Reviewed by J. Patterson, Mfiles.co.uk
The Bond films have been around for more than 45 years and the music has always been an important part of the experience. "The Best of Bond" is a celebration of this music and includes the best-known title songs and some stunning instrumental tracks. In the forefront of the Bond songs on this album are the vocal talents of singers Mary Carewe and Simon Bowman, with Mary Carewe having the biggest task as the sole female vocalist. Both singers do an excellent job of bringing out their own interpretations of the songs while still remaining true to the spirit of the Bond films. Behind the scenes there are also key people with superb musical credentials. A composer of film music in his own right, Carl Davis is no stranger to conducting film music by other composers, and has done an excellent job with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra bringing out many details of the arrangements. Those arrangements come courtesy of Nic Raine who has a wealth of experience of orchestrating music for films, and he has also worked before not only with Carl Davis but also with Bond music supremo John Barry on "A View to a Kill" and "The Living Daylights".
It must be difficult to choose tracks for such an album when there are more than 20 Bond films to choose from, but this is a superb collection of well-known title songs and some great examples of contrasting incidental music from the films. The album has been produced with the highest production standards and crystal clear sound, and comes highly recommended.
