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James Bond Soundtracks 1962 to 1969
A great deal has already been said about the Bond soundtracks elsewhere so suffice it to say that musically, the Bond scores of the 60's were perfection. The Bond factory was at its best and we'll probably never see or hear anything like it again. The first film, Dr. No (1962), hit the screens with a score by Monty Norman who gets legal credit for writing the James Bond theme, but it was arranged by John Barry who probably made it one of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world. Barry took over the scoring duties for "From Russia With Love" (1963), "Goldfinger" (1964), "Thunderball" (1965), "You Only Live Twice" (1967), and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969).
Nineteen sixty-seven was a good year for Bond fans. Not only did we get "You Only Live Twice", but "Casino Royale" (1967) also hit the theaters with a score by Burt Bacharach and a theme played by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. While the LP was famous for it's audiophile qualities, the score has been released on CD several times. Most recently on the Quartet and Kritzerland labels. All are re-mastered from original tapes with a couple of extra tracks as well as transfers from mint original LPs. Quartet's 2021 50th Anniversary release includes the hard to find 45 version of Mike Redway's vocal of the theme making it the most complete. A two CD "30th Anniversary Limited Edition" released in the 90's contained one disc of film themes and another with great unreleased material from "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball". Most of it is on the remastered CDs now, but there is an unreleased version of "Goldfinger" recorded by Anthony Newly and a "Thunderball" suite with a little music NOT on the re-mastered CD. Not to mention two versions of "Mr. Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" by Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey (originally intended as the title theme) and a completely different version of "You Only Live Twice" recorded in 1966 by Julie Rogers. Of course, the final word on the Bond Music phenomenon would have to be "The Music Of Bond" by John Burlingame. Absolute must reading for any Bond music fan. The hardback covers all the films up to "Quantum of Solace" with an added chapter on "Skyfall" in the more recent softcover version. A few notes...
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