What are the odds ... that both Forgotten Hits AND R.I.P. Renfield would put together James Bond Tributes this weekend?!?! (Shows you again that great minds think alike!)
Here's what Gary had in this week's newsletter:
IT JUST HIT ME !!!
Dr. No (1962-Sean Connery)
From Russia With Love (1963-Sean Connery)
Goldfinger (1964-Sean Connery)
Thunderball (1965-Sean Connery)
You Only Live Twice (1967-Sean Connery)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969-George Lazenby)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971-Sean Connery)
Live and Let Die (1973-Roger Moore)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974-Roger Moore)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977-Roger Moore)
Moonraker (1979-Roger Moore)
For Your Eyes Only (1981-Roger Moore)
NEVER SAY NEVER - (Sean Connery 1983)
Octopussy (1983-Roger Moore)
A View to a Kill (1985-Roger Moore)
The Living Daylights (1987-Timothy Dalton)
Licence to Kill (1989-Timothy Dalton)
GoldenEye (1995-Pierce Brosnan)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997-Pierce Brosnan)
The World is Not Enough (1999-Pierce Brosnan)
Die Another Day (2002-Pierce Brosnan)
Casino Royale (2006-Daniel Craig)
Quantum of Solace (2008-Daniel Craig)
Skyfall (2012-Daniel Craig)
I've always considered myself a HUGE Bond fan,
but I find very few of the films I would still sit for.
Dated? Perhaps. They seemed good first viewing.
Maybe I've seen them too many times
or maybe they don't pass the test of time.
The pre-Connery's I don't even include.
The early Connery's just don't hold my attention anymore, some good parts and alot of sucky parts.
Roger Moore's contributions are just bad comedies.
(besides, he's THE SAINT not BOND)
I won't watch any film with JAWS.
LICENSE TO KILL is the first on the list
I'd stay till the end. (Tim. Dalton)
DIE ANOTHER DAY ?
I watch till he leaves the Hong Kong hotel.
Casino Royale (2006) & Quantum of Solace?
First half of each movie spectacular, 2nd halves, eh !
AND I HAVEN'T SEEN SKYFALL YET - no opinion.
HARD FOR ME TO SEE HOW I'M SUCH
A BIG FAN OF BOND !
I guess as a kid they were exciting
and something to look forward to,
but for re-watch-abilty ? Ho-hum !
BUT THERE'S HOPE !
The franchise needed 'serious' Daniel Craig badly.
He's got 'the look' !
______________________________________
I GAVE IT SOME MORE THOUGHT....
I'm thinking the fascination with all things BOND
was ingrained during childhood.
The weekly dose of spy show
MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E
and all the gadgets didn't hurt either.
I started remembering the 'spy' toys...
LIKE A TOY COPY OF THE BRIEF CASE ...
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
OR THE CAMERA GUN...
Push a button & a camera sprouts a
pistol-grip & trigger and a luger barrel.
VERY COOL STUFF FOR A KID
(although would get you arrested on a school bus now)
NOT BOND
but you get the idea.
WHY DIDN'T I TURN OUT TO BE A LUNAT...?
OOPS, NEVERMIND...
I FORGOT FOR A SECOND !
You can get YOUR weekly dose of R.I.P. Renfield here: www.RipRenfield.com
IT JUST HIT ME !!!
Dr. No (1962-Sean Connery)
From Russia With Love (1963-Sean Connery)
Goldfinger (1964-Sean Connery)
Thunderball (1965-Sean Connery)
You Only Live Twice (1967-Sean Connery)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969-George Lazenby)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971-Sean Connery)
Live and Let Die (1973-Roger Moore)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974-Roger Moore)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977-Roger Moore)
Moonraker (1979-Roger Moore)
For Your Eyes Only (1981-Roger Moore)
NEVER SAY NEVER - (Sean Connery 1983)
Octopussy (1983-Roger Moore)
A View to a Kill (1985-Roger Moore)
The Living Daylights (1987-Timothy Dalton)
Licence to Kill (1989-Timothy Dalton)
GoldenEye (1995-Pierce Brosnan)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997-Pierce Brosnan)
The World is Not Enough (1999-Pierce Brosnan)
Die Another Day (2002-Pierce Brosnan)
Casino Royale (2006-Daniel Craig)
Quantum of Solace (2008-Daniel Craig)
Skyfall (2012-Daniel Craig)
I've always considered myself a HUGE Bond fan,
but I find very few of the films I would still sit for.
