88 replies to this topic

[Zorin Industries]

A sneak peek at the making of Dame Burly's new album.... with a snippet or two from David Arnold and the John Barry / Don Black track...

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Nice promo, but not much about the John Barry / Don Black track there.

[MattofSteel]

I didn't pick up any hints of "Our Time Is Now" in the lyrics I heard - perhaps I missed it?

Snippets sound great, though. Looking forward. To both the album, and the ensuing ribbing I'll receive from my ill-informed friends for buying a Shirley Bassey album.

[Zorin Industries]

I didn't pick up any hints of "Our Time Is Now" in the lyrics I heard - perhaps I missed it?

Snippets sound great, though. Looking forward. To both the album, and the ensuing ribbing I'll receive from my ill-informed friends for buying a Shirley Bassey album.

Yes, I wondered that. Though I have a head start on my mates. They will sort of expect it.

Nice promo, but not much about the John Barry / Don Black track there.

Could be wrong, but 28 seconds in...?

Manic Street Preacher's penned THE GIRL FROM TIGER BAY...you can hear Arnold in the orchestrations...

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Could be wrong, but 28 seconds in...?

Oh yeah I get it now (although it is brief). I was looking out for a mention or interview in the clip. Didn't think to listen to the songs being played in the background....

[Qwerty]

Interview: Bassey is back

Bringing out her first new album in 20 years has shot Dame Shirley into the limelight once again. But fame, she reveals in a rare interview, has a dangerous flipside...

From a distance, Shirley Bassey could pass for a thirtysomething. She's wearing tight jeans with turn-ups, leopard-skin stilettos, a groovy green cap and an even groovier green knee-length hoodie-cardigan. She looks firm and fabulous. And yet, at the same time, it's surprising she's only 72. Bassey has been around for ever. She was the voice of James Bond movies four decades ago, had her own television show soon after, and was giving journalists, police officers and personal assistants hell before Naomi Campbell was a twinkle in the media's eye.

We are in an old school hall – just Bassey, her pianist, manager, assistant and me – and she's rehearsing for the BBC's forthcoming Electric Proms show. But this is like no rehearsal I've seen. This is the world's most intimate gig. She wiggles her bottom to Hey Big Spender's "Good looking, so refined" as she leans over the piano – conversationally, then suggestively – taps her feet, clicks her fingers, pouts those liquid lips and sings to the wall, which doubles up as a packed arena. There is such poignancy as she sings Something, a song she has been performing for 38 years, into the empty space. "Something in the way he wooo-oooo-oos me." She opens her mouth wide enough to swallow the world.

Her hair is dark black with tiny sprigs of silver peeking from under the cap. She slows down Light My Fire to a torch song, improvises The Lady Is A Tramp with gorgeous abandon, reaches for one of the two bottles of water on the grand piano, takes a slug, and flaps her cardigan wings to cool herself down. I'm sitting with her assistant Jenny behind a table at the end of the room. Jenny whispers to me that it's like being on The X Factor. Her manager shushes us, a look of panic in his eyes – Dame Shirley demands supreme focus...

Read more...

http://www.guardian....assey-interview - The Guardian

[Gri007]

Even though The Performance isn't yet released you can hear snippets of the songs on itunes.

It is interesting to note that 7th song listed on the album 'No Good About Goodbuy' has got the same riff that was used in the Quantum Of Solace score. Was Arnold working on the album at the same time or was it after he had finished QOS. It does sound very Bondish

[Qwerty]

Preview Dame Shirley Bassey's The Performance

Selected album tracks available to preview and download

[MattofSteel]

Even though The Performance isn't yet released you can hear snippets of the songs on itunes.

It is interesting to note that 7th song listed on the album 'No Good About Goodbuy' has got the same riff that was used in the Quantum Of Solace score. Was Arnold working on the album at the same time or was it after he had finished QOS. It does sound very Bondish

Do you mean "The Girl from Tiger Bay?"

EDIT: Nevermind. I hear it there as well. As a matter of fact, it's quite pronounced in multiple locations.

I'm really looking forward to this album.

[Ernst Stavro Blofeld Jr.]

