"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: Parodi/Fair, "James Bond Theme (GoldenEye Trailer Version)"

Song: "James Bond Theme (GoldenEye Trailer Version)" by Parodi/Fair
Released: 2002 (it was recorded in 1995)
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: The "Rome, Italian Style" block focuses on how musicians outside the film and TV music world interpret '60s and '70s film and TV music. Former Arsenio Hall Show band keyboardist Starr Parodi and her husband Jeff Eden Fair, whose film and TV scoring work as a duo has included the mid-'90s United Artists logo music and the Lifetime cop show The Division, are hardly outsiders, but their arrangement of "The James Bond Theme" from 1962's Dr. No is my favorite cover of that theme that never appeared in a Bond film.

On this date in 1963, "The James Bond Theme" (composed by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry) entered the American pop charts. It captured the danger and allure of Bond's universe so well that every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No has featured it, and every non-Eon Bond film that doesn't feature it is, musically, kind of dickless without it--like Never Say Never Again or The Rock, which I like to think of as a sequel to the Sean Connery 007 installments because Connery was clearly playing Bond again, despite being named "John Mason,"(*) a safe-enough name choice to keep the Ian Fleming estate's lawyers away.

(*) If one likes to think of the name Bond as a mantle that's assumed by many different male MI6 agents instead of Bond being the same orphaned bachelor (and later, widower) from 1962 to 2002 despite five different faces, heights and accents(**), then that was a great way to explain why MI6 replaced the anonymous Scotsman who assumed the Bond identity from 1962 to 1967 and then briefly again in 1971: the U.S. government imprisoned his arse.

(**) Maybe Bond is really a Time Lord. All those STDs he picked up must have caused him to regenerate four times.

In 1995, United Artists recruited Parodi and Fair to do an updated version of "The James Bond Theme" for the GoldenEye teaser trailer, months before filming was completed on Pierce Brosnan's first movie as 007, which was also the first movie in which Eon enlisted Martin Campbell, the New Zealand-born director of the classic British miniseries Edge of Darkness, to rescue the hit-or-miss 007 film series from one of many periods of creative (and this time, also legally related) doldrums.

"We were in a unique and exciting situation because we had been given the assignment of bringing the Bond theme into the 90's," recalled Parodi and Fair on their official site. "Fortunately we were given lots of artistic freedom because the picture of the GoldenEye Teaser was to be edited to our music arrangement. We wanted to give the theme a sense of mystery and tension that would break out with tons of energy that suits the action that Bond films deliver."

The duo succeeded. Their nifty, trip-hop-influenced take on "The James Bond Theme," which constantly changes tempos, announced so effectively to the world during the GoldenEye teaser trailer that Bond was back in action again. It recaptures the danger and allure of Bond's universe in a way that Marvin Hamlisch's fun(***) but not-as-alluring "Bond '77" cover from The Spy Who Loved Me doesn't. Maybe it's due to the trip-hop sound, which is better suited for 007 than the disco sound of "Bond '77" because trip-hop is so influenced by Barry's spy movie scores, and artists from that genre are so fond of sampling those scores too, which is what Parodi and Fair did with the original 1962 recording of "The James Bond Theme" in their teaser trailer music.

(***) It's mostly because of the cowbells.

In 2002, it was nice to finally be able to have on disc the teaser trailer music, which became a staple of MGM/UA's trailers and ads for the Brosnan films. The trailer music made its CD debut on the Best of Bond... James Bond compilation, which Capitol released to mark the film series' 40th anniversary. At that time, the series was stuck in yet another creative rut (Brosnan's films did well at the box office but were becoming increasingly slipshod, script-wise). It wasn't able to come out of this rut until Eon enlisted Campbell again to helm what ended up being the best--and least juvenile--Bond film in decades. Mr. Bond, you have a nasty habit of surviving.

"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: Goldfrapp, "Pilots"

Song: "Pilots" by Goldfrapp
Released: 2000
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: It's like the 007 theme song Goldfrapp always should have gotten to write and record (I don't know what Eon Productions thinks of Goldfrapp, but if I were one of the Broccolis, I'd sign up Goldfrapp to do the next 007 theme). Besides its John Barry-esque sound, "Pilots" is on the playlist because... well, I'll let Alison Goldfrapp describe "Pilots" via an excerpt from an interview she did for LAUNCH in 2000:

"'Pilots' is my sci-fi image, a dream about being inside of this huge black bomber. Rubber radiators for clouds! This idea of feeling very small in the big scheme of things: 'What the f--k am I?' The idea of machinery being your friends. In a city you can hear people everywhere--upstairs, next door, downstairs. But if you're always worried about who's looking in your window, it can be a bit much. But there probably is somebody looking at you from somewhere."

