The Best of Bond... James Bond is the title of various compilation albums of music used in the James Bond films made by Eon Productions up to that time. The album was originally released in 1992 as The Best of James Bond, as a one-disc compilation and a two-disc 30th Anniversary Limited Edition compilation with songs that had, at that point, never been released to the public. The single disc compilation was later updated five times in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2021. The 2008 version was augmented with the addition of a DVD featuring music videos and a documentary. Another two-disc edition, this time containing 50 tracks for the 50th anniversary of the franchise, was released in 2012.
John Barry Prendergast was an English composer and conductor