AA.VV.
Best Of Bond... James Bond: 50 Years - 50 Tracks

THE REVIEW

You wait a month, maybe two, to find something good to notify you about (?). Sometimes it's a book, sometimes it's a CD, sometimes a movie... the point is, you'd always like to be original, witty, and innovative, but that almost never happens, so what then? You give up..., but the flesh is weak and in the end you give in to temptation: you start typing on the keyboard and hope it does everything on its own, or almost.

Today I’m going to tell you about an timeless, unreachable, unpredictable agent 007, but not about his films, of course not, but about his soundtracks.

We are 50 years past, even beyond, from the first film in 1962, "Dr.No", and the The John Barry Orchestra's Seminal doesn't yet know that it has initiated an irreversible process: the presentation of a memorable soundtrack and majestic orchestrations, for exclusive use of the most famous agent in the world, James Bond.

The edition collects 50 pieces in 50 years. It also includes full versions of The Barry John Orchestra along with other songs performed by pop and non-pop icons: Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Marvin Hamlisch, The Pretenders, Duran Duran, Moby, K.D. Lang, Madonna, David Arnold, Jack White & Alicia Keys, all the tracks are present in the films and accompany the images and dialogues from the opening to the end credits. I don't know why, but it feels like driving down a highway with many exits, yet they all eventually bring you back to the same starting point, as the style is unmistakable and the music always perfectly integrated and integrating with the frames flashing before you.

I don't know how essential a collection like this is, perhaps not at all, but one thing's for sure, we're in front of a collection that spans 50 years of music and cinema, telling the story of an insolent and irreplaceable rascal who, after all this time, continues to present himself in the same way: "My name is Bond, James Bond"