Goldfrapp also captured that feeling of smallness in the big scheme of things in their elegant-looking video for the "Pilots (On a Star)" remix. Too bad I can't embed the video, which is set at a futuristic airport--if it were designed in the '60s by vintage 007 set designer Ken Adam. My favorite part of the video is the hot stewardesses on kick scooters.

Hop aboard the original version of "Pilots" over at my SwiftFM site.

"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: Count Basie and His Orchestra, "007"

Song: "007" by Count Basie and His Orchestra
Released: 1966
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: It's Basie's big-band cover of the recently deceased John Barry's "007," complete with the legendary jazz pianist's trademark "plink, plink, plink" at the end (although it's actually more of a "da-dee-dee, plink, plink"). Not to be confused with the much more famous "James Bond Theme" (which was written by Monty Norman and arranged by Barry), "007" is a secondary theme for the Bond character that Barry introduced in 1963's From Russia with Love, the first film in the Bond franchise that Barry scored from start to finish, or rather, from gunbarrel to final makeout session, presumably on a raft. This North by Northwest-style, stately-sounding action motif turned up frequently during the Sean Connery era of the series--the era when the Bond installments, particularly From Russia with Love, most closely resembled North by Northwest--and rarely appeared in the series again after Connery's departure. The Basie Orchestra's rendition of "007" is taken from Basie Meets Bond, an album in which the band made its debut on United Artists Records by recording a tie-in to United Artists' biggest cash cow at the time and covering its most signature themes, including, yes, "Underneath the Mango Tree."

Hear Basie get his plink on over at my SwiftFM site.

John Barry (1933-2011)

My favorite element of the 007 movies--besides the women--is the score music. John Barry, who died earlier this morning at the age of 77, wrote 11 of those 007 scores and made them so enjoyable and listenable outside the context of those movies. It's hard to listen to Barry's rousing and cool On Her Majesty's Secret Service main title theme without going up to a mirror and kneeling and pretending to aim a gun--just like what Danny once did on Hustle when he rehearsed a heist to the tune of Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme blaring from a stereo.

I'm sure Barry would have rather been remembered for more than just Bond, so I'll mention that my two favorite non-Bond pieces of score music by Barry are the entire score from 1965's The Knack... And How to Get It and the theme from the Roger Moore/Tony Curtis buddy detective show The Persuaders!



"Another of the great composers has left us," tweeted Bear McCreary, who's currently scoring NBC's The Cape. "I'm cranking up The Black Hole in your honor."

Besides The Black Hole (an example of great opening title theme, schizophrenic and uneven movie--when I was a kid, I thought the Black Hole coloring book was more fun), I'm also fond of Barry's themes from The Ipcress File, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy and Game of Death.

Barry also appeared on-screen as orchestra conductors in a couple of movies he scored. He cameoed in the 1968 Michael Caine heist flick Deadfall, which Fox Movie Channel aired last week, and The Living Daylights, his final 007 project (the above photo is from his Living Daylights cameo). Barry's musical output dried up in the late '90s (his last screen credit was the 2001 WWII codebreaking thriller Enigma), but British musicians kept alive his work by sampling some of his film themes. Mono sampled an Ipcress File cue in 1996's "Life in Mono," Fatboy Slim crafted a memorable hook out of the guitar riffs of Barry's first major film theme, the 007-esque Beat Girl theme from 1960, in 1998's ubiquitous "Rockafeller Skank," and Robbie Williams introduced the You Only Live Twice theme to a new generation in 1998's "Millennium" (seven years later, another of Barry's Bond themes got a similar introduction to a new generation when Kanye West sampled "Diamonds Are Forever" in "Diamonds from Sierra Leone").

Vanity Fair's intriguing profile of Barry from two years ago offers great insight into what made Barry tick and why everyone from his Out of Africa boss Sydney Pollack to Michael Caine thought of him as a man with the Midas touch, especially when it came to music.

