JAMES BOND
FACT FILES

Every James Bond film from Dr. No (1962) to Licence To Kill (1989) had its original soundtrack recording released as a 33rpm 12" Long Playing Record. Beginning with the release of GoldenEye (1995) the soundtracks were only issued on Compact Disc. The resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records in recent years has resulted in the re-release of several classic James Bond soundtracks in this format, with the track listings identical to the original version.

Although the title song for each film had been issued as a 45rpm 7" single by the artistes own recording label, contractually their performance was also included on the soundtrack LP as the opening track. All James Bond soundtracks up until For Your Eyes Only (1981) were released by United Artists Records. Subsequent soundtracks have been issued by the title artistes own record label. The double-sided LP format also dictated the track listing of the album, with side two usually opening with an instrumental version of the main theme, or another song featured in the film. LP's were also restricted to a playing time of around 45-minutes over the two sides and the inclusion/omission of some tracks from some scores became a source of debate among fans for many years. It was only in the 40th anniversary year of James Bond in the cinema that remastered extended Compact Disc versions of the soundtracks were released. Lukas Kendall's groundbreaking 2002 series of James Bond soundtracks issued by Capitol-EMI restored many of the missing tracks, and in some cases doubled the length of the original album. Contractually the track listings for the original part of the album remained the same, with bonus tracks appearing at the end of the programme. Some album tracks were also expanded or adapted from their original release but retained their relative place in the listing. Until the release of the expanded CD's the James Bond soundtracks available on vinyl record were the closest thing to owning the film in the days before VHS videotape and DVD's. For many fans the soundtrack albums remain an integral part of the James Bond experience and collectible items in their own right.

The soundtrack LP's for the first five James Bond films were issued in both mono and stereo versions but the only difference to the record sleeve was a different catalogue number and revised lettering. Collectors should note that the US LP releases of Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice originally had a different track listing to their UK counterparts. The UK LP omitted John Barry's jazz instrumental version of the main theme although this did appear on the 7" EP. The US LP of Goldfinger included the jazz instrumental but omitted the tracks ‘Golden Girl’, ‘Death of Tilly’, ‘The Laser Beam’ and ‘Pussy Galore's Flying Circus’. The US LP of You Only Live Twice featured Nancy Sinatra's reprise of the title song as the last track of the album, whereas the UK version replaced this with John Barry's ‘Twice Is The Only Way To Live’. The 2002 Capitol-EMI remastered CD's restored all these missing tracks.

Licence To Kill (1989) marked the last time a James Bond original soundtrack have its first release issued as a vinyl LP until the long-awaited No Time To Die (2021). All subsequent films have had their albums released exclusively on compact disc with the title song artistes releasing their own CD singles, padded out with remixes and redundant extended versions of the title song. Although all James Bond title themes have been released as a 7" singles since 1989; these were not all commercially available, and frequently only supplied as promotional copies.

Original soundtrack?
Although the James Bond albums always bear the words ‘Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [or Score]’ this is not actually the case. As with all motion picture recordings, the music heard in the film is usually different to that which appears on the soundtrack album. Two separate sessions usually take place; one where the music that the director, composer and film editor have spotted, timed and chosen for the final sound mix is recorded, and another session often with different musicians when the soundtrack album recordings are performed. Some soundtrack album recordings often combined several different tracks for a more pleasurable listening experience, omitting many of the shorter cues which only appear in the film as brief punctuation to a scene, or to support the action on screen. Composers themselves will sometimes create album versions of certain music tracks that bear little resemblance to what appeared in the film. Other tracks are combined into suites, or cross-faded to create a new hybrid track.

UK EP's and Compilation albums

US Soundtrack albums

FACT FILES INDEX

FACT FILES The James Bond Films