This Double Album is a celebration of the music from more than 45 years of James Bond films. All the tracks are instrumental, including title tracks and incidental music from the films, nicely played by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra who have a wealth of experience of recording film music. With the exception of "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale, all the music is conducted by Nic Raine who has arranged and orchestrated Bond music for many years and even worked with the main Bond composer John Barry on films such as "A View to a Kill" and "The Living Daylights". The variety of tracks chosen allow the complete contrast from the high-octane action music of chase sequences, through the suspense music when Bond is on a dangerous mission in enemy territory, to the relaxed music when Bond occasionally manages to find some quiet time with a beautiful girl in an exotic location.
One thing that raises this release above the norm is the substantial booklet it contains called "James Bond: A Musical History" which puts all the music into context. At 20-something pages the booklet is much more than just some sleeve notes, and has been carefully put together by Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker who together with Gareth Bramley have published a biography of the chief of all Bond composers called "John Barry - The Man with the Midas Touch". The icing on the cake of this release is that the guitar part on "The James Bond Theme" is played by Vic Flick, who recorded the original part with John Barry back in 1962. This double album is great value and can be found at the following links on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Find out more about the music and the composers behind the James Bond films at the mfiles James Bond music page.
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