"Rock Box" Track of the Day: Spandau Ballet, "Gold"

Song: "Gold" by Spandau Ballet
Released: 1983
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: It's featured in the 2000 Black Books episode "He's Leaving Home." The "He" is Manny (Bill Bailey), the bumbling assistant of misanthropic second-hand bookshop owner and boozehound Bernard Black (Dylan Moran). Tired of his verbally abusive boss/flatmate, Manny moves out and ends up breaking the lump of coal that stands in place of Bernard's heart.
Which moment in "He's Leaving Home" does it appear?: Spandau Ballet's '80s empowerment anthem accompanies the montage of Manny's rise as the star model of a sleazy photographer (Omid Djalili) with a fetish for beard hair like Manny's. (The Djalili character would go apeshit like an "Oprah's Favorite Things" audience member if he visited present-day Williamsburg.) The "Gold" montage is one of the funniest sequences in the surreal Britcom's oddly arranged three-season history. During her DVD commentary with Moran and Bailey, co-star Tamsin Greig (who's currently testing the patience of reviewers as the uptight wife/writing partner on Showtime's Episodes) does nothing but laugh all through the montage when the commentary reaches that point of the episode. The sequence is one of several moments in which Black Books turns Bailey's balding and long hair into an amusing visual gag, whether it's trimming his hair to show how ridiculous Manny would look as a prim chain bookstore employee or coiffing it to hilarious effect like in the montage, which can be seen here.

I always thought "Gold" would have been a great opening title theme for a Roger Moore-era 007 flick. Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp probably thought so too. In fact, he originally wrote "Gold" as a spoof of 007 themes. (That early incarnation of the song lives on in the Goldfinger-style imagery in the "Gold" video, which is nicely covered here by Images of Heaven, a blog about '80s MTV videos. I didn't know the gold-painted chick in the video is a young, pre-Bram Stoker's Dracula Sadie Frost.)

Tomorrow's "Rock Box" Track of the Day is a much more timely and desperate-sounding song that's also about trying to keep ya head up.

AFOS: "Kiss Kiss Ban Ban" playlist

Airing this Wednesday at 10am and 3pm on A Fistful of Soundtracks is the Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series episode "Kiss Kiss Ban Ban" (WEB73) from February 27-March 5, 2006.

This ep, which focuses on rejected or unused original music from soundtracks to movies like Thunderball, Ocean's Twelve and Hell Up in Harlem, got a nice mention in the RiffTrax forums in 2008. The "Kiss Kiss Ban Ban" title has double meaning. It refers to both Shirley Bassey's bizarre pronunciation of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in the rejected Thunderball theme "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and the banishment of these tunes from the final cut.


1. Bernard Herrmann, "Prelude (from Torn Curtain)," Alfred Hitchcock Presents...Signatures in Suspense, Hip-O
2. Los Angeles Philharmonic, "The Killing," Bernard Herrmann: The Film Scores, Sony Classical
3. The National Philharmonic Orchestra, "Main Title," Alex North's 2001, Varèse Sarabande
4. The National Philharmonic Orchestra, "Space Station Docking," Alex North's 2001, Varèse Sarabande
5. James Brown, "The Payback," Dead Presidents, Capitol
6. Shirley Bassey, "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," The Best of James Bond: 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
7. Dionne Warwick, "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," The Best of James Bond: 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
8. Johnny Cash, "Thunderball," The Man in Black: 1963-1969, Bear Family
9. Blondie, "For Your Eyes Only," The Hunter, Chrysalis
10. Jerry Goldsmith, "The Dig," Timeline: Music Inspired by the Film, Varèse Sarabande
11. Lalo Schifrin, "Music from the Unused Trailer," The Exorcist, Warner Home Video
12. John Barry, "Moviola," John Barry: Moviola, Epic Soundtrax
13. Jerry Fielding, "The Water Hole," Music for The Getaway: Jerry Fielding's Original Score, Film Score Monthly
14. Jerry Fielding, "Casing the Joint," Music for The Getaway: Jerry Fielding's Original Score, Film Score Monthly
15. David Holmes, "$165 Million + Interest (into) The Round Up," Ocean's Twelve, Warner Sunset/Warner Bros.
16. The Smithereens, "A Girl Like You," 11, Capitol


Other than "The Payback," my favorite part of WEB73 is hearing Shirley Bassey's "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" back-to-back with Dionne Warwick's version, as if the double shot is a battle between Bassey and Warwick like that awesome moment in Dave Chappelle's Block Party when the Roots brought Jill Scott and Erykah Badu together onstage for a "Duel of the Divas Who Sang 'You Got Me.'" (Scott wrote the chorus of the 1999 Roots track and was featured on the original recording, but MCA, the Roots' label at the time, wanted a more famous artist to be part of the Things Fall Apart album's first single, so the band replaced Scott with Badu on the released version.) The duel in Block Party ends in a draw--Scott and Badu are both terrific onstage--although I prefer Scott's original "You Got Me" because in 1999, I couldn't understand some of what Badu was singing during the chorus of the Things Fall Apart version. As for which of the two versions of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is better, it's Bassey FTW, even though like with Badu's "You Got Me," I have no idea what Bassey's singing during the chorus ("Mr. Kiss Kiss Ban Ban's not a foal"?).

