Customer Reviews

The James Bond Collection

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I when I read some of the reviews of this I thought that this was a complete collection of all the originals of the Theme songs of every James Bond movie and remakes done by the Prague Philharmonic of some of the other songs in the various movies. After recieveing this ... I started to listen to it and found out that it was all done by the orchestra. The are very good, but to a point it is not the same thing as owning a disc will all the orignal songs on it. Overall, this good if all the you want is the orchestral versions of most of the songs in the movies or the suites out of some of the movies. To a point these don't compare to the orignals. Keep looking if you want a set with all the orignals songs in it.

This is similar but more comprehensive than another BOND collection on one CD by the City of Prague Philharmonic. These are good renditions but clearly not the orginals. I must ask if the Prague Philharmonic does not own a harp? It is glaringly missing in the Goldfinger themes and i am sure on others. That harp is an exciting and beautiful touch to the wonderful GOLDFINGER theme and its absents is unfortuneatly very noticeable. Also some of the other themes can even sound muzaky if thats a word(elevator music)
It gets 3 solid stars good collection yet defineatly something is lacking.

Let's cut to the chase. Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra do John Barry's work justice. 90% of this collection is as close as you can get to the original James Bond soundtracks. The other 10% lends itself to some artistic license with respect to the arrangements. Most notable is the main theme to Goldfinger. Also Nic slips in a few previously unreleased tracks. You will find these on the On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Golden Eye tracks. This CD boxed set is definitely made for the Bond soundtrack fan. The die hard John Barry "purist"/ traditionalist may find some of these tracks questionable at first, but after a few times Nic Raine's artistic license gives a fresh perspective to the familiar Bond/ Barry themes. The only reservation I have with this CD set is with some of selections that are performed. For instance, from Goldfinger, "Dawn Raid At Fort Knox" was a poor selection considering the selection available on that particular soundtrack. The most famous 007 soundtrack of all I dare say. Overall Nic hits the mark, and this CD set is a tribute to Barry's (as well as, George Martin's, Marvin Hamlish's, and Bill Conti's and David Arnold's) work. It's all here in one collection. I am a die-hard Bond soundtrack fan, and to the casual soundtrack fan I say this CD is set all you need to experience the Bond music legacy. To those who are hard core 007 soundtrack fans ...this is a FANTASTIC "addition" to your collection. This has to be the BEST (and probably the only) 007 "soundtrack" compilation. Whereas all the others feature the "main themes" from the Bond films as originally recorded, this one truly gives you the Bond experience.

This Silva Screen compilation is the complete collection to the label's previous collections of the most famous Secret Agent themes to grace the big screen. "The Name Is Bond, James Bond"! Our larger-than-life hero has appeared in many forms over the years - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton
and Pierce Brosnan - all capable actors with an aire of the ultimate confidence in saving the world. To assist our hero in this assignment are various composers, including David Arnold, John Barry, Bill Conti, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Kamen, Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, George Martin, Monty Norman and Eric Serra, all of whom have attained immortality and classic status in film scoring.

Monty Norman composed the famous "James Bond Theme," but it was John Barry who gave it the final polish with his new arrangement for guitar...now recognized world wide as the most popular movie theme ever. Barry created a new twist for the James Bond theme itself, as heard in "This Never Happened to the Other Fella", an
arrangement to end all arrangements from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" ~ the cornerstone of this film score is the love theme "We Have All the Time in the World", is tragically and ironically meant for the ultimate Bond girl, whom Bond will spend the rest of his life, until she meets her ultimate fate.

Nic Raine, who has worked with Elmer Bernstein, Maurice Jarre, George Fenton, Gerald Gouriet and Stanley Myers, was passionate when he orchestrated "A View to a Kill" and "The Living Daylights" for John Barry. Raine conducted the City of Prague Philharmonic for these Bond compilations.

This latest album "The James Bond Collection" is a faithful and outstanding interpretation of Bond music, taking the form of suites which incorporate the best action cues from the franchise, including some material not previously available. Raine adapted and changed the material where necessary for the demands of a 75-piece orchestra. Fellow music-lovers, this is a "film-score-buffs" dream come true...so run out and satisfy your cravings for action, adventure and romance with yours and my favorite secret agent ~ JAMES BOND, gotta love it!

Total 4-CD-SET ~ Silva America TVPMCD-808 ~ (2002)

this 4 CD box has most of the familiar James Bond compositions.

Still,some tunes are missing(from for instance Thunderball and For Your Eyes Only)and most of the time the attention is on the instrumental version of the title track which is a bit of a shame.And yet,there are too many great pieces on this collection to make it a failure.Alpine Drive,Dawn Raid at Fort Knox,On Her Majesty's Secret Service(every track),Miss Goodhead and so on.All great pieces that not only show the great talent of John Barry but also the great power of James Bond films.Cause when you hear the music,you see the scenes in front of you.

Very much a recommendation to all Bond and Barry fans although sometimes it focusses too much on title songs.The only solution is to buy all separate soundtracks.

Very nice packaging and good tracks from the Bond music library make this an anoutstanding item. "From Russia With Love" and "Diamonds Are Forever" contain beautiful and energetic renditions. The John Barry music is handled quite well. I didn't real care for the David Arnold selections. "The World Is Not Enough" was weak. Overall it is a good collection just the same.