JAMES BOND WILL RETURN

the A Girl And A Gun album can only be complete when there are no more James Bond themes to cover (god forbid!)


so please keep popping back to check for updates, keep supporting the amazing acts that have recorded their own versions of these themes, and keep telling your chums about this album

thanks - and JAMES BOND WILL RETURN

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE by THE LEAF LIBRARY

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that the last theme to be covered it the Matt Monro classic, From Russia With Love... so here we go, Ladies and Gentlemen - THE LEAF LIBRARY!


I’d like to be able to say that we’ve recorded this version because of my name-based kinship with Matt Monro, or that I personally identify with trying to bump off a British agent with a deadly shoe whilst dressed as a maid. But no, someone else got to The Living Daylights before we did. Dalton’s always been my man – melancholy, minimal and with really good hair. Plus, copping off with a la-di-da cellist always heavily appealed to me. (As it is I ended up with a violinist so can’t complain too much). Anyhoo, ‘From Russia With Love’ was the track we were allocated and there was no way I was going to let ‘M’ Jervis down.


I vaguely remembered the film from sleepy afternoons at gran’s house (mainly the ridiculous shoe/chair fight and JB’s subsequent smug smirk as they chug off into the Venice lagoon) but I didn’t know the song at all. Not the most memorable at the best of times, it has a weirdly vaporous quality that sees it drift away and instantly forgotten as the last note fades. I was so bored by it I couldn’t even be bothered to look up the chords online so we dispensed with trying to recreate it altogether. Instead I found a random Russian folk tune, played in the modern, highly polished style so beloved of our friends behind the curtain, and stretched it to a truly evil 750%, before setting my henchman Lewis loose with all his Russian-themed Ableton synth plugins. Add to that Kate’s gloriously deadpan and detached vocals (literally phoned in) and that’s about the whole of it. I’ve actually really grown to love the lyrics, as wishy-washy as they are, and Matt’s Wikipedia entry makes for some entertaining reading (including being billed on Peter Sellers album as Fred Flange). I like to think our version invokes the sounds of dying nuclear reactors and humming Siberian shortwave radio masts, so let’s just say that it does.

I have never been to Russia although I have read the Master and Margherita. That’s alright, isn’t it?

DEATH OF FIONA by CEE BEE BEAUMONT

just a week to go til the A Girl and a Gun launch at the Union Chapel in London - 007th November, from midday

there's a timely radio doc, narrated by Samantha Bond called Somebody Did It Better available in the UK on iPlayer about the songs that didn't make it as Bond themes.

and here's a piece on a new book called The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism

SPECTRE release day

yep... it's out today, and i've got tickets to see it tomorrow (some friends went to the cast and crew screening on Saturday and have been very tight lipped, which is a good thing)

to celebrate we have a special SPECTRE(S) single release, featuring covers of Writing's On The Wall by ROC and Rory McVicar, as well as a special Left Outsides cover of the Spectres song that was mistakenly reviewed as the Sam Smith tune by the Evening Standard (among others)

THUNDERBALL by THE VATICAN CELLARS

(thanks to Jeff Mellin in Q division who has worked his magic with Daniel Craig)

yep, it's finally here - TODAY IS A GIRL AND A GUN RELEASE DATE, and to celebrate, here's the Vatican Cellars take on Thunderball:



thanks to everyone who has kindly given their time and hard work to this album; the writers, illustrators, designers and musicians who made these amazing covers of the fantastic Bond themes - just as a reminder (and in order of release):