Even though The Performance isn't yet released you can hear snippets of the songs on itunes.

It is interesting to note that 7th song listed on the album 'No Good About Goodbuy' has got the same riff that was used in the Quantum Of Solace score. Was Arnold working on the album at the same time or was it after he had finished QOS. It does sound very Bondish

I would imagine that this is what Arnold perhaps proposed for a main theme. It has a nice classic feel to it, which unfortunately doesn't fit the film we got (at least from the snippet). If only they made it the same as Casino Royale, than this theme would have worked.

[OHMSS Spion]

Even though The Performance isn't yet released you can hear snippets of the songs on itunes.

It is interesting to note that 7th song listed on the album 'No Good About Goodbuy' has got the same riff that was used in the Quantum Of Solace score. Was Arnold working on the album at the same time or was it after he had finished QOS. It does sound very Bondish

Come to think of it, that really does sound like those bits in Quantum of Solace, like near the end of "Time To Get Out." Thing is, that little motif was David Arnold trying to incorporate bits of "Another Way To Die" into the soundtrack. Though right now I'm trying to figure out in my head where that little motif is in "Another Way To Die" itself. I could very well be wrong and that motif is something he came up with and mixed in with all the "Another Way To Die" bits that he found salvageable.

[MattofSteel]

Even though The Performance isn't yet released you can hear snippets of the songs on itunes.

It is interesting to note that 7th song listed on the album 'No Good About Goodbuy' has got the same riff that was used in the Quantum Of Solace score. Was Arnold working on the album at the same time or was it after he had finished QOS. It does sound very Bondish

Come to think of it, that really does sound like those bits in Quantum of Solace, like near the end of "Time To Get Out." Thing is, that little motif was David Arnold trying to incorporate bits of "Another Way To Die" into the soundtrack. Though right now I'm trying to figure out in my head where that little motif is in "Another Way To Die" itself. I could very well be wrong and that motif is something he came up with and mixed in with all the "Another Way To Die" bits that he found salvageable.

It's literally there underneath the lyric "Another Way to Die," but very hard to melodically hear. Similarly to when YKMN was released, the quality of the first version obscured the true nature of the melody, which many went on to claim was utterly absent. Of course, when the score and instrumentals appeared, it was obviously untrue. aWTD is another example of the song style obscuring the song itself.

[marktmurphy]

It's literally there underneath the lyric "Another Way to Die," but very hard to melodically hear. Similarly to when YKMN was released, the quality of the first version obscured the true nature of the melody, which many went on to claim was utterly absent. Of course, when the score and instrumentals appeared, it was obviously untrue. aWTD is another example of the song style obscuring the song itself.

Is that the melody that Jack sings at that point?

I agree with your points about AWTD: I think it's a top song, and the style itself is more successfully 'rock' than YKMN.

[MattofSteel]

AWTD certainly isn't the load of trash it's been suggested to be. There's a lot about it that's redeemable. YKMN has earned a special nod for me personally, it's just grown on me in every conceivable way. One of my franchise favourites. It's just so damned listenable.

[Mr_Wint]

I wouldn’t be surprised if "No Good About Goodbye" was Arnold's proposed theme song for QOS. It seems like the lyrics fit the film (Solace is mentioned) and the melody was used in the score several times. It sounds like a terrific Bondtheme song!

That makes it easy to understand why they didn't use it. Proclaiming QOS to be a Bondfilm wasn't exactly what Forster et al. had in mind...

[MattofSteel]

You can clearly hear Arnold's favourite bassline, the OHMSS theme, happening there as well.

[Bad Tiger]

"No Good About Goodbye" seems very well connected to the Bond sound. I couldn't believe it when I heard the line "before you make your move, think of the consequences".

I remember reading that Don Black originally wrote those lyrics as an opening line for a potential Bond theme titled "I Will Return". The melody was linked to the "Fountains of Desire" cue from Die Another Day.

According to David Arnold, only the intro and chorus were ever developed and work stopped on the song when it became clear that it would not be used in the film.

[MattofSteel]

Was that actually a line in "I Will Return?" I vaguely remember him talking about that in an interview somewhere. Could be an interesting, referential thing for us hardcore Bond music lovers. I wish I could hear the entire song.

