JAMES BOND
FACT FILES

At the height of ‘Bondmania’ in the mid-1960s, several recording artistes released their own James Bond albums on vinyl record, featuring cover versions of selected tracks on the official soundtracks. Some of these re-recordings were faithful renditions of John Barry's original themes, whilst others bore little resemblance to the tracks after which they were titled. Most of these albums would fall into the category of ‘Lounge music’ - a style popular in the 1950s and 1960s, as easy-listening and affordable middle-of-the-road music. The colourful sleeves often featured scantily-clad models and Sean Connery look-alikes to entice buyers into thinking they were ‘official’ James Bond albums. As literally hundreds of James Bond cover albums have been issued internationally since the 1960s, it is impossible to compile a definitive list of titles as so many variations exist. A selection of the most popular James Bond albums from both sides of the Atlantic are illustrated below.

Roland Shaw (born Roland Edgar Shaw-Tomkins (1920-2012) was an English composer, musical arranger, and orchestra leader who specialised in cover versions of popular music, and was the most prolific James Bond covers artiste. In 1964 Roland Shaw released Themes From The James Bond Thrillers to exploit the success of Goldfinger (1964) - the third of EON Productions’ James Bond films starring Sean Connery as 007. The popularity of Shaw's arrangements led to More Themes From The James Bond Thrillers to coincide with the release of Thunderball, with tracks from both albums released on a 1965 UK album called James Bond in Action. In 1966, The Roland Shaw orchestra released a compilation entitled Themes for Secret Agents, featuring five James Bond titles and themes from other popular 1960s spy films and TV shows. In 1967 Themes From The James Bond Thrillers Vol.3 (released in the UK and Europe as More James Bond in Action) followed the release of the spoof James Bond film Casino Royale (1967), and You Only Live Twice (1967) the fifth film in the official EON Productions series. In 1972 Shaw released a double-album titled The Return Of James Bond In Diamonds Are Forever to capitalise on the return of Sean Connery as James Bond after a one-film absence. The double-album contained themes from other spy films and TV shows on disc two. This record was released as a single album in the UK as The Phase 4 World Of Spy Thrillers. Roland Shaw even recruited guitarist Vic Flick (1937-2024) to repeat his guitar playing on the ‘Gypsy Camp’ track featured on Themes From James Bond Thrillers - Vol. 3/More James Bond In Action (1967). This album also contains the track ‘Let The Love Come Through’ from Casino Royale (1967), which is actually a vocal reworking of the album track ‘First Stop Berlin’ composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David and unused in the film.

The models featured on the the covers of the US and UK versions of Roland Shaw's final James Bond album had their own connection to the EON Productions film series. Singaporean model and actress Mona Chong (below left) had appeared in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as ‘The Chinese Girl’, and British glamour model Samantha Bond appeared in Maurice Binder's main title sequence (below right) for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - accompanied by Blofeld's white Persian cat.

In addition to releasing the soundtrack albums for the James Bond films in the USA, United Artists Records also issued three other albums featuring a selection of original recordings and covers by other artistes. In 1965 United Artists Special Projects Division released The Incredible World Of James Bond - a compilation album of eight tracks from the original soundtrack albums of the first three James Bond films by Monty Norman and John Barry, and four new recordings by The Leroy Holmes Orchestra. The album was primarily released as a tie-in for the 1965 one-hour television special of the same name produced by David L. Wolper for United Artists Television, to showcase the James Bond film series and promote the upcoming December release of Thunderball (1965). The Incredible World Of James Bond was reissued in 1967 on Unart Records with another Frank Gauna designed album cover, but with two tracks (‘Leila Dances’ and ‘Twisting With James’) omitted to fit on the budget album.

Also released in 1965 was Music To Read James Bond By - a collection of tracks selected from the soundtrack albums of the first three James Bond films, accompanied by cover versions and new compositions by then popular recording artistes, all under contract to United Artists Records at the time.

A second volume was released in 1966 made up entirely of recordings by some of the same United Artists contracted performers, with only John Barry's ‘Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ featured as original soundtrack material on the album. New cover versions of ‘The James Bond Theme’ and ‘Goldfinger’ were also featured. Also included were two tracks taken from the 1966 album Basie Meets Bond performed by American bandleader and jazz piano player William James Basie (1904-1984) and his orchestra.

Basie Meets Bond is a 1966 album by Count Basie and his orchestra. Released by United Artists, the album is a collection of musical pieces originating from the first four James Bond films. The tracks were given a big-band swing arrangement by the legendary performer and his orchestra, although the album was not particularly well-received by hardcore jazz critics at the time. John Barry's somewhat monotonous ‘007’ is converted into a dramatic upbeat tempo, while ‘The Golden Horn’ is straight-ahead swing and might surprise someone who hadn't seen the film From Russia With Love. Some tracks are recognisable when compared to their source compositions, but others such as ‘Girl Trouble’ bear little resemblance to the John Barry original.

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OFF THE RECORD - James Bond in vinyl

FACT FILES The James Bond Films