Best of Bond...James Bond [SOUNDTRACK]

James Bond Films (Related Recordings)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1999)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00001YVFB
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #151,421 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
James Bond themes tend to be just as memorable as their movie counterparts and, to a certain extent, just as time sensitive. While many fans can remember the Monty Norman Orchestra's steamy Dr. No theme or Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger," how many of us remember Rita Coolidge's dated "All Time High" from Octopussy or A-Ha's theme from The Living Daylights? Yes, just as we all have our favorite Bonds, we all have our favorite eras of Bond movie music. But surprisingly, whether they're New Wave, soul, or just Euro-pop inspired, most are still worth hearing. There are some real gems on this compilation: On Her Majesty's Secret Service's "We Have All the Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong, the Thunderball theme sung by Tom Jones, and the spunky theme to The Man With the Golden Gun by Lulu. Just overlook those sporadic lean years and you have a pretty stiff soundtrack cocktail here. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SCRAMBLED NOT SHAKEN, October 24, 1999

By	CHUCK WEST (ATLANTA, GA, USA) - See all my reviews

As always, any collection of the ACTUAL performances of the James Bond film title songs from the films' opening title sequences is always an incredible package. However, I think the major problem with this and the past few collections is that the track order is not by chronological order. Instead, someone in the marketing department probably got the bright idea to master the tracks in order of sales/radio performance. I suppose this is an attempt to entice the people who read the track listing in the store with such a short attention span that won't allow them to read past the third or fourth song title. The order is the same as the last CD, with "Goldeneye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies" thrown on at the end, almost as if an afterthought. Although one can program the CD to play in the order one wishes, and since this IS a historical documentation, my singular opinion is that the tracks should play in chronological order. The music styles are scrambled in this order, instead of flowing through a natural progression of time and change in popular musical influence. It would be nice to just throw it in the CD player and play without HAVING to program the chronological order. Otherwise, this is an EXCELLENT compilation. "MOONRAKER" is still my favorite of all Bond themes (and one the best songs I think I have EVER heard). This is an essential CD for ALL music- and Bond lovers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Every Bond Fan, December 4, 1999

By	Ben hayden (Grand Rapids) - See all my reviews

Of course any CD collection of 007 songs and or scores by the original artists is always a great buy. But with this cd i just can't get enough of. it all starts out with the Dr. No theme from Monty Norman. For people who are not able to remember the original Norman score. They can hear there favorite tracks. Adn who isn't ready for A-ha's great The Living Daylights or the saultry Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger. My personal favorite tracks are For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, Goldfinger, Goldeneye, A View To A Kill and The Spy Who loved me.Even hear the really funky but catchy sond The Man With The Golden Gun by Lu-lu it is kinda cheesy but in a fun sort of way. All of it is great but all i had wished that they had all of the tracks in order by the films. So in conclusion if you are a Bond fan and who isn't! Go out and buy this CD if you haven't already. When you pop this CD into the player don't be surprised if yuou start singing Goldfinger. Even Tomorrow never dies is on this which i am glad but what they need to make this better is The World Is Not Enough.

Bond...James Bond 007

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The CD With The Midas Touch, December 15, 1999

By	Steve (Grand Prairie, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

"The Best Of Bond" collects all of the Bond songs, mostly good, some bad. Of the 19 songs on the CD, only 3 are unbearable("All Time High", "License to Kill" and "For Your Eyes Only"). The rest are truly golden and one can imagine Goldfinger trying to get his greedy little hands on this CD! The best of the bunch is hard to narrow down. Everyone knows Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" is a classic(rightly so) but "Moonraker" is just as good, if not as quite as bombastic as her other ones. There is that familiar Bond theme from "Dr. No" as well as Nancy Sinatra's hypotnic "You Only Live Twice". I'm glad they included the two main tracks from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service": the opening music (a groovy mix of 60's acid rock and classical Bond score) and Louis Armstrong's beautiful, bittersweet "We Have All The Time In The World". "Live and Let Die" has always stood on its two feet, whether as a Bond song or as a rock/pop song as well as Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better". Honorable mentions include Duran Duran's "A View To a Kill", Matt Monro's "From Russia With Love" and Lulu's trippy(and goofy) "The Man With The Golden Gun". Overall, this is a fantastic CD, not just for Bond fans but for people who enjoy good music.