007 Killers: the Bond playlist
James Bond movies
What is it that separates a Bond movie from other popular high-octane action films? After all, there have been plenty of good action heroes in celluloid history – starting with the swashbuckling matinee idols of the silent era to the present-day hardcore, muscle-bound, gun-toting, gut-busting martial art maestros…
What is it that separates a Bond movie from other popular high-octane action films? After all, there have been plenty of good action heroes in celluloid history – starting with the swashbuckling matinee idols of the silent era to the present-day hardcore, muscle-bound, gun-toting, gut-busting martial art maestros…
No, it’s probably the stylish combination of girls, guns and gadgets that has made Bond movies popular. And different. And of late, these films have portrayed women not merely as damsels in distress, but as damsels who – should the need arise – can cause some serious distress themselves. In fact, a lot of times, they are the girls with the guns or the gadgets. Or both. And this, arg/machine assumes, has made the feminists happy.
The villains have been pretty cool too. From the vile Dr. No and that bald SPECTER guy to the more recent apolitical global industrialist-type baddies – the rogues’ gallery of Bond films has been a well-rounded and colourful one, although the dissolution of the so-called Red Threat [a.k.a Communism] – which effectively ended the Cold War – has robbed their plots of those ambitious ‘old-school’ bad guys who sought total global domination or total annihilation of the West. Or both [on a good day, that is].
One misses them occasionally – things were a bit more exciting with the very existence of the entire so-called Free World at stake… sigh.
Then, of course, there’s ‘our man in their territory’ – Mr. James Bond, esquire – urbane secret agent, with a license to kick enemy @$$ and make it look classy. Several excellent actors have portrayed this character over the years, although arg/machine’s favourite Bond actors are Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. Don’t misunderstand arg/machine – each of them has been/is agreat Bond, but a machine’s entitled to have a few favourites, no?
And talking of machine favourites brings us – finally – to that other so-funky element of these Bond adventures [and the subject of this post] – the music. When British composer John Barrydid a funky rock-&-jazz arrangement – only a minute and forty-five seconds long – of the James Bond Theme by Monty Norman, he created one of the most recognizable and excitement-inducing pieces of music. And that’s only the beginning – over the years, a host of stellar artists, musicians and bands have been recruited to perform the title track for each film. And though some of these artists may no longer reign in public consciousness like they once used to, their Bond music lives on…
007 Killers
For this blog post, arg/machine decided to ‘do’ 007 Killers - a machine playlist featuring his favourite James Bond title tracks. As usual, click the track name to hear/watch it on last.fm/@ YouTube, depending on where the track is available. Note: The other element of Bond films that has always fascinated arg/machine is the innovative, often-surreal opening credit sequence over which the title track is usually played. arg/machine has, therefore, endeavored to feature these opening credit sequences wherever possible.
For this blog post, arg/machine decided to ‘do’ 007 Killers - a machine playlist featuring his favourite James Bond title tracks. As usual, click the track name to hear/watch it on last.fm/@ YouTube, depending on where the track is available. Note: The other element of Bond films that has always fascinated arg/machine is the innovative, often-surreal opening credit sequence over which the title track is usually played. arg/machine has, therefore, endeavored to feature these opening credit sequences wherever possible.
007 Theme – Monty Norman Orchestra [from Dr. No/1963]; Goldfinger – Shirley Bassey [1964];Diamonds Are Forever – Shirley Bassey [1971]; Goldeneye – Tina Turner [1995]; Tomorrow Never Dies – Sheryl Crow [1997]; The World Is Not Enough - Garbage [1999]; The Man With The Golden Gun – Lulu [1974]; Live & Let Die – Paul McCartney & The Wings [1973];Thunderball – Tom Jones [1965]; On Her Majesty’s Secret Service theme – The John Barry Orchestra [1969]; A View To A Kill – Duran Duran [1985]; The Living Daylights – a-ha [1987];From Russia with love – Matt Monroe [1963]; We Have All The Time In The World – Louis Armstrong [from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service/1969]; Moonraker – Shirley Bassey [1979]; For Your Eyes Only – Sheena Easton [1981]; Bonus Track: 007 Theme [jazzy ska version] – The Skatalites.