27-Mar Jack Hayter - Die Another Day
03-Apr Robert Rotifer - GoldenEye
10-Apr the Weisstronauts - James Bond Theme
17-Apr Simon Fox - All Time High
24-Apr Michaelmas - We Have All The Time In The World
01-May the Sly and Unseen - A View to a Kill
08-May Darren Hayman - Goldfinger
15-May Citizen Helene - For Your Eyes Only
22-May Deerful - Three Blind Mice
29-May the Great Electric - James Bond Theme
05-Jun Spaceship Mark - The Man with the Golden Gun
12-Jun Papernut Cambridge - The Man with the Golden Gun
19-Jun Elderly - Live and Let Die
26-Jun Seks Bomba - Casino Royale
03-Jul Jeff Mellin - You Only Live Twice
10-Jul picturebox - Surrender (from Tomorrow Never Dies)
17-Jul Ralegh Long - Tomorrow Never Dies
24-Jul Ani Glass - Tomorrow Never Dies
31-Jul DJ Downfall feat. Theoretical Girl - Moonraker
07-Aug the Left Outsides - Diamonds Are Forever
14-Aug Pam Berry - Underneath The Mango Tree
21-Aug Charm Bracelet - For Your Eyes Only
28-Aug Maija Sofia - Never Say Never Again
04-Sep Snow Leopard Brotherhood - The Living Daylights
11-Sep Tim the Mute - Licence to Kill
18-Sep Keiron Phelan - Another Way To Die
25-Sep Rory McVicar - Writing's On The Wall
02-Oct Ms Goodnight - Skyfall
09-Oct Rebecca Jade - You Know My Name
16-Oct the Fenestration - The World Is Not Enough
23-Oct the Vatican Cellars - Thunderball
30-Oct Cee Bee Beaumont - Death of Fiona
06-Nov the Leaf Library - From Russia With Love
07-Nov Ed Dowie - James Bond Theme (Union Chapel Organ version)

please tell your chums to drop by and download the complete album (and to pay-what-they-want), and to come along to the launch party at the Union Chapel on the 007th November

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH by THE FENESTRATION

the 30th free download Bond theme comes from the Fenestration, and is their take on the theme for the World Is Not Enough, originally by Garbage:


we've had a bit of press coverage too; the splendid Say It With Garage Flowers blog have interviewed Ian Button from Papernut Cambridge, Robert Rotifer and me about the album, Bond themes and Bond films

in other news, SPECTRE is out in ten days and tickets have been bought for the 27th... excitement is mounting, so here are some trailers to whet the appetite:


and finally (just because) here's the tune Scott Walker recorded for the love theme (and potential closing credits) of the World Is Not Enough - there's no greater fool in the fool's hall of fame:

YOU KNOW MY NAME by REBECCA JADE aka LADY LOWREY

and as we all know, Casino Royale was the first Bond film without a classic gunbarrel sequence - here's the lot of them:

SKYFALL by MISS GOODNIGHT

yep, we're sticking with Daniel Craig - here's Ms Goodnight's take on Adele's Oscar winner, Skyfall


it's especially for YOU if you've ever wondered what Fleetwood Mac would have done with a Bond theme

Benjamin Lind of the Bond Bulletin reviewed the A Girl And A Gun LP:

There isn´t just Adele or Sheena Easton, Paul McCartney or Tina Turner – there are also Papernut Cambridge, Michael Wood or Ralegh Long who equally embrace and challenge the originals as well as their own talent.

here's the latest SPECTRE featurette


and here's a quick reminder of Adele's Oscar performance:

WRITING'S ON THE WALL by RORY McVICAR

yep, the rather wonderful Rory McVicar has turned round his cover of the Sam Smith Bond theme in just over thirteen hours


and in case you've not seen, the Evening Standard (and who knows who else) have reviewed the Spectres theme by mistake (apparently not noticing the lack of Sam Smith)

ANOTHER WAY TO DIE by KEIRON PHELAN AND DRITA KOTAJI

Bang, bang, bang…

I adore James Bond films. I adore the gadgets, the guns, the sexism, the violence, the villains and I entirely embrace the emotional Fascism. Consider; cats (by nature) are sleek, self-satisfied, vicious, promiscuous, immoral death machines. Yet they are greatly loved. So; why not Bond?

The only thing I dislike about the films is that they are rarely as good as the books. To this day I can recite, verbatim, the entire meal (food, type of wine, cocktails, etc.) consumed by Bond and M in Moonraker Chapter 5, ‘Dinner At Blades’. Time was I could remember the exact four hands of cards held by Bond, M, Sir Hugo Drax and Meyer in the final Bridge rubber played in Chapter 7, ‘The Quickness Of The Hand’.

Tragic, isn’t it?