[Zorin Industries]

"There's a crack in every pavement
Underneath there is a beach
It's been a long time longing
As history repeats"

Bassey's THE PERFORMANCE is a very good album. Buoyed on at the eleventh hour by some very blokey straight mates who know their contemporary music, I bought the cd earlier and gained 2000 gay Nectar points in the process.

It is not the wall-to-wall bombast it could have been. It is actually a very mournful lament to various lives and stages of experience via the apt likes of Wainwright, Tennent and Hawley.

Richard Hawley's AFTER THE RAIN is definitely the most striking track on the album with Barry and Black's OUR TIME IS NOW sharing second place with the Manics' GIRL FROM TIGER BAY. David Arnold's own NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE is very much a Bond title track cast-off change of heart but all the better for it. And did David and Don want Shirley for a potential QUANTUM OF SOLACE collaboration? (!). "Where is the solace that I crave? Will it haunt me to my grave?" alongside "No solace in a kiss. No comfort in a sigh. No good about goodbye"..... and you have a potentially VESPER loaded track that could have been Dame Burly's fourth 'used' Bond song.

The best thing to say so far about THE PERFORMANCE is that the songs sound like they have been around for years. Bassey has made a career of bloomin' decent cover songs. This - to her and Arnold's credit - sounds like that as much as it is a shamefully old fashioned and lushly-orchestrated throwback to the filmic song-smiths of yesteryear.

Note to Eon HQ : take Shirley out to lunch and have THAT talk (!).

[SecretAgentFan]

Man, I don´t know - maybe I´m getting sentimental but "Our Time Is Now", the Barry-penned song, really moves me despite all the clichéd lyrics. When the trumpet solo stars my tears start to well up. What´s wrong with me?

[Harmsway]

I think the album's quite fine indeed. Stuff like "Almost There," "After the Rain," and "The Girl from Tiger Bay" really crackle, and there's also plenty of fun stuff, too ("Apartment" and "Nice Men"). It's amazing that Bassey is still delivering after all these years, and in some sense, she's improved. She's offering a much quieter, more controlled vocal performance here.

As far as the two Bond composer-authored tracks are concerned, "No Good About Goodbye" and "Our Time is Now," I think they're middle-range quality as far as the album is concerned. Neither has the level of emotional weight that the best songs on the album does, nor do they have the striking fun. Still, they're pleasant enough.

[Zorin Industries]

Dame Burly is a guest on THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW tonight (Monday 23rd November) at 2235 and is showcasting a live track on that.... and she is the subject of an IMAGINE documentary on BBC1 at 2235 on Tuesday 24th - which looks at the making of THE PERFORMANCE album and may well feature Mr Black and Mr Barry's efforts alongside that of Mr Arnold's.

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Wonder if we will get any future Bond title track soundbites in all this TV coverage. Bond is bound to be discussed after all...

[Zorin Industries]

Yep - Ms Chassis said how she would like to do another Bond theme on the NORTON show.

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Yeah it was good to hear that and she sounded sincere about it too. Was a good show, with David Arnold on the guitar at the end as well. I did see Norton's joke about the Moonraker theme coming before it landed so to speak.

[Zorin Industries]

So the new Bond is called "SOLACE II" then....(?!).

[Zorin Industries]

Did anyone watch BBC1's IMAGINE documentary on Bassey last night? It was a superbly raw and honest look at an artist, her sound, her new sound, the work of the standard-bearers Black, Bricusse and Barry and how David Arnold worked on the album (his motivations, challenges and work approach).

I am a bit surprised no-one else has mentioned this one - for no other reason than John Barry was interviewed (which you don't get often these days) !!

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Edit

[sthgilyadgnivileht]

Very good documentary, Bassey came across well and not too 'diva-ish'. She seemed moved by the work, especially when she heard her own recording of Richard Hawley's song.
Nice to see John Barry, but also Black and Leslie Bricusse. Interesting that the song she felt most comfortable with initially was the John Barry track. Would have liked a bit more about Bond (& that Solace2 rumour!), but it was about Bassey at the end of the day, so I can't complain.