Dated? Perhaps. They seemed good first viewing.
Maybe I've seen them too many times
or maybe they don't pass the test of time.
The pre-Connery's I don't even include.
The early Connery's just don't hold my attention anymore, some good parts and alot of sucky parts.
Roger Moore's contributions are just bad comedies.
(besides, he's THE SAINT not BOND)
I won't watch any film with JAWS.
LICENSE TO KILL is the first on the list
I'd stay till the end. (Tim. Dalton)
DIE ANOTHER DAY ?
I watch till he leaves the Hong Kong hotel.
Casino Royale (2006) & Quantum of Solace?
First half of each movie spectacular, 2nd halves, eh !
AND I HAVEN'T SEEN SKYFALL YET - no opinion.
HARD FOR ME TO SEE HOW I'M SUCH
A BIG FAN OF BOND !
I guess as a kid they were exciting
and something to look forward to,
but for re-watch-abilty ? Ho-hum !
BUT THERE'S HOPE !
The franchise needed 'serious' Daniel Craig badly.
He's got 'the look' !
______________________________________
I GAVE IT SOME MORE THOUGHT....
I'm thinking the fascination with all things BOND
was ingrained during childhood.
The weekly dose of spy show
MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E
and all the gadgets didn't hurt either.
I started remembering the 'spy' toys...
LIKE A TOY COPY OF THE BRIEF CASE ...
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
OR THE CAMERA GUN...
Push a button & a camera sprouts a
pistol-grip & trigger and a luger barrel.
VERY COOL STUFF FOR A KID
(although would get you arrested on a school bus now)
NOT BOND
but you get the idea.
WHY DIDN'T I TURN OUT TO BE A LUNAT...?
OOPS, NEVERMIND...
I FORGOT FOR A SECOND !
You can get YOUR weekly dose of R.I.P. Renfield here: www.RipRenfield.com
I can't believe ANYBODY would have the bad manners to criticize Shirley Bassey for ANYTHING ... they should have just given her an Oscar for being able to still stand there long enough to sing 'Goldfinger,' much less belt it the way she did. The woman is 76 years old! What a class act! I'd like to see some of those critical clowns @ 76 do half as well.
Pttibg
Yep, I'd say she's breathing just fine! (lol) This is not an easy song to sing on a good day! But Shirley belted it out in fine fashion at this year's Oscars Ceremony. While she has remained popular and active in England, very few of us here in The States have remained in the loop as far as Shirley Bassey's career is concerned ... she certainly earned herself some brand new, well-deserved street cred with that performance, much as original writer Dann Isbell commented initially. (kk)
Good article, and the highlight of the Oscars for me was definitely Shirley Bassey. But what happened to You Only Live Twice, the 1967 song by Nancy Sinatra. One of my favorite James Bond songs and it
charted on both the Rock charts (at #44) but it went to #3 on the MOR Charts. I think it would have done better but it was on the same disk as "Jackson" which went to #14 on the Rock chart and # 39 on the MORchart. I'm just surprised Jackson did not chart on the Country charts.
Paul Urbahns
Radcliff, Ky
"You Only Live Twice" is the one that JUST missed the countdown ... because it didn't make Billboard's Top 40 (peaking, as you said, at #44) and because we only counted down The Top Ten Bond Tunes. Great track ... in fact, if you listen to it now you not only get the usual Bond elements that make for a great theme song but also some hints of what was to come in the way of movie themes ... listen closely and you may notice some similarity to the "Midnight Cowboy" theme that wouldn't be released until two years later! (kk)
Good article, and the highlight of the Oscars for me was definitely Shirley Bassey. But what happened to You Only Live Twice, the 1967 song by Nancy Sinatra. One of my favorite James Bond songs and it
charted on both the Rock charts (at #44) but it went to #3 on the MOR Charts. I think it would have done better but it was on the same disk as "Jackson" which went to #14 on the Rock chart and # 39 on the MORchart. I'm just surprised Jackson did not chart on the Country charts.
