Best Bond Movie Theme/Song?

[Cosmo Valdemar]

OHMSS for me - absolute magnificence, and a great bassline.

 

Best film too 😁

[NancyJohnson]

If you're interested:

 

Two or three years ago, I was asked to do an oddish project.  To explain, I'd go to this guy's studio and spend the evening doing bass; a few days later I'd receive emails with MP3s...rough arrangements.  I'd absorb these, go back in the following week, re-do the bass from scratch.  This continued for a couple of months, maybe more.  The vision/concept the producer/guitarist had was that he wanted to record an album of Bond themed songs for the books (Fleing et al) that hadn't been filmed.

 

Despite all the work, most of the work I did evolved into other songs, however one did get finished.  Robert Markham's 'Colonel Sun'.  End production really sucks - the mastering leaves a lot to be desired and the demos were way better, but the version that went up the streaming platforms kind of captures the spirit of the Bond ethic.

 

 

 

[Rich]

Two big surprises for me so far:

1. So few votes for Chris Cornell.

2. So many votes for Carly Simon.

[Rich]

1 hour ago, Mykesbass said:

Interesting front runners. I thought L&LD would have been in clear water by now. Nice to see fellow bass players are a bit more diverse in their tastes.

What's also worthy of note is that the majority of votes are going to the earlier films. With the exception of Duran2 and Cornell, everything post-Moore is getting a thumbs down.

[TimR]

25 minutes ago, Rich said:

Two big surprises for me so far:

1. So few votes for Chris Cornell.

2. So many votes for Carly Simon.

 

Cornell was my number 2 choice with LaLD 3rd.

 

Might be a generational thing regarding people voting on Bond themes from when they were teenagers.

 

NDiB was the first Bond I saw at the cinema. Its a great song, but can't vote for them all. 

 

 

[ezbass]

33 minutes ago, Rich said:

Two big surprises for me so far:

1. So few votes for Chris Cornell.

2. So many votes for Carly Simon.

As a stand alone song Chris Cornell wins for me. I remember seeing Casino Royale at the cinema and being blown away by the title song and realising it was CC. My other votes (I had 3) went to the 2 OHMSS options because of the marvellous JB strings.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Having grown upon Bond, I find this question extremely difficult to answer.

Far easier to to name the worst, which is Sam Smith by some significant margin. Truly awful.

Jack White & Alicia Keys is Grammy worthy in comparison.

I’ll have a think about my favourite. Tough decision.

[NancyJohnson]

I adore Straw's entry for The World Is Not Enough (pipped by Garbage).

[Damnthatlazlo]

Love some of the quirky, randomness of old bond themes. The last bunch pretty much sound formulaic. I really did have hopes for Eilish. Sadly, it sounded to me like film producers wanted it to tick all the boxes of bond theme marketing. 

[Lozz196]

Given how the Daniel Craig films started with the rocking Chris Cornell song I found it strange how they went to the insipid Adele/Smith/Eilish tunes. 

[dudewheresmybass]

Cornell's song was simply astonishing but, along with many here, I love the OHMSS theme (especially the DA version)

[Hellzero]

It's missing the best one...

 

 

[Bix]

Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better for me. It's a superb song, added to the simple fact that when I grew up Roger Moore was Bond. So many of the early songs were great: From Russia, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds ...

 

I don't think KD Lang's Surrender (closing theme for Tomorrow Never Dies) has been mentioned, but it would have made a great theme.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Bix

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I asked Mrs.H what she thought was the best and she came straight back with the original Dr.No theme.

Absolutely no doubt in her mind that any of the others were better; I should have said 'So Nobody Does It Better than John Barry then?', but that only just occurred to me 🤔.

I've listened to them all again and there's a lot of good ones. 

It's slightly disconcerting that Moonraker has no votes. Granted, it's Bassey's weakest of her three, but even Madonna has one vote and that is just horrible.

 

[scalpy]

Another if you’re interested post…

 

Back in ‘99 the band I was in had somehow managed to blag a session at Studio 1 at AIR. Not bad for three boys from Hereford. Halfway through the day the other two had gone in search of a drink and I was left in the control room with the producer, when David Arnold walked in. After some introductions he said ‘We’ve just finished the new Bond theme, do you want to be the first to hear it?’ and promptly produces a CD for us. So we got to hear The World Is Not Enough before anyone else. Red letter day.  

[vantagepointrocks]

Living Daylights for me, love the film, the song and Dalton is my favourite Bond. The only downer about that movie for me was the tie in computer game on the ZX Spectrum, no matter how many times I tried, I could never get past the first level. 

[tauzero]

On 15/05/2023 at 21:14, Heathy said:

I’ve always thought that there is a positive correlation between the quality of Bond theme tunes and the film itself. 

 

I think you're right - You Only Live Twice was crap, OHMSS was great.

[Cato]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

I think you're right - You Only Live Twice was crap, OHMSS was great.

 

Whilst slightly put of step with it's predecessors I'd argue that You Only Live Twice was one of the very best.

 

The villains secret lair in the volcano, the piranha pool, the gyrocopter.

 

The ninja army.

 

 It's  got it's own subgenre of subsequent action/comedy movies that were directly influenced by elements from that film.

 

Agree the theme tune, while decent in it's own right, is below par for a Bond film.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Cato

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Cato said:

Whilst slightly put of step with it's predecessors I'd argue that You Only Live Twice was one of the very best.

 

The villains secret lair in the volcano, the piranha pool, the gyrocopter.

 

The ninja army.

 

Fairly pathetic. I have a shark with a frickin' laser beam on its head.

 

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

Thunderball.

 

I don't really like Tom Jones that much,  but you can hear the commitment.

[Rich]

On 16/05/2023 at 19:55, Bix said:

I don't think KD Lang's Surrender (closing theme for Tomorrow Never Dies) has been mentioned, but it would have made a great theme.

 

 

 

I agree. That is far superior to Sheryl Crow's opening title tune. 

[Clarky]

Respectfully disagree with earlier posters. My fave Bond film is You Only Live Twice. Love the swirling Barry soundtrack and title song. As a fanboi (and being unable to afford an Aston Martin!) I have a sort-of Bond tribute car, a 1966 MGB GT re-painted in silver with red leatherette interior, phwoarrr

 

[BillyBass]

21 minutes ago, Clarky said:

Respectfully disagree with earlier posters. My fave Bond film is You Only Live Twice. Love the swirling Barry soundtrack and title song. As a fanboi (and being unable to afford an Aston Martin!) I have a sort-of Bond tribute car, a 1966 MGB GT re-painted in silver with red leatherette interior, phwoarrr

 

Have you got the ejector seat?  Must come in handy if the wife nags a bit too much.

[Rich]

This could well be one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

 

 

[MacDaddy]

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

This could well be one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

 

 

 

And the irony is, they didn't 😟