Music Album Review: 'Best of Bond...James Bond: 50 Years - 50 Tracks'

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On October 9, 2012, 50 years and four days after the premiere of Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli's production of Dr. No, Capitol Records released Best of Bond...James Bond: 50 Years - 50 Tracks, a two-CD compilation of title songs and other music from the first 22 EON films based on Ian Fleming's iconic British Secret Service agent with a license to kill: "Bond...James Bond." 

Dropped to coincide with the premiere of director Sam Mendes' Skyfall - even though Adele's rendition of the eponymous title song was not included - this album (which was made in collaboration with MGM Music and EMI Records) is an update of 1999's 19-track disc Best of Bond...James Bond, an album that only presented the "main title" songs of the series up to director Roger Spottiswoode's Tomorrow Never Dies even though Michael Apted's The World is Not Enough was released that same year.



For Bond's 50th Anniversary, Capitol and MGM Music went beyond simply reissuing the 1999 edition and adding a few more songs from the last Pierce Brosnan films and the first ones with current Bond actor Daniel Craig. Instead, they created a two-disc set featuring the 23 title songs, including Monty Norman's iconic James Bond Theme, on one disc, and a selection of action cues, medleys, and additional songs heard in the longest-running franchise in the history of film.


As you might expect from a movie series that spans five decades, Best of Bond...James Bond: 50 Years - 50 Tracks embraces several musical genres. Unlike, say, the Star Wars or Superman film series, the main title songs are not usually instrumental (the one exception being John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service from 1969, which was a pop-jazz synthesis with occasional allusions to Norman's James Bond Theme). Instead, the theme songs - starting with Matt Monro's rendition of From Russia With Love - go from "easy listening pop" to Beatles-like 1970 rock (Paul McCartney and Wings' Live and Let Die), pop (Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better, written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager), jazz (We Have All the Time in the World) all the way to synth-pop and soul.



The cover for Best of Bond...James Bond: 50 Years - 50 Tracks evokes the main title designs of the late Maurice Binder and 1964's Goldfinger. © 2012 Capitol Records and MGM Music. James Bond "gun logo" art and other James Bond trademarks © 1962, 2012 United Artists Corporation and Danjaq LLC

My Take

 As a child born a few months after Dr. No's premiere in October of  '62, I have lived in a world where James Bond has always been a pop culture presence. Although I didn't see my first Bond movie on television till the early 1970s, my mom gave me a 007 "Secret Agent" toy gun set with the iconic "Gun Logo" for Christmas 1968. I saw Moonraker, my first Bond movie in theaters, in 1979, and saw some of the last "Roger Moore Bonds" when I was in college, as well as director John Glen's first film with Timothy Dalton as 007, The Living Daylights. 

My interest in the franchise waxed and waned through the years - I only recently decided to get the existing 24 EON James Bond films so I could watch all of them in preparation for 2020's still untitled Bond 25  - but I am a film music buff and have always enjoyed the different artists and songs from the series even though they may fall into genres that I rarely listen to.

One detail that I've noticed is that in most of the songs - be they jazz, "standards," soul, rock, soft rock, or synthpop - the composers try to incorporate elements of Monty Norman's James Bond Theme. This is especially true in those songs with music composed by John Barry, whose involvement in the long-running series led to the misconception that it was he who wrote the iconic guitar-based theme for 007. In some songs, it's just a subtle thing as the tempo or tone of a melody, while in other songs, the composers will incorporate little quotes from Norman's 1962 composition. which every composer, including David Arnold, has used in their orchestral scores in 24 films over the past half-century.



All in all, there's something for everyone in this updated version of Best of Bond...James Bond. Just put these discs into your favorite stereo or home theater system, prepare a vodka martini - shaken, not stirred, of course - and lose yourself in the various styles and moods of some of the best songs ever written for the silver screen.


Disc 1:
1. James Bond Theme (From "Dr. No.") (John Barry Orchestra) 1:47
2. From Russia With Love (Matt Monro) 2:33
3. Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey) 2:48
4. Thunderball (Tom Jones) 3:02
5. You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra) 2:45
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (John Barry Orchestra) 2:35
7. We Have All The Time In The World (Louis Armstrong) 3:13
8. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey) 2:41
9. Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney And Wings) 3:13
10. The Man With the Golden Gun (Lulu) 2:34
11. Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon) 3:28
12. Moonraker (Shirley Bassey) 3:08
13. For Your Eyes Only (Sheena Easton) 3:03
14. All Time High (Rita Coolidge) 3:02
15. A View to a Kill (Duran Duran) 3:34
16. The Living Daylights (A-Ha) 4:13
17. Licence to Kill (Gladys Knight) 4:11
18. Goldeneye (Tina Turner) 3:29
19. Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow) 4:52
20. The World Is Not Enough (Garbage) 3:57
21. Die Another Day (Madonna) 4:36
22. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell) 4:01
23. Another Way to Die (Jack White & Alicia Keys) 4:23
  Disc Time: 77:08


Disc 2:
1. Dr No's Fantasy (Monty Norman Orchestra) 1:41
2. Under the Mango Tree (Diana Coupland) 2:23
3. 007 (John Barry Orchestra) 2:45
4. Opening Titles (Medley): James Bond Is Back/From Russia With Love/James Bond Theme (John Barry Orchestra) 2:28
5. Into Miami (John Barry Orchestra) 0:57
6. The Laser Beam (John Barry Orchestra) 2:53
7. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shirley Bassey) 2:15
8. Switching the Body (John Barry Orchestra) 2:48
9. Capsule in Space (John Barry Orchestra) 2:40
10. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown (Nina) 3:21
11. Bond Smells a Rat (John Barry Orchestra) 1:53
12. Fillet of Soul-New Orleans/ Live and Let Die/ Fillet of Soul-Harlem (Medley) (feat. B.J. Arnau) (George Martin Orchestra) 3:21
13. Underground Lair (John Barry Orchestra) 4:17
14. Hip's Trip (John Barry Orchestra) 3:19
15. The Pyramids (Marvin Hamlisch) 1:30
16. Cable Car and Snake Fight (John Barry Orchestra) 3:07
17. Make It Last All Night (feat. Rage) (Bill Conti) 3:30
18. The Chase Bomb Theme (John Barry Orchestra) 1:57
19. Snow Job (John Barry Orchestra) 2:29
20. Where Has Everybody Gone (The Pretenders) 3:36
21. If There Was a Man (The Pretenders) 2:50
22. The Experience of Love (Eric Serra) 5:54
23. James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-version) (Moby) 3:23
24. Surrender (K. D. Lang) 3:56
25. Only Myself to Blame (Scott Walker) 3:37
26. Vesper (David Arnold) 1:45
27. Time to Get Out (David Arnold) 3:28
  Disc Time: 78:03
  Total Album Time: 155:11

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