Reruns of AFOS: The Series air Wednesdays at 10am and 3pm. To listen to the station during either of those time slots or better yet, right now, press the play icon on the blue widget below the "About me" mini-bio on this blog. Don't be a foal like Mr. Kiss Kiss Ban Ban. Press play!

AFOS: "Dance Into the Fire" live-tweet recap

Yesterday on Twitter, I live-tweeted an afternoon re-airing of the 2008 Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series episode "Dance Into the Fire." (Repeats of AFOS: The Series air Wednesdays at 10am and 3pm on AFOS.)

Below is the recap of my 90-minute "Dance Into the Fire" live-tweet. (My typos during the live-tweet remain unchanged, like "Madonna referenced the Luke/Vader duel... Uh, what does that have to with 007?" and "The hiring of Daniel Craig and the grittier writing of Craig's 007 movies has really reinvigorated David Arnold's 007 score music." Oh Twittersphere, why do you infect me with absent verbs and subject-verb disagreement?)

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I'll be live-tweeting my own Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series episode in 30 min., for the two of you listeners out there who give a shit.
2:30 PM Oct 14th from web

Technically, #100 ("Dance Into the Fire") was the final AFOS:The Series episode, so I wanted it to involve a genre I enjoy: 007 score music.
2:31 PM Oct 14th from web

On my blog in '08, I said #100's the last AFOS ep b/c I got tired of the format. What I didn't say was it was also due to monetary reasons.
2:32 PM Oct 14th from web

I can't say I love the 007 series (only 7 of the 22 installments are actually good movies), but I love the music from those films.
2:33 PM Oct 14th from web

My AFOS live-tweet will be like Pop-Up Video. A tweet with a factoid or opinion about the Bond song will pop up while it's being streamed.
2:34 PM Oct 14th from web

An hour and a half of all 22 of Eon Productions' 007 opening title themes, right now on the Fistful of Soundtracks channel!
3:00 PM Oct 14th from web


Monty Norman's Bond theme in Dr. No is classic, but good God, the rest of his Dr. No score isn't as listenable as John Barry's scores.
3:03 PM Oct 14th from web

The version of the FRWL title theme that's on disc is missing the film version's organ solo. What a kick to that poor musician's solo organ.
3:04 PM Oct 14th from web

John Barry was da man during the late '60s, shagging Jane Birkin and if the rumors were true, Shirley Bassey.
3:07 PM Oct 14th from web

The Goldfinger opening theme is kind of an overplayed song. I'll fess up to overplaying it myself on the radio too.
3:07 PM Oct 14th from web

007 guitarist Vic Flick said Tom Jones fainted after hitting the high note at the end of the recording of the Thunderball theme.
3:10 PM Oct 14th from web

Somewhere, a Jones fan reads this and wishes she were there to revive him by putting her panties up to his nose. "Are you OK? Sniff these!"
3:11 PM Oct 14th from web

My favorite part of the You Only Live Twice theme is the electric guitar riffs. John Barry originally wanted Aretha Franklin to sing "YOLT."
3:13 PM Oct 14th from web

The On Her Majesty's Secret Service theme is one of 3 instrumental 007 opening themes b/c it's hard to find a word that rhymes w/ "service."
3:17 PM Oct 14th from web

They could have rhymed "service" with "nervous," but no one's ever nervous in a Bond song. They're always confident about their lovemaking.
3:17 PM Oct 14th from web

I like the Shirley Bassey Diamonds Are Forever theme more than Bassey's more famous Goldfinger theme because it's fonkay.
3:20 PM Oct 14th from web

"Live and Let Die" is the only 007 theme with a reggae beat, unless you count Bob Marley's rejected song about shooting Sheriff J.W. Pepper.
3:25 PM Oct 14th from web

Sheriff J.W. Pepper, who epitomizes everything that's lame about Roger Moore's Bond movies, is one sheriff no one would mind shooting.
3:26 PM Oct 14th from web

