h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

John Barry what a composer, the 007 theme and all those songs.
Is one really beter than the rest? I don't know if I can say it is. They producers certainly have had a whole host of varied artists in to do the songs, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Duran Duran, Aha, Wings, Sheryl Crow.

But when it comes down to it, Louis Armstrong singing We Have All The Time In The World from On Her Majesty's Secret Service has to be the classiest Bond tune.

I came across something cute, Mr. Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang. Apparently, that's what they call Bond in the Far East. That's what they were going to entitle You Only Live Twice at one point. There's a great title song by Dionne Warwick by that name that I'm listening to as I type.

I think the big band music really did give the early movies a neat flavor.

Of course, I really liked The World is Not Enough too. Moby has a good remix of the James Bond theme.

Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron
"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."

A big hand for Miss Shirley Bassey getting called upon twice to exercise her layrnx for the fate of Bond.

Diamonds are Forever.

and

Goldfinger.

Favourite tune though in Live and Let Die by Wings though.

The World is Not Enough
can't beat Garbage really...

I have to agree that live and let Die is the best track, apart from of course the title theme by Barry.

You Only Live Twice. Hauntingly beautiful.

Shirley bassey did three themes, not two. These are Goldfinger, Diamonds are forever and Moonraker.
Ian Fleming refers to bond as mr kiss-kiss-bang-bang sometimes in his books.
I have to confess that my favourite theme is that to On her Majesty's secret service. It has a haunting, sentimental quality about it.

Shameless plugging i admit, but i wrote an article a couple of months back for the prophet's film music university of life project about John Barry. Its at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A598908

"And in this ever changing world, in which we live in..."

Paul, Paul, Paul; what were you thinking. For years I convinced myself it was '...in which we're living...', but no. It really is '...in which we live in...'

That aside, definitely one of the stronger theme songs.

And leave us not forget David Arnold, who has been supplying the music for the last couple of films.

Theme song wise, one has to feel for Garbage, since it's harsh to have to produce a distinct Bond song when the title has the same scantion (sp?) as the last one. Kudos.

The Prophet.

"And in this ever changing world, in which we live in..."

Paul, Paul, Paul; what were you thinking. For years I convinced myself it was '...in which we're living...', but no. It really is '...in which we live in...'

That aside, definitely one of the stronger theme songs.

And leave us not forget David Arnold, who has been supplying the music for the last couple of films.

Theme song wise, one has to feel for Garbage, since it's harsh to have to produce a distinct Bond song when the title has the same scantion (sp?) as the last one. Kudos.

The Prophet.

Here's a challenge for you all:

Start humming the Bond theme, then try to change (without a pause) into the Mission Impossible theme and back again.

Harder than you think, eh?

There's a reason for that...

The Bond theme is written in 2/4 (correct me if I'm wrong) time but the Mission Impossible theme is written in 5/4 time...

I quite liked the Propellerheads remix of On Her Majesty's Secret Service...

Caper Plip

Off topic, but related to the last but one post.

Hum the Quantum Leap theme tune, then try to hum the theme tune for M*A*S*H. For some reason it's very difficult.

strictly speaking 4/4, but hey, the difference is small. It's the difference between strong beats on the 1st and 3rd beats of the bar(of 4), dividing it into two equal groups of two; and strong beats on the 1st and 4th which make 5/4 unevenly divided.

However, just humming it to myself, mission impossible sounds to me like 9/8.

It should be easier to go into the version of the Mission Impossible film on the Tom Cruise version, as I understand that Clayton and Mullen wussed out and put it in 4/4 time. But this is only my vague understanding.

The Prophet.