Paul Urbahns
Radcliff, Ky
"You Only Live Twice" is the one that JUST missed the countdown ... because it didn't make Billboard's Top 40 (peaking, as you said, at #44) and because we only counted down The Top Ten Bond Tunes. Great track ... in fact, if you listen to it now you not only get the usual Bond elements that make for a great theme song but also some hints of what was to come in the way of movie themes ... listen closely and you may notice some similarity to the "Midnight Cowboy" theme that wouldn't be released until two years later! (kk)
DIDJAKNOW? - Brian Wilson originally wrote his "Pet Sounds" instrumental as a possible James Bond Theme. (The working title was "Run James Run"). When it was rejected (most say it was never even submitted, much less contracted for), he revamped it to use on The Beach Boys' landmark LP. In the liner notes for one of the many "Pet Sounds" reissue CD's, Brian Wilson explains: "It was supposed to be a James Bond theme type of song. We were gonna try to get it to the James Bond people. But we thought it would never happen, so we put it on the album.") Listen to it again with that thought in mind and I think you'll see what I mean. (kk)
007 Bonus Track: Pet Sounds (instrumental) by the Beach Boys - Brian Wilson wrote the track as Run James Run, hoping it would be used in a James Bond flick.
Phil
PrayForSurf.net
Yep! (kk)
Kent,
I figure I'll get raked over the coals for this one but ... I have a big problem with Oscars (the voting is quite outrageous at times, this year included). Speaking of past James Bond songs, the most outrageous loser was "Goldfinger".
Davie Allan
The ridiculous reality that "Goldfinger" wasn't even nominated in 1965 is beyond the scope of the imagination ... it just shows you how out of step with reality the Academy really was. (Need further proof? Take a look at the winners of this era: "Chim, Chim Cheree" from "Mary Poppins", "Talk To The Animals" from "Doctor Dolittle" ... now this is not to say that there weren't some great and deserving movie songs from the '60's ... "Never On Sunday", "Moon River", "The Shadow Of Your Smile" and "Born Free" were all Oscar winners during this period, too. But from a pop standpoint, this also meant that the two Beatles films ("A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" were completely overlooked as were several more shall we say "contemporary" motion pictures.) The Academy always seemed to take the "safe" road in this regard ... but so did The Grammys back then. The Beatles lost best pop performance to The Statler Brothers for "Flowers On The Wall" during this era, too! (kk)
Kent, Enjoyed your listing of the top ten songs to come out of the James Bond movies through the years. Enjoyed hearing again the novelty by the Detergents as well as Dickie Goodman. However, before I started scrolling down your list of top ten songs, there was one tune that came to my mind immediately. I don't know if it charted nationally but it did make our local top 40 radio stations weekly survey back in 1967. It was the song BOND STREET from Burt Bacharach on A & M Records. I always thought that was a good tune, even though I didn't particularly like the 3 or 4 second ending on it. Larry Neal Seems like EVERYBODY'S gone Bond-Crazy this week! Just clicked on "The Amazing Race" Sunday Night and saw that this week's episode is called "Like James Bond Again"!!! And Xfinity Cable is running a Bond special this week, too!  And here's a link to the Top Bond Girls! Click here: Top 40 Countdown: The Hottest Bond Girls - Photos - By Chuck Walton I found this in a James Bond piece we did back in 2009. It comes from Vic Flick, guitarist on the original Bond soundtracks, working in conjunction with recording great John Barry and his orchestra. (Vic took the "Gentleman's Approach" to discussing the Billy Strange recording of "The James Bond Theme", which we featured yesterday in Forgotten Hits): Hi Kent, I've heard the Billy Strange version of the James Bond Theme and thought it good but lacking slightly in the atmosphere of the original John Barry / Vic Flick version. He's a great musician and all the tracks on the album are very, very good. Unlike today, the original James Bond Theme was done straight to compatible stereo. What you got was what you got. I think this adds an element of excitement to so many of he early 60s recording, both in the UK and the USA. Full details of the sessions and copies from my diary are in my book, 'Vic Flick Guitarman - From James Bond to the Beatles and Beyond,' available from Amazon.com. (Yes, a blatant plug!) The guitar I recorded the Theme on back in 1962 was on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but has just recently been returned to me as the Hall rotates its displays. None the less, it was an honor to have it on show plus I was asked to open the Hall's lecture series last October. It was a great opportunity for me to bring UK session musicians to the notice of the American listeners. The Hall staff were wonderful and very hospitable. Cheers, Vic www.vicflick.com Been diggin' the Music of Bond these past few days? Then HERE'S a collection you may want to sink your teeth into!
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