Not all the themes J. Barry touched turned to gold. His Man w/ the Golden Gun theme sucks. That's partly b/c Lulu sung it w/ a sore throat.
3:28 PM Oct 14th from web

Alice Cooper's rejected Man w/ the Golden Gun theme, which wasn't sung w/ a sore throat: http://bit.ly/2rOvAK
3:29 PM Oct 14th from web


I'll forever associate Carly Simon's Spy Who Loved Me theme with the badass parachute jump by Roger Moore's stuntman that precedes it.
3:30 PM Oct 14th from web

Safeway killed whatever smidgen of coolness Carly Simon's Spy Who Loved Me theme had left by playing it to death in an ad campaign.
3:31 PM Oct 14th from web

@JavierHernandez Thanks, man. This might sound crazy, but LALD is actually one of the few 007 score CDs I don't own yet.
3:34 PM Oct 14th from web in reply to JavierHernandez

I've never seen Moonraker, but a movie w/ laser gun battles shouldn't open w/ a ballad so tepid, even though Shirley Bassey brings it again.
3:35 PM Oct 14th from web

@JavierHernandez I didn't know that. I gotta hear that version!
3:39 PM Oct 14th from web in reply to JavierHernandez

I like Bill Conti's For Your Eyes Only gunbarrel music because of the cowbell.
3:40 PM Oct 14th from web

The For Your Eyes Only theme was the first 007 song that had a music video on the then-new MTV. Roger Moore, side-by-side with Billy Squier!
3:41 PM Oct 14th from web

I'll admit to being one of the millions of viewers who wondered if Sheena Easton was naked during the the For Your Eyes Only video.
3:41 PM Oct 14th from web

Yeesh, the Octopussy theme "All-Time High" is so yacht-rocky I keep expecting Michael McDonald to sing backup.
3:45 PM Oct 14th from web

Duran Duran's A View to a Kill theme is my favorite 007 theme with lyrics even though some of the lyrics are nonsensical ("A sacred why"?).
3:49 PM Oct 14th from web

@JavierHernandez Thanks. That was sweet. Thom Yorke would be a great choice as a future Bond opening title theme singer.
3:50 PM Oct 14th from web in reply to JavierHernandez

Like Safeway did with "Nobody Does It Better," Chris Kattan killed whatever smidgen of coolness a-ha's "Take on Me" had left, so...
3:52 PM Oct 14th from web

... the only a-ha songs I like are "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and the Living Daylights theme, John Barry's final 007 theme.
3:52 PM Oct 14th from web

The 007 music went through a bit of an identity crisis during the years between John Barry's departure and the addition of David Arnold.
3:56 PM Oct 14th from web

Gladys Knight's awesome and there's a nice Goldfinger reference, but the License to Kill theme sounds more like The Bodyguard than Bond.
3:57 PM Oct 14th from web

The GoldenEye theme was sung by Tina Turner, written by Bono and the Edge, produced by Nellee Hooper, and catered by Taylor's Fish & Chips.
4:05 PM Oct 14th from web

When Sheryl Crow tries to hit high notes in "Tomorrow Never Dies," I keep thinking of the Citizen Kane opera singer wife singing in pain.
4:09 PM Oct 14th from web

k.d. lang's "Surrender," restored to the Tomorrow Never Dies opening credits by a YouTuber: http://bit.ly/k7yjn
4:10 PM Oct 14th from web

"Surrender," the World Is Not Enough theme and the Casino Royale theme were all produced by David Arnold, which is why they don't suck.
4:13 PM Oct 14th from web

Woops, I spelled it "License" instead of "Licence." Colour me ignorant.
4:16 PM Oct 14th from web

In her "Die Another Day" video, Madonna referenced the Luke/Vader duel from The Empire Strikes Back. Uh, what does that have to with 007?
4:17 PM Oct 14th from web

A lot of 007 fans hate on Madonna's "Die Another Day." It's not a shitty song. It just doesn't sound very 007-like.
4:17 PM Oct 14th from web

Aw, Chris Cornell and David Arnold's Casino Royale theme "You Know My Name." Now that's more like it.
4:22 PM Oct 14th from web


The hiring of Daniel Craig and the grittier writing of Craig's 007 movies has really reinvigorated David Arnold's 007 score music.
4:23 PM Oct 14th from web

@pfunn GoldenEye is actually the only PB 007 flick that I think has held up well. His other three movies are so schizophrenic in tone.
4:24 PM Oct 14th from web in reply to pfunn

