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:

Sam Smith confirmed for new Bond theme

it's called Writing's on the Wall and it's released on 25th September... just over two weeks away:

A photo posted by Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) on Sep 8, 2015 at 12:01am PDT

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS by SNOW LEOPARD BROTHERHOOD

this week i learned that Miffy creator Dick Bruna also designed James Bond Book covers (if you are in Holland you could always go to this)

can we get the Snow Leopard Brotherhood to cover the whole a-ha back catalogue?

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN by MAIJA SOFIA

this week we have the theme to the second non-EON Bond, Never Say Never Again by Maija Sofia, which came out in 1983, just six months after Octopussy

the battle of the bonds:


in other news, we also have POSTERS and BOOKMARKS on the way:

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:

UNDERNEATH THE MANGO TREE by PAM BERRY

thrilled to announce an album launch party for the A Girl And A Gun album

it's a FREE Daylight Music show at the Union Chapel, in London, from midday on November 7th

say you're coming at the facebook event here

and here's what they have to say:

A lazy afternoon with music, tea and cake. An event for all ages. Produced by Arctic Circle. Free entry* midday - till 2.00pm (*suggested donation £5.00) 

Everyone knows the iconic music of James Bond, and WIAIWYA love it so much that they’ve created “A Girl and A Gun”, an excellent online album of covers of Bond themes. This week, Daylight Music is hosting a special 007 show celebrating the album, featuring many of the bands on the compilation. Grab your black tie for the occasion and expect some rather special surprises.