24 replies to this topic

[Adam]

This isn't really "21 & Beyond" but I'm interested as to what you all think are the worst songs & titles for all the Bond films?

[mrmoon]

My personal favourite is DAF, by far.

I'm also lucky enough to have seen it performed live by the woman herself. It was incredible.

[007luvchild]

Worst Song: FYEO, I felt it was sappy, hey I'm probably the only one who doesn't like that song.

[Jim]

007luvchild (04 Nov, 2001 02:32 a.m.):
Worst Song: FYEO, I felt it was sappy, hey I'm probably the only one who doesn't like that song.

No you're not.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nobody Does it Better, whether "good" or "bad"? At least it stands out from the desparate Goldfinger clones (and you know who you are, Licence to Kill and The World is not Enough).

I'm not that fond of Tomorrow Never Dies.

[Evil Doctor Cheese]

Now I'm a big fan of TND song. I think it's classy and the lyrics are cool.

I agree... "NO GOLDFINGER CLONES FOR BOND" please! I loved Nobody Does It Better... it's probably in my top five along with FRWL, TND, AVTAK and Goldfinger. It's cool and orignal and let's Bond be protentious for once! Nobody does do it better!

[level007]

Jim (12 Nov, 2001 08:45 a.m.):

007luvchild (04 Nov, 2001 02:32 a.m.):
Worst Song: FYEO, I felt it was sappy, hey I'm probably the only one who doesn't like that song.

No you're not.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nobody Does it Better, whether "good" or "bad"? At least it stands out from the desparate Goldfinger clones (and you know who you are, Licence to Kill and The World is not Enough).

I'm not that fond of Tomorrow Never Dies.

Welcome in the club, guys !
i, too, don tlike this song, it s for me the weakest. I think the song is not enough bondian, the music is not enough dynamic.
For bond 20 i want a fast song, you know i want bond song to come back with a BANG !

[Jim]

Sorry, forgot this was about best title sequence as well.

Like GoldenEye; neatly deals with the passing of time.
Like From Russia with Love; a simple idea, cleverly done
Like You Only Live Twice; slightly dodgy spurting volcanoes, but the end is nice

Favourite's probably FRWL

Don't like The Man with the Golden Gun; adds nothing new
Don't like Tomorrow Never Dies; gives me a migraine.
Not that keen on The Living Daylights; can't actually remember that much about it.

But the biggest dog in the kennel is A View to a Kill. Hasn't aged well, but even so, the flourescent water pistols and wacky face paints and 007 sprayed over some poor bird's mammaries and bits lifted from The Spy who Loved Me and taking a blowtorch to some poor ice-statue's mug and...ugh. No more drugs for that man. I know inspitration may have struck given the song, but actually turning the credits into a Duran Duran video was not a good call.

[Macca]

I personally hate TND. It's just totally unmemorable and sounds like Sheryl Crowe is desperate to make it 'bondlike', and yet totally misses the point! Moonraker is unmemorable too. TMWTGG is simply awful - who let Lulu loose on a bond song??!!

Favourites are Goldfinger and FYEO (yes its sappy, but I enjoy watching Sheena Easton!!)

I thought the best title sequence was LALT.. The song is pretty good (but not the best) and it just seems to gel really well with the images on screen.

[MDSmith]

Worst SONG: TMWTGG and ALL TIME HIGH
Best SONG: THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, GOLDFINGER

[scaramanga]

7777 (14 Nov, 2001 09:15 p.m.):
Worst SONG: TMWTGG and ALL TIME HIGH
Best SONG: THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, GOLDFINGER

Pulp's version of ALL TIME HIGH which can be found on the Shaken and Stirred album is so much better. Shame they weren't around in 1983.

[freemo]

Worst Songs ? Hmm, I dunno. Alot of people don't like TMWTGG, its one of the lesser efforts sure, but I don't mind it. Most of the songs are pretty good, and distinctive from eachother, which I think is important. The last two haven't impressed me as much though.

Titles ? I assume you mean the title sequence, TMWTGG, maybe ? Things got a littl repettative by OCT, AVTAK and LTK but overall they are good. TWINE was pretty ugly looking though, hopefully Bond 20 will be a little more basic.