A lot of 007 fans also hate on "Another Way to Die," but at least it sounds more like a spy movie theme than say, "All-Time High."
4:26 PM Oct 14th from web

I like Jack White's shout-out to the On Her Majesty's theme during a brief guitar riff in "Another Way to Die." End of AFOS ep live-tweet!
4:29 PM Oct 14th from web

AFOS: "Super Groover Mama Dalai Lama" playlist

Starting tomorrow, the 2003 Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series episode "Super Groover Mama Dalai Lama" (WEB09) airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4am, 10am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 7am, 9am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm for the rest of July on the Fistful of Soundtracks channel. WEB09 first aired during the week of April 21-27, 2003. I haven't aired "Super Groover Mama" on the channel since '03 and was recently surprised to find it's a pretty good early episode from my archives.

I took the ep's title from a lyric in the album version of "Ask DNA," which Yoko Kanno and lyricist Tim Jensen wrote for the opening titles of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (an animated feature that had a better title in Japan, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, which resumed the Bebop TV series' tradition of naming eps after classic rock tunes). "Ask DNA" is one of 10 original opening theme songs on the WEB09 playlist that are either quirky, out-of-place or incomprehensible (during the "Thunderball" recording session, Tom Jones asked John Barry "What's a thunderball?"--something I wondered too when I first heard the song but hadn't seen the movie yet--and Barry responded to Jones with "Just sing it, Tom").

There's a mistake during this ep. I said Jon Brion's terrific "Here We Go" is from the Punch-Drunk Love score. Actually, "Here We Go," the vocal version of Brion's main Punch-Drunk Love theme, isn't used at all during the movie (however, Columbia Pictures used "Here We Go" during its Punch-Drunk Love TV spots). I didn't know "Here We Go" wasn't in the movie because I hadn't watched it yet when I recorded WEB09.


1. Seatbelts featuring Raju Ramayya, "Ask DNA" (from Cowboy Bebop: The Movie), Ask DNA, Victor
2. Jon Brion, "Here We Go," Punch-Drunk Love, Nonesuch
3. Isaac Hayes, "Buns O'Plenty" (from Three Tough Guys), Double Feature: Music from the Soundtracks of Three Tough Guys & Truck Turner, Stax
4. Tom Jones, "Thunderball--Main Title," Thunderball, EMI/Capitol
5. Elmer Bernstein, "Frankie Machine" (from The Man with the Golden Arm), Crime Jazz: Music in the First Degree, Rhino
6. Elmer Bernstein, "Autumn in Connecticut," Far from Heaven, Varèse Sarabande
7. Randy Newman, "A Fool in Love," Meet the Parents, DreamWorks
8. Yoko Kanno, "N.Y. Rush," Cowboy Bebop: Blue, Victor
9. The Dust Brothers, "Hessel, Raymond K.," Fight Club, Restless
10. Badly Drawn Boy, "Something to Talk About," About a Boy, ARTISTdirect/Twisted Nerve/XL/BMG
11. Willie Hutch, "I Choose You" (from The Mack), Pimps, Players & Private Eyes, Rhyme Syndicate/Sire/Warner Bros.
12. Queen, "Flash's Theme," Flash Gordon, Hollywood
13. Craig Safan, "Confrontation," Thief, Elektra
14. The MASH, "Suicide Is Painless" (from M*A*S*H), Movie Music: The Definitive Performances, Columbia/Epic/Legacy
15. The Five Blobs, "The Blob" (from The Blob), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
16. The Hollies and Peter Sellers, "After the Fox," After the Fox, Rykodisc
17. Mark Mothersbaugh, "Kite Flying Society," Rushmore, London
18. Simon Brint, "Julverset," Monarch of the Glen, BBC Music
19. Howard Shore, "The Riders of Rohan," The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Reprise/WMG Soundtracks
20. Curtis Mayfield, "Freddie's Dead (instrumental version)," Superfly: Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition, Curtom/Rhino
21. Michael Brook, "Bar-B-Que," Charlotte Sometimes, Visionbox Pictures
22. Semiautomatic, "Can't Spell," Better Luck Tomorrow, MTV Films
23. Duran Duran, "A View to a Kill" (from A View to a Kill), The Best of James Bond: 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
24. The Dickies, "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" (from Killer Klowns from Outer Space), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
25. Bernard Herrmann, "Prelude/Outer Space/Radar" (from The Day the Earth Stood Still), Sci-Fi's Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Uninvited, TVT
26. John Williams, "Finale and End Title March," Superman: The Movie, Warner Archives/Rhino
27. John Williams, "Love Theme from Superman," Superman: The Movie, Warner Archives/Rhino
28. Jerry Goldsmith, "End Titles (Your Zowie Face)" (from In Like Flint), In Like Flint/Our Man Flint, Varèse Sarabande

