seem to have found.

Yeah, well tell them to meet me round the back of the canal and I'll give them a through interview with a cricket bat. Bring it on dictionary boys.

[Kane Jones]

Bond themes, best to worst;

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Main Theme) - exciting, moody and dangerous.
Live And Let Die - a piano ballad, a rock song, orchestration and cod-reggae in under 4 minutes.  Good stuff.
Nobody Does It Better - just a really well written song with some beautiful chord changes.
You Only Live Twice - Great melody, perfect vocal, sticky and sultry vibe.
A View To A Kill - pounding 80s excitement.
Goldfinger - quintessential, innit.
For Your Eyes Only - First one I saw in the cinema, alright?
The Living Daylights - See A View To A Kill.
Diamonds Are Forever - sassy.  I love the intro arpeggio.  Classic Barry.
Moonraker - Reminds me of being a kid, alright?  The verse is better than the chorus.
From Russia With Love - croony and mysterious.
Die Another Day - Unpopular song, but I like the shimmering, glitchy production.  One of the more interesting Bond songs.
Licence To Kill - obvious homage to Goldfinger and a bit 80s but I enjoy it.
Goldeneye - the bridge 'You'll never know...' is the best bit.
The World Is Not Enough - tries to update the classic hallmarks of a Bond song and almost succeeds.
Three Blind Mice - better than the next six.
Thunderball - better than the film as a whole (but not as good as the pre-title sequence, which is one of the best in the whole series)
The Man With The Golden Gun - I don't like it.  Brash and tinny sounding.  Sounds like it wants to swing but is too uptight.
You Know My Name - I've gone off rock music recently.  Cornell's voice is too post-grunge.
Skyfall - Scaffold. The song is pretty good, I just hate Adele's voice.
Tomorrow Never Dies - The song is terrible but I like Sheryl Crow's voice.
All Time High - bland as dust and Coolidge sings flat on the chorus.
Another Way To Die - Frankenstein's Monster's turd.  Bits of shit stitched together.  An abomination.

[Panbaams]

The best theme that wasn't a theme isn't even really a...err theme. There's various conjecture around this but it's said the Pet Shop Boys were approached to do a theme for the Living Daylights. However the PSB wanted to do the whole soundtrack so were told sorry no lads. When they were in talks though they did some brainstorming in the studio about how a Bond theme will go and came up with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAqmN8Gd39E

I think it's brilliantly atmospheric and emphasises the shift from Roger Moore's style to Timothy Dalton's. I love The Living Daylights by A-Ha so it's difficult to argue against that but the Pet Shop Boys demo seems to nail the concept of a new, brooding, darker Bond.   The song later became This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave.

That would have made a fantastic theme song.

The story was that someone at EMI, their record company, suggested to the PSB that they might be asked by the producers to provide a song, so they went off to the studio to write some James Bond-sounding music, as a kind of musical exercise. The result was  two demos: the one you linked to and a second one that they have never re-used.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Bond themes, best to worst;

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Main Theme) - exciting, moody and dangerous.
Live And Let Die - a piano ballad, a rock song, orchestration and cod-reggae in under 4 minutes.  Good stuff.
Nobody Does It Better - just a really well written song with some beautiful chord changes.
You Only Live Twice - Great melody, perfect vocal, sticky and sultry vibe.
A View To A Kill - pounding 80s excitement.
Goldfinger - quintessential, innit.
For Your Eyes Only - First one I saw in the cinema, alright?
The Living Daylights - See A View To A Kill.
Diamonds Are Forever - sassy.  I love the intro arpeggio.  Classic Barry.
Moonraker - Reminds me of being a kid, alright?  The verse is better than the chorus.
From Russia With Love - croony and mysterious.
Die Another Day - Unpopular song, but I like the shimmering, glitchy production.  One of the more interesting Bond songs.
Licence To Kill - obvious homage to Goldfinger and a bit 80s but I enjoy it.
Goldeneye - the bridge 'You'll never know...' is the best bit.
The World Is Not Enough - tries to update the classic hallmarks of a Bond song and almost succeeds.
Three Blind Mice - better than the next six.
Thunderball - better than the film as a whole (but not as good as the pre-title sequence, which is one of the best in the whole series)
The Man With The Golden Gun - I don't like it.  Brash and tinny sounding.  Sounds like it wants to swing but is too uptight.
You Know My Name - I've gone off rock music recently.  Cornell's voice is too post-grunge.
Skyfall - Scaffold.
All Time High - bland as dust and Coolidge sings flat on the chorus.
Another Way To Die - Frankenstein's Monster's turd.  Bits of shit stitched together.  An abomination.

Not much to disagree with there, but I'd bump You Only Live Twice up to the top and move Skyfall up to somewhere in the top 10.

[Panbaams]

Bond themes, best to worst; (etc.)

Where would you put "Tomorrow Never Dies"?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Wherever it goes, it should be below Surrender.

[Kane Jones]

Where would you put "Tomorrow Never Dies"?

The fact that I forgot it speaks volumes.  I didn't like it.  Underneath Scaffold.  I'll add it.  Cheers Panbaams.

[mothman]

kd lang's "Surrender" is a belter. I think it's probably the only Bond song that's consistently remained on various mp3 players I've owned - well, apart from maybe "The World Is Not Enough" which i've retained for sentimental reasons - because I think it was literally the first mp3 I ever downloaded - from original Napster! I do wonder if it was meant to be the main theme, before they decided a song by a non-lezzer rock chick was likely to sell more...