[scaramanga]

Best Song: Diamonds are Forever - Shirley Bassey
Worst Song: Moonraker - Shirley Bassey

Best Titles: GoldenEye

Worst Titles: Which was the one with the fibre optic lamp in the background?

[Mister Asterix]

Best Song: (tie) Goldfinger and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Worst Song: I really didn't like All Time High until I heard David Arnold's redo.

Best Titles: (tie again or maybe I'm wishy-washy) Live And Let Die and Goldeneye
Worst Titles: Forgiving Dr. No, it would have to be The World Is Not Enough. I prefer my women covered in baby oil not crude oil. Yuch.

[Icephoenix]

Best Song: Goldeneye and Goldfinger.
Worst Song: All time high.

Best Titles: Goldeneye
Worst Titles: FRWL

[James Page]

Worst songs/titles?

I think we have to count our blessings that they ran with "All Time High" instead for Octopussy. The mind boggles as to how they were going to fit that into the lyrics!

[scaramanga]

James Page (03 Nov, 2001 12:08 a.m.):
Worst songs/titles?

I think we have to count our blessings that they ran with "All Time High" instead for Octopussy. The mind boggles as to how they were going to fit that into the lyrics!

I remember David Arnold saying that k.d. Lang would have been interested in singing a song about 'Octopussy'.

[James Page]

I remember David Arnold saying that k.d. Lang would have been interested in singing a song about 'Octopussy'.

I'm sure she would pay it more than lip service...

[Dmitri Mishkin]

level007 (12 Nov, 2001 04:57 p.m.):

Jim (12 Nov, 2001 08:45 a.m.):

007luvchild (04 Nov, 2001 02:32 a.m.):
Worst Song: FYEO, I felt it was sappy, hey I'm probably the only one who doesn't like that song.

No you're not.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nobody Does it Better, whether "good" or "bad"? At least it stands out from the desparate Goldfinger clones (and you know who you are, Licence to Kill and The World is not Enough).

I'm not that fond of Tomorrow Never Dies.

Welcome in the club, guys !
i, too, don tlike this song, it s for me the weakest. I think the song is not enough bondian, the music is not enough dynamic.
For bond 20 i want a fast song, you know i want bond song to come back with a BANG !

Hey hey hey, easy there guys, the FYEO song is one of my favourites.

However, speaking objectively, I don't feel the song is a good fit for Bond, no. It is perhaps too romantic, and better-suited for a romance or love-story. But the bottomline is the song is part of the movie now, and it does have its merits. For instance, it compliments the relationship of trust between Melina and James well, and it brings diversity to the collection of title songs. Sheena Easton also does a great job performing it... such range in her voice.

TMWTGG, awful? Not necessarily. It was perhaps not the most impressive display of vocal talent, but I think the song fits the style of the movie - upbeat and dynamic.

I still think the Sheryl Crow's TND was decent. In fact, respectable in its own right. Granted, there were a few cases of 'oversinging' by Crow, particularly the refrain, but on the whole, the lyrics are very Bondian in its references to the Bond character (martinis, girls and guns), and I think it's clever how they are written from the point of view of Paris Carver - whom we later learn is the one whom the song is meant to reflect.

Overall:

Having not heard all the Bond songs repeatedly, I cannot say which is the worst, but I will say that my favourites include:

Goldfinger (lovely partnership between Bassey's vocals and Barry's orchestra, not to mention Brownjohn's titles) and OHMSS (one of the most unique themes and really seems to represent the evil and sinister plot of the Blofeld character, IMO).

[WC]

My personal favourite's Goldfinger. The opening lines by Bassey are still spinechilling.

I always thought that the tune for TND sounded more appropriate for Goldeneye, but perhaps with Goldeneye type lyrics. TND has a more Cold War sound, particularly with those Russian sounding stringed instrument (whatever it's called) just before the line "It's so easy my dear..." - very communist and Eastern bloc sounding, which would have fitted in well with the Russian setting for Goldeneye.

I think with Nobody does it better to All Time High they got a bit sentimental and slushy, churning out 4 romantic type songs in a row.

So who would people want for Bond 20, or is there a thread for that somewhere already? I wouldn't mind Tom Jones or Shirley Bassey. At least Tom Jones is Welsh!