Vanity Fair profiles John Barry

No other mainstream magazine gives as much coverage to film music as Vanity Fair does. In 1997, VF united Silver Age composers (Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein) and present-day Hollywood favorites (Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard) for a memorable photo spread--the film music equivalent of the 1958 "A Great Day in Harlem" photo shoot. Then last month, VF's Oscar blog provided readers with an impressive overview of this year's Best Original Score contenders (Slumdog Millionaire, the controversial Dark Knight).

This week, the online edition of VF has posted a lengthy profile of John Barry, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday. The article is a terrific read for those of us who are fans of Barry's classic music from the 007 movies. It goes into detail about the dispute between Barry and Monty Norman over who should be credited for "The James Bond Theme;" the creation of the game-changing Goldfinger theme sung by Shirley Bassey, who's in the above 1964 photo with Barry in the center ("'From Russia with Love' didn't wallop an audience. It didn't scream sex and danger and chic amorality. It wasn't silly. It wasn't 'Goldfinger'..."); and the melancholia that suffuses Barry's work, from the You Only Live Twice theme to scores for chick flicks like Somewhere in Time and Out of Africa.

Bruce Handy's Barry profile is also filled with great gossip (I didn't know he was once married to Blow-Up hottie and "Je t'aime... moi non plus" singer Jane Birkin). My favorite bits of gossip include the tidbit about Fellini's love for the Goldfinger score and an anecdote about Barry's contentious relationship with famously abrasive '60s and '70s Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman, who hated the Goldfinger theme and was disgusted by the raunchy lyrics in the Diamonds Are Forever theme.

Saltzman sure would have loved the pun that concludes The World Is Not Enough ("I thought Christmas only comes once a year").

AFOS: "Dance Into the Fire" playlist

1. John Barry & Orchestra, "James Bond Theme" (from Dr. No), The Best of Bond... James Bond, Capitol
2. John Barry, "Opening Titles," From Russia with Love, EMI
3. Shirley Bassey, "Main Title--Goldfinger," Goldfinger, EMI
4. Tom Jones, "Thunderball--Main Title," Thunderball, EMI/Capitol
5. Nancy Sinatra, "You Only Live Twice--Title Song," You Only Live Twice, EMI/Capitol
6. John Barry, "Main Theme--On Her Majesty's Secret Service," On Her Majesty's Secret Service, EMI/Capitol
7. Shirley Bassey, "Diamonds Are Forever (Main Title)," Diamonds Are Forever, EMI/Capitol
8. Paul McCartney & Wings, "Live and Let Die," The Best of Bond... James Bond, Capitol
9. Lulu, "Main Title--The Man with the Golden Gun," The Man with the Golden Gun, EMI/Capitol
10. Carly Simon, "Nobody Does It Better" (from The Spy Who Loved Me), The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
11. Shirley Bassey, "Moonraker," The Best of Bond... James Bond, Capitol
12. Sheena Easton, "For Your Eyes Only," The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
13. Rita Coolidge, "All Time High," Octopussy, Rykodisc
14. Duran Duran, "A View to a Kill," The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary Limited Edition, EMI
15. a-ha, "The Living Daylights," The Living Daylights, Rykodisc
16. Gladys Knight, "Licence to Kill," Licence to Kill, MCA
17. Tina Turner, "GoldenEye," The Best of Bond... James Bond, Capitol
18. Sheryl Crow, "Tomorrow Never Dies," Tomorrow Never Dies: Music from the Motion Picture, A&M
19. Garbage, "The World Is Not Enough," The World Is Not Enough, Radioactive/MCA
20. Madonna, "Die Another Day," Die Another Day, Warner Bros.
21. Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name" (from Casino Royale), Carry On, Interscope
22. Jack White & Alicia Keys, "Another Way to Die," Quantum of Solace, J
23. k.d. lang, "Surrender," Tomorrow Never Dies: Music from the Motion Picture, A&M

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These bloggers have found the time to review each of the 22 official Bond opening title themes. They have way too much time on their hands:

Total Music Geek
Culture Kills
I Expect You to Die!

On a related note, here's one of my favorite '80s SNL sketches, a classic spoof starring Steve Martin as a cheapskate 007 (sorry, Canada and Europe).