[biggytitbo]

Bond themes, best to worst;

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Main Theme) - exciting, moody and dangerous.
Live And Let Die - a piano ballad, a rock song, orchestration and cod-reggae in under 4 minutes.  Good stuff.
Nobody Does It Better - just a really well written song with some beautiful chord changes.
You Only Live Twice - Great melody, perfect vocal, sticky and sultry vibe.
A View To A Kill - pounding 80s excitement.
Goldfinger - quintessential, innit.
For Your Eyes Only - First one I saw in the cinema, alright?
The Living Daylights - See A View To A Kill.
Diamonds Are Forever - sassy.  I love the intro arpeggio.  Classic Barry.
Moonraker - Reminds me of being a kid, alright?  The verse is better than the chorus.
From Russia With Love - croony and mysterious.
Die Another Day - Unpopular song, but I like the shimmering, glitchy production.  One of the more interesting Bond songs.
Licence To Kill - obvious homage to Goldfinger and a bit 80s but I enjoy it.
Goldeneye - the bridge 'You'll never know...' is the best bit.
The World Is Not Enough - tries to update the classic hallmarks of a Bond song and almost succeeds.
Three Blind Mice - better than the next six.
Thunderball - better than the film as a whole (but not as good as the pre-title sequence, which is one of the best in the whole series)
The Man With The Golden Gun - I don't like it.  Brash and tinny sounding.  Sounds like it wants to swing but is too uptight.
You Know My Name - I've gone off rock music recently.  Cornell's voice is too post-grunge.
Skyfall - Scaffold. The song is pretty good, I just hate Adele's voice.
Tomorrow Never Dies - The song is terrible but I like Sheryl Crow's voice.
All Time High - bland as dust and Coolidge sings flat on the chorus.
Another Way To Die - Frankenstein's Monster's turd.  Bits of shit stitched together.  An abomination.

The worst list since Schindlers first aborted attempt which consisted of the best girls arses he had ever seen. His second list was better.


The 3 best Bond songs are, in no particular order:
View to A Kill
We Have All The Time in The World
Tomorrow Never Dies


Honourable mentions:
Spy Who Loved Me
Diamonds are Forever
Goldfinger
For Your Eyes Only

[Thomas]

I've always felt that the way Blofeld pushes his lackey aside in You Only Live Twice, so that he might nab a better look at Bond, is almost romantic.

There should be more hints of homoeroticism, I reckon, following the great little exchange between Bond and Silva last time.

Any 'best themes' list failing to include OHMSS is deaf.

[CaledonianGonzo]

There should be more hints of homeroticism,  I reckon

Not always Bond's most subtly handled area, to be fair.

[newbridge]

Goldeneye, much like the film itself, has the most underrated theme. Possibly the best theme. Modern yet appropriately classic, and Tina Turner is actually talented unlike 95% of Bond themespinners.

[biggytitbo]

Goldeneye is  decent Bond film apart from Brosnan's hair which is utterly hideous.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Kim Jong Un was clearly taking notes.

[Bad Ambassador]

Not always Bond's most subtly handled area, to be fair.

It was only in the last 10 years that I realised they gay. I always though they were supposed to be childlike. I think that makes them creepier. Not that gayness is creepy. But that grown-up child psychopaths are creepier than people who aren't that.

The dislike of girls, hand-holding, cheery sing-song voices, superficially friendly manner, not taking responsibility for their actions ("Funny how everyone who touches those diamonds seems to... die.")- classic eight-year-old sociopaths. Adults acting like children is always faintly odd (see also: Laurel and Hardy), so why not? I doesn't explain Mr Wint's delight at his terminal wedgie, though.

Mr Kidd taking pictures of the schoolteacher being fished out of the canal.
"She did say she wanted some pictures of the canals."
"How thoughtful, Mr. Kidd. The children will be so... thrilled."

Honestly, the way he says it, that word is in bold. He's Crispin Glover's dad.

[VegaLA]

Quite possibly the best Bond theme that never was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EycxMbDYgn4&list=PLDEFC2628298DB140&index=2

Come on Producers, how about it?

[biggytitbo]

The best rejected Bond song is the one Stanley Rodgers did for Octopussy. Was a lot better than the one they actually went with imho.

[Kane Jones]

The worst list since Schindlers first aborted attempt which consisted of the best girls arses he had ever seen. His second list was better.


The 3 best Bond songs are, in no particular order:
View to A Kill
We Have All The Time in The World
Tomorrow Never Dies


Honourable mentions:
Spy Who Loved Me
Diamonds are Forever
Goldfinger
For Your Eyes Only

But you think A View To A Kill is the best Bond film when in actual fact it's utterly shit.  All your opinions on the matter are therefore null and void.  Just because it was probably the first one you saw in the cinema with your Dad, it doesn't make it the best one.

[Jim_MacLaine]

But you think A View To A Kill is the best Bond film when in actual fact it's utterly shit.  All your opinions on the matter are therefore null and void.  Just because it was probably the first one you saw in the cinema with your Dad, it doesn't make it the best one.

Says the man who has Thunderball below the worst bond theme ever, Die Another Day.
You're both idiots.

Now get dressed


and GET OUT!