Listening to the Bond theme songs, as a totality, the remarkable thing is how consistently good they are. There are, of course, some weak spots. ‘Another Way To Die’ (from the excellent, in my opinion, ‘Quantum Of Solace’) is sometimes considered to be one of those. However, I would contend that Jack White generated an exciting and appropriately Bondesque atmosphere in this song. It’s that atmosphere, therefore, that we’ve tried to junk and replace with something entirely different. Because, James Bond never really follows the orders, does he? So, we’re playing his rules…

Keiron Phelan: Vocal, guitar, piano, organ, flute, fuzz-tone electric flute.
Drita Kotaji: Vocal
Simon Trought: Bass, drum machine.
Q Branch: by Simon Trought.

LICENCE TO KILL by TIM THE MUTE

A shy, bookish ten year old with no toys, I threw myself headlong into the exciting world of books. I would read anything at the library whose titles I vaguely recognized from pop culture. James Bond was an obvious contender, his action-man status recognized through several generations of ten year olds as an untouchable ideal of cool. When my favourite teacher took away my James Bond books and told my mum I was reading filth, I was confused. Never had I thought to feel ashamed of my own titillation at the hands of sex and violence. Suddenly, I knew myself.

some new SPECTRE artwork and a tv spot have also been released today:

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY by CHARM BRACELET and RAMESH

as Sheena Easton is the only singer of a Bond theme tune to appear in the opening credits we have a few videos for you today, starting off with those credits (and what title designer Maurice Binder referred to as her "70mm lips")


then a demo version of the Sheena Easton theme with the early lyrics


and here's a beautifully restored 35mm trailer from the 007 Dossier


and finally, the royal premiere:

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER by THE LEFT OUTSIDES

DOUBLE BASSEY!

erm... sorry...

Diamonds Are Forever was the 7th Bond film (and the last EON one to star a tired Sean Connery, returning after Lazenby's OHMSS)... i'm not sure if you had already suspected, but this album (and blog) started life as a quick side project for the wiaiwya-7777777 singles club - a number seven obsessed seven inch vinyl club.

subscribers to wiaiwya-7777777 were to get seven 007 songs as a mid-year bonus... thankfully it all took on a life of its own, and more incredibly talented people than i could have imagined said yes to recording cover versions - among them the remarkable Left Outsides (fresh from releasing their latest long player)

anyway, it co-starred Jimmy Dean (as Willard Whyte) perhaps most famous for "Big Bad John"


i'm currently reading Diamonds Are Forever too - an ex-library copy of those lovely anniversary editions with Michael Gillette covers (one day i'll treat myself to a Live And Let Die print)

MOONRAKER by DJ DOWNFALL feat. THEORETICAL GIRL

it's been a fun week for Bond music, with William Hill suspending bets on who will be recording the SPECTRE theme after someone whacked fifteen grand on Radiohead - before they took it offline the odds were:

Radiohead (6/4)
Sam Smith (2/1)
Ellie Goulding (4/1)
Adele (5/1)
Lana Del Rey (14/1)
Lorde (14/1)
Coldplay (33/1)

and now I think about it, if it's not Lana Del Rey, I kind of like the idea of Ellie Goulding singing with Radiohead.

"that's a wrap"

Moonraker was the third Lewis Gilbert Bond film (after You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me), and was filmed primarily in France (there were a lot of tax exiles about), which meant John Barry could return to do the soundtrack (his previous one had been the Man With The Golden Gun in 1974)



we all of course know that James Bond should have returned in For Your Eyes Only, but the world went space crazy in 1977 (oh, i just noticed Boba Fett was in The Spy Who Loved Me), and Moonraker was made instead... and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the theme:

Moonraker was originally written by John Barry and Paul Williams for Frank Sinatra, and when (for whatever reason) that didn't happen it went to Johnny Mathis. Apparently Barry asked Williams to rewrite some of the lyrics, but Williams refused saying "when Sinatra likes a lyric, it's finished". Then the Mathis' recording wasn't quite right, and Kate Bush was considered. Finally, after calling Hal David in to write new words in a weekend (having not seen any footage or read the book) the Shirley Bassey theme was recorded.

Speaking of Dame Shirley - we're going DOUBLE BASSEY, with Diamonds Are Forever next Friday 7th August... see you then

NEW SPECTRE TRAILER