New AFOS episode: "Dance Into the Fire"

The 100th and final Fistful of Soundtracks episode in the current format is a d00Zy: all 22 official 007 opening title themes in chronological order, from the Dr. No instrumental theme to Quantum of Solace's "Another Way to Die."

Quick--what's the only 007 main title theme in which the singer almost fainted in the recording booth after hitting a high note at the end of the theme? The answer's in the photo.

"Dance Into the Fire"--a special extra-length episode--begins streaming late Monday night at midnight and repeats Tuesday and Thursday at 4am, 10am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm, Wednesday at midnight, and Saturday and Sunday at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm.

WEB100 will be the last AFOS episode in the current format

I've decided to end A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series after producing and hosting 100 episodes for the AFOS channel since January 2003.

Yep, I'm cancelling my own show rather than letting the bastards who run... Oh, wait a minute, I'm the bastard who runs the channel. All by myself. Never mind.

This doesn't mean I'm going away for good. It just means I'll no longer be doing shows under the AFOS: The Series title and format. My voice will still be heard on the channel and I'll continue to be "announcing song titles and making cracks, even if [it] is pre-recorded!," as one listener said to me about my voice in an e-mail a few years ago. (I'll still stream the earlier eps too. Ep WEB63, which is called "Feel the City Breakin'," is the earliest ep that doesn't make me cringe when I play it back.)

The time has come to switch to a new format for my on-air self, like the less constricting and more new releases-oriented "AFOS A-Go-Go" format I experimented with in September and November. I should have given the program a name change a long time ago. Having both the program and the channel share the same A Fistful of Soundtracks name confuses listeners who appear to be under the assumption that AFOS is a 24-hour program as opposed to a 24-hour channel. (I originally conceived AFOS as an audio archive of continuously looped episodes from my program's terrestrial radio years. But I found myself going in another direction, and that was to diversify the programming--without veering too far off from the channel's film/TV music format--and make AFOS sound more like an actual radio station, hence my interspersing of themed blocks like "The F Zone" and "Soda and Pie" with newly recorded eps of AFOS: The Series.)

In each AFOS ep, all the film or TV score tracks are connected by a certain theme, like most recently, Batman villains or monster movies. I've gotten tired of doing that one-theme-per-ep format. Writing the copy for each of these themed eps takes me forever to do. I often get hit with writer's block. Writing copy for a show in which the tracks don't have a unifying theme--like during "A-Go-Go"--is much easier for me.

Plus I'm not a creature of habit. I get bored with routine after awhile. I became bored with my last job after a couple of years (but I stayed with it for a few more years because the money was good). As for my job before that one, I got bored with it after about half a year (plus having to type your newspaper articles inside an office building that lacks air conditioning kind of puts a damper on your morale).

In the case of AFOS: The Series, which was a way for me to continue doing the same program I used to do on terrestrial radio in the late '90s and early '00s, you could tell when my interest in it started to taper off--when the program went from weekly to monthly to bimonthly to whenever-the-hell-I-feel-like-it-ly.

I've lately been listening to the kickass Scion Radio channels programmed by L.A.'s Root Down club and KCRW's Garth Trinidad. For his channel, GT records about two and a half hours of content and then has them looped over and over again for the entire month.

I'm thinking of switching to a format like the Root Down crew's or GT's, except instead of recording new segments once every month like they do, I'll do it probably every other week or whenever I can find time to get on the mic or whenever I have any space left on my hard drive. Morning Becomes Dyspeptic and the DJ-less "Assorted Fistful," "Soda and Pie," "Chai Noon" and "F Zone" blocks will remain on the AFOS schedule so that listeners won't have to hear so much of my annoying voice (listeners have told me they don't mind my voice, like the person in that aforementioned e-mail, who said, "I've *gasp* ventured into other soundtrack stations. They aren't as fun to listen to as Fistful though... There's something nice about having someone announcing song titles...").

Here's what coming up on AFOS: The Series: Ep WEB99 will flash back to the year 1999 and stream selections from scores to the most memorable films that were released during that standout year for cinema. And then like 100 Bullets, I'm ending it at 100. The final ep under the AFOS: The Series title and format will be a doozy: all 22 official Bond opening title themes in chronological order.

If you frequently listen to the channel, thanks for choosing AFOS.

Oh yeah, and change your links from jim.aquino.com to www.live365.com/stations/sookie_sook or afistfulofsoundtracks.blogspot.com. jim.aquino.com is as dead as Lindsay Lohan's movie career.