As part of the celebration of the release of the new Bond, Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig, this countdown was counting down the best Bond soundtracks and themes. They did mention the new film's song by Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name", but it is too new to list. With contributions from: Chris Cornell, David Arnold, Rita Coolidge, Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, Alice Cooper, Narada Michael Walden, John Barry, Danny Graydon, Neil McCormick, Dame Shirley Bassey, David McAlmont, David Huckvale, Bonnie Tyler, Lani Hall, Eddi Fiegel, Derek 'Chops' Watkins, Michael G. Wilson, Jon Burlingame, A-Ha, Lulu, Moby, Monty Norman, Vic Flick, Julie Rogers, Marc Almond, Nancy Sinatra, Marvin Hamilsch, Carole Bayer Sager, Blondie's Debbie Harry, Bill Conti, Matt Monro Jr., Michelle (daughter) & Mickie (wife) Monro, Sir George Martin and Don Black. Narrated by Geoffrey Palmer. The results in order: Rita Coolidge's "All Time High" (Octopussy); original Casino Royale's Theme and Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love"; Dame Shirley Bassey's "Moonraker"; Lani Hall's "Never Say Never Again"; Sir Tom Jones's "Thunderball"; Garbage's "The World Is Not Enough"; A-Ha's "The Living Daylights" & briefly The Pretenders' "If There Was a Man"; Gladys Knight's "Licence to Kill"; Lulu's "The Man with the Golden Gun" with Alice Cooper version mentioned; Sheryl Crow's Golden Globe nominated "Tomorrow Never Dies"; On Her Majesty's Secret Service's Theme & Louis Armstrong's "We Have All the Time in the World"; Tina Turner's (written by Bono and The Edge) "GoldenEye"; Duran Duran's Golden Globe nominated US #1 "A View to a Kill"; Madonna's Golden Globe nominated "Die Another Day; Dr. No's "The James Bond Theme" with Moby remix; Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice" with Julie Rogers version mentioned; Carly Simon's Oscar nominated "Nobody Does It Better" (The Spy Who Loved Me); Sheena Easton's Oscar nominated "For Your Eyes Only"; Matt Monro's "From Russia with Love"; Paul McCartney and The Wings' Oscar nominated "Live and Let Die"; Bassey's "Diamonds are Forever" and obvious deserved number one, Bassey's "Goldfinger". Very good!
3 Reviews
the Best of Bond...
La-Luz9 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This unique series for James Bond fans was on TV in the mid 2000s at a time when Channel 4 and Channnel 5 seemed to have a fad for creating TV shows about the best 50 this or the top 100 worst that.
Bond's Greatest Hits does both in one show! It tells the stories of each individual Bond theme and has interviews with some of the musicians that did them. Some of the anecdotes about the making of each record are quite amusing such as how a-ha and John Barry did like each other very much. Each song has a quirky aspect to it that is worth watching this for to learn about.
But what makes this so good though is the very dry and slightly sarcastic narration from Geoffrey Palmer, which are amongst his trademarks as an actor. In summing up each record, he delivers the negatives surrounding the flops with perfection. There is a reason for that, not just because it is Geoffrey Palmer. For quite a while, possibly until the movie Goldeneye, most Bond theme singles were considered pretty naff and not many were actually very successful as singles that charted. It is a revision of history these days that they are looked at in a different and more positive light.
In any case this is a must watch for any proper Bond enthusiast. With excellent narration from Geoffrey Palmer.
Bond's Greatest Hits does both in one show! It tells the stories of each individual Bond theme and has interviews with some of the musicians that did them. Some of the anecdotes about the making of each record are quite amusing such as how a-ha and John Barry did like each other very much. Each song has a quirky aspect to it that is worth watching this for to learn about.
But what makes this so good though is the very dry and slightly sarcastic narration from Geoffrey Palmer, which are amongst his trademarks as an actor. In summing up each record, he delivers the negatives surrounding the flops with perfection. There is a reason for that, not just because it is Geoffrey Palmer. For quite a while, possibly until the movie Goldeneye, most Bond theme singles were considered pretty naff and not many were actually very successful as singles that charted. It is a revision of history these days that they are looked at in a different and more positive light.
In any case this is a must watch for any proper Bond enthusiast. With excellent narration from Geoffrey Palmer.
Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment
bob the moo11 December 2006
With the chart itself based on a UK Mori poll, this documentary counts down the public's favourite James Bond themes with contributions, memories and stories from those involving in making them and fitting them in with the Bond brand. From the opening scene I, like everyone else, knew that Goldfinger was going to top the list simply because it is the classic Bond theme that you judge all others around. Aside from this, I wasn't too fussed on the chart position of the other themes simply because I generally don't care about making lists, assigning numbers etc hence me not really voting for anything on this site.
Despite this I kept watching and was interested, not by the relative positions but with the stories and memories behind each one. This is not to suggest that the show did a good job of bringing them out but there was enough here to hold the attention. Some of the contributors are pretty pointless and have little of real value to say but mostly they are relevant and come across interesting. There are several really good nuggets in here (for example, the source of the Bond theme and Alice Cooper's proposal for "Man with the Golden Gun") which really stick in the mind and encourage you to keep watching. I would have liked more of these but the rest is still interesting enough without grabbing me.
Of course the music itself is a selling point and if you do genuinely love the songs then you should be prepared for none of them being played without people talking over them. I wasn't too fussed by this although I did wonder why on earth the makers opted not to use the original recording of Goldfinger and instead have a live performance from Bassey that is about as hammy as an alternative Christmas dinner. For those that care, the charting positions are mostly pretty fair, although I'm not sure why the unofficial Bond films of Casino Royale (1960's) and Never Say Never were allowed to be part of this but I guess if it gets people talking then the show only benefits from that.
Overall then a reasonably good list show for Bond film fans. It has a handful of great nuggets in amongst the contributions while being lively and interesting outside of these. Occasionally some of it is pretty flat but this is the risk you always take with this sort of thing. Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment.
Despite this I kept watching and was interested, not by the relative positions but with the stories and memories behind each one. This is not to suggest that the show did a good job of bringing them out but there was enough here to hold the attention. Some of the contributors are pretty pointless and have little of real value to say but mostly they are relevant and come across interesting. There are several really good nuggets in here (for example, the source of the Bond theme and Alice Cooper's proposal for "Man with the Golden Gun") which really stick in the mind and encourage you to keep watching. I would have liked more of these but the rest is still interesting enough without grabbing me.
Of course the music itself is a selling point and if you do genuinely love the songs then you should be prepared for none of them being played without people talking over them. I wasn't too fussed by this although I did wonder why on earth the makers opted not to use the original recording of Goldfinger and instead have a live performance from Bassey that is about as hammy as an alternative Christmas dinner. For those that care, the charting positions are mostly pretty fair, although I'm not sure why the unofficial Bond films of Casino Royale (1960's) and Never Say Never were allowed to be part of this but I guess if it gets people talking then the show only benefits from that.
Overall then a reasonably good list show for Bond film fans. It has a handful of great nuggets in amongst the contributions while being lively and interesting outside of these. Occasionally some of it is pretty flat but this is the risk you always take with this sort of thing. Worth a look if you like the music and the stories and as long as you're not expecting much more than light entertainment.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
