RIP Vic Flick, The Guiter Player Who Performed The James Bond Theme

The Spy Command, a blog about James Bond and other cinematic spies, reports that Vic Flick, the electric guitar player who performed on the original James Bond Theme in Dr. No, had died.    

Vic Flick, who played electric guitar on the original 1962 recording of the James Bond Theme died this month, Yahoo! Movies said, citing a Facebook post by his son Kevin. He was 87.

 

The theme, which debuted in Dr. No, was written by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry. Norman earned royalties for the theme. Barry’s work on Dr. No led to 11 scoring assignments on Bond films. He became a famous movie composer who won five Oscars (none for his Bond work).

 

You can read the rest of the piece and watch Vic Flick perform the James Bond Theme via the below link:

Vic Flick, guitarist, dies at 87 | The Spy Command 

 

You can also watch the Dr. No theme song via the below link:

   Bing Videos 

The Bond Style And The Sound Of 007: A Documentary Celebrating 60 Years Of James Bond Film Music

As I’ve noted here before, I’ve been an Ian Fleming aficionado and a huge fan of the James Bond films since I first saw Dr. No when I was a kid. 

An important element of the successful Bond film series has been the music, especially the lush, orchestrated music of composer and conducer John Barry.

From the James Bond theme in Dr. No to Goldfinger and beyond, John Barry’s film scores evoke suspense, thrilling action and romance. Successors to Barry have carried on the James Bond musical tradition.

I just watched Amazon Prime Video’s most interesting documentary about the 60 years of Bond film music.  

“It’s not the melody, It’s an attitude...That became the Bond style.” John Barry.

 The Sound of 007 pulls back the curtain on the remarkable history of six decades of James Bond music, taking viewers on a journey from Sean Connery’s Dr No through to Daniel Craig’s final outing in No Time to Die.

 

From Ventureland and EON Productions, The Untold Story of 007, charts the incredible history of the music, enthralling true tales behind the tunes and famous faces who have recorded some of the most beloved soundtracks in cinema. 

 

Directed by BIFA-winner and BAFTA-nominee Mat Whitecross (The Kings, Supersonic, The Road to Guantánamo) for Prime Video and MGM, the documentary will make its global debut on Prime Video to mark the 60th anniversary of the James Bond film series on October 5, 2022.

 

You can watch the trailer for the documentary via the below link:

The Sound of 007 – Official Trailer | Prime Video - YouTube

Bond fans and fans of fine film musical scores will enjoy this documentary as I have.

 

Note: You can listen to the James Bond theme songs via the below link:

Dr. No Theme Song - James Bond - YouTube

Why Men Bond With The 007 Theme

Marc Myers at the Wall Street Journal offers an interesting piece on why men bond with the James Bond theme.

Maybe it's the stealthy bass line. Or the machine-gun guitar solo. Or the swaggering wail of the horns. Or maybe it's all three shaken together. Whatever the reasons (and there are many), the "James Bond Theme" still has a way of making guys feel, well, more guy-ly.

Fifty years after appearing in "Dr. No"—the first James Bond film, which had its premiere in London on Oct. 5, 1962—the jaunty theme is back with a vengeance. At the Olympics' opening ceremony, the theme played as Britain's "queen" parachuted from a helicopter. On Oct. 5, Vic Flick, the theme's original guitarist, will perform his signature solo during "The Music of James Bond: The First 50 Years" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And it will be laced throughout the latest Bond film, "Skyfall," opening on Nov. 9.

For millions of baby-boomer males who saw their first car chase and sex scene in a Bond film in the '60s, the theme song stirs powerful psychological coals, flipping a primal switch as images of silencers, casinos, bikinis, gin and gadgets flood the male brain.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444358804578018422429741896.html

 

And you can listen to the 007 theme via the Dr No intro via the below link:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5jjYLsh1V4  

Songs From Youth Revisited

In my last post I linked to a piece by a British writer who claimed that he'd rather watch an old Sherlock Holmes film from his youth than a modern mystery.

This lead me to think of my late father.

When I was a kid growing up in South Philadelphia my father, a child of the Depression and a World War II veteran, had a workshop in our basement where he would spend most Saturday afternoons playing old records on an old record player.

I got a kick out of hearing the old songs, as did my older brother, because the songs were to us from the Stone Age - the 1940s and 1950s.

The only "modern" songs he played were Barry Sadler's 1966 The Ballad of the Green Berets and Brook Benton's 1961 The Boll Weevil Song.

I still recall hearing Frankie Laine's The Kid's Last Fight, Jean Shepard and Ferlin Husky's Dear John and other songs from my father's youth that he played over and over.

And now that I've passed my father's age, it amuses me that I find myself in my South Philadelphia basement office & library, playing songs from my youth, such as the Beatles, the Animals, Motown, Chicago, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers and other groups from my teens in the 1960s and my 20s in the 1970s. (I listen to smooth jazz and other modern music as well).

Thanks to www.youtube.com we can revisit songs from our youth and listen to songs from our parents' youth.

