Oct 5, 1962. The premiere of Dr No, the first James Bond movie. To commemorate 60 years of Bond today, Amazon Prime is putting all 25 films on its platform starting today. It has also made a documentary, The Sound of 007 about the music and theme songs over the years. Amazing insights into the creative process from Monty Norman and John Barry, the creators of the original theme music that sets pulses racing any time one hears it to Paul McCartney to Duran Duran, all the way to Hans Zimmer on the last one, No Time to Die (2021). For example, who knew that the main theme was originally a sedate version for the sitar for an Indian musical set in Trinidad based on the VS Naipaul book “A House for Mr Biswas” by Monty Norman that John Barry then replaced with the guitar and pumped it up for eternity ? Another amazing one is that actor Michael Caine who had been thrown out of his apartment and was shacking up with John Barry at the time was the first person ever to hear the Goldfinger song as it was being composed all night in the apartment. Guaranteed goosebumps when you listen to Shirley Bassey and the theme songs for Goldfinger (1964) and her playfulness on Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Don’t miss her story on how she finally belted out that last part of Goldfinger - every woman watching will empathize with the liberating act she did on removing a restrictive bit of clothing that finally let loose her voice 😄
And the explanation given for the reasons behind the lyrics of the Diamonds are Forever comparing diamonds to a certain male appendage are hilarious- u will never be able to listen to the song again without that image popping up 😂
Worth a watch.
Amazon Prime has now also released the film of the concert that happened 2 days ago, The Sound of 007: Live from The Royal Albert Hall. There are performances by the original artists as well as by other artists performing on behalf of the original ones. But the beginning itself is worth the price of admission with a blow the roof off the joint performance of Diamonds are Forever, and Goldfinger by 85 year old Dame Shirley Bassey. Man, does that lady still have the pipes and the joie de vivre. Goosebumps City !!
October 4, 2022
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