[Double-Oh-Zero]

My absolute favourite Bond song (so far) is Goldfinger (or any Bassey song, for that matter).The Connery songs were among the best, I think. Another one is definitely Goldeneye. Lovely vocals by Miss Turner. TMWTGG for me was okay, I thought it was kind of catchy, and I'll find myself humming it every now and then. As for the, uh, "weaker" songs, AVTAK is by far the weakest, IMO. I mean, come on, people skiing in neon apparel? Should've been better for the last Moore film. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

[scaramanga]

James Page (03 Nov, 2001 12:19 a.m.):

I remember David Arnold saying that k.d. Lang would have been interested in singing a song about 'Octopussy'.

I'm sure she would pay it more than lip service...

Heh heh, good one.

[JAWS]

best song: That's almost as difficult as deciding which teaser was the best! My favorites are: AVTAK, GoldenEye, TWINE, TSWLM, TLD, FRWL, the James Bond theme (DR. NO), DAF, FYEO, YOLT, OHMSS...as you can read, I'm fairly easy to please in this department.

worst song: I'm going to have to go with TND

best titles: Goldeneye (definietly). runner up: TWINE

worst titles: probably TND, TLD (I think that's the one I'm thinking of) or DR.NO

[Adam]

I'd list them:
1. Nobody Does it Better
2. A View to a Kill
3. For Your Eyes Only
4. Diamonds Are Forever
5. The World Is Not Enough
6. The Living Daylights
7. Goldeneye
8. Goldfinger
9. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10. Moonraker
11. Tomorrow Never Dies
12. License to Kill
13. Live and Let Die
14. All Time High
15. You Only Live Twice
16. Thunderball
17. The Man With the Golden Gun
18. From Russia With Love

Title Sequences:
Best: TSWLM, AVTAK, DAF
Worst: TND, OP

[PaulZ108]

For best theme I'll have to go hands down with OHMSS. I'd like another instrumental theme myself.

As for the title sequence, I'm quite fond of Brownjohn's work in FRWL (just loved it for some reason) and GF (nothing says "Goldfinger" like a dead girl painted gold with explosions being projected onto her...simply awesome) but TB, GE, and TSWLM are also great.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I suppose that as I am a soundtrack collector in general, and a Bond music aficionado in particular, I should way into this thread.

For starters, the word "worst" and Bond music/songs should never ever be included in the one sentence, IMHO. But that's just me.

However, there have been "weak" entries into the Bond musical section that weighs down 3 shelves of my fairly extensive soundtrack collection, if I say so myself.

Firstly, I was a little let down with All Time High (Octopussy) by Rita Coolidge. I'm not prejudices by the fact that I was never a fan of her songs (Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher was quite good, though), I just felt that ATH was too croonerish for a Bond movie.

Now, an argument can be had that FRWL was croonerish, and sung by a master crooner in Matt Monro. Agreed, but that was real early on in the series, and it wasn't until the very next Bond that Shirley Bassey set the standard for an "oomphish" styled song.

Which segues into my next weak song, Moonraker. The expectation may have been too great here with Shirls on voice and John Barry on orchestra. Had to be a hit, but also turned out too croonish. The dynamic duo set the standard with Goldfinger (it was Barry's first attempt at scoring a Bond title song due to Lionel Bart writing lyrics and music to FRWL), which continued with Diamond Are Forever.

DAF was a little slower but the music arrangement still made it Bondian, whereas Moonrake had too much strings which made it too Mantovanni-ish for my liking. The disco styled end song was a hugh mistake, and only made my decision of not liking the song even easier.

I know what you are saying: "What about We have All The Time In The World?". True, but OHMSS (which in essence was half a love story) was a one off in more ways than one, where the song really suited the poignancy of the tragedy at the end. Which is why the song was more suited there than at the beginning. Now, there is conjecture as to whether the story-line would have been drastically altered if Connery was still "the other fella", and whether a Bondesque theme song would have been used at the beginning. But as it stands that didn't happen and instead Barry wrote one of the best Bond scores that was highly complimented by Mr. Armstrong's swan-song.

This is all very subjective, in which everyone has their own opinion. No-one is wrong, we all just have different tastes. But that's my slant on the "weak" (not worst) Bond songs.