You can listen to Frankie Laine's The Kid's Last Fight via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFZZNgUVpc

Jean Shepard and Ferlin Husky's Dear John:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMueKWzG0WE

Brook Benton's The Boll Weevil Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVwjYptcnAY

Barry Sadler's The Ballad of the Green Berets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0w6Bqma4qM

And some songs from my youth:

The Beatles' Yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwS_YDzxH3M

The Beatles' Abbey Road Medley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pM3PVzDUCY

The Four Tops' Baby, I Need Your Lovein':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqjBAJx4ZA

The Temptations' My Girl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbAaLdLguLo

The Animals' The House of the Rising Sun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk

The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a7cHPy04s8

John Barry's theme song from Goldfinger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgN50uAp4pg

Chicago's Beginnings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxmD724H70Q

Chicago's Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-2rkWL8nx4&feature=related

Steely Dan's Reelin' In the Years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBllejn5fVA

Steely Dan's Deacon Blues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NntyxRhmFho&feature=related

The Doobie Brothers' Echoes of Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Lj2iZzqRk&feature=relmfu

The Doobie Brothers' Minute By Minute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_GmuIHL_EM

Boz Scaggs' Lowdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65EoK4OelZU

And from my clubbing and dancing days in the 1970s:

Chic's Le Freak:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqupk71a-O0

France Joli's Come To Me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voxU5X2VOCg

Donna Summer's I Feel Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljxm3NsnVI0&feature=related

The Trammps' Disco Inferno:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M

Thelma Huston's Don't Ask to Stay Until Tomorrow from Looking For Mr Goodbar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbjmdYXKVM

Like A Thunderball: Sir Tom Jones' Still Powerful Voice Opens The British BAFTA Film Award Ceremony With A Tribute To 50 Years Of James Bond Films

Opening the BAFTA award ceremony in the United Kingdom with a tribute to 50 years of James Bond films, Sir Tom Jones sang the theme song to the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball while under a huge screen projecting a selection of scenes from the Bond films.

You can watch a video of Sir Tom Jones at BAFTA via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmwcHjosRKw

You can also hear Sir Tom Jones sing John Barry and Don Black's song in the opening title sequence of the film Thunderball via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT0x7QiJI1g

And yes, the women swiming in the title sequence are nude.

On The Late John Barry's Distinctive And Enduring Bond Movie Music

Josh Rothman at The Boston Globe wrote an interesting piece about John Barry, the composer of the distinctive and enduring James Bond film music who died this week. Barry was 77.

Rothman provides links to some of Barry's best songs.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2011/02/john_barry_rip.html

You can also read Adam Bollard's take on John Barry at the James Bond web site MI6 via the below link:

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/articles/opinion_john_barry_music_master.php3?t=&s=&id=02783

The Dean Of Movie Music, James Bond Composer John Barry Dies Age 77

Reuters is reporting that composer and conductor John Barry died. He was 77.

Barry is best known for composing the music for the early James Bond films like Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and Dr No, as well as other films like Midnight Cowboy, The Lion in Winter and Born Free.

You can read the Reuters' piece via the below link:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/uk-music-johnbarry-idUKTRE70U1L420110131

Barry is seen in the photo above portraying a conductor in The Living Daylights, a James Bond film.

Below is a link to a video of John Barry conducting an orchestra performing the James Bond theme and music from Goldfinger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLh8oDnWHHw

Below is a link to an orchestra performing The Lion in Winter Suite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyNTfaifS2Y

Bringing in the Christmas Season With James Bond (and John Barry & Louie Armstrong)

One may not think of a James Bond film as traditional holiday fare, but every Christmas season I watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The film, which was released in December of 1969, has a Christmas setting and takes place in the snow-covered Swiss Alps.

The film, despite not having the great Sean Connery as Bond, is one the best in the series, in my view.

Considering that the new Bond, George Lazenby, had to follow Connery in the role, and that he had not acted before, I believe he delivered a better than fair portrayal of Bond.

He looked like Ian Fleming's Bond and he was very good in the fight and action scenes.

The film was also graced with Diana Rigg as Tracy, a strong, yet troubled woman with whom Bond has a serious - if ultimately tragic - love affair.

Telly Savalas was a commanding and truly mad Ernst Stavro Blofeld and the supporting actors were also very good.

The director of this fine film was Peter Hunt. Hunt, who edited the earlier Bond films, was faithful to Ian Fleming's novel, even going with the thriller's dark ending. Hunt gave us a true Bond thriller.

You can watch a trailer of the film via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVP2n_GcdlQ

And you can listen to John Barry's great love song song by the late jazz great Louie Armstrong via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-BQTnw7g-s

Merry Christmas from Bond, James Bond.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" Is One Of The Best Bond Films In The Series

Cinematical takes a look back at the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

 

The reviewer, like me, believes the film is one is one of the best in the film series. Peter Hunt, previously an editor on the Bond series, directed this film and he was faithful to the Ian Fleming novel.

Although I dearly missed the great Sean Connery, George Lazenby was a fairly good Bond, especially when you consider that he had never acted before. He looks like Fleming's Bond and he  handled the fight and action scenes well.

Although I would have preferred an European actor to portray the mad, evil genius, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Telly Salvalas was very good in the role. Salvalas had a great sense of command and madness and I believe he was the best Blofeld in the film series.

The beautiful and alluring Diana Rigg was also very good as Bond's doomed girlfriend, and briefly, his wife.

Lastly, John Barry's musical soundtrack is truly outstanding.

It is a pity that Lazenby did not continue in the series, as I believe he would have grown into the role and perhaps given Connery a run for his money. And we would have been spared the decade of Bond-lite with Roger Moore portraying a lighthearted, comical Bond

The below link is to the piece:

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/29/shelf-life-on-her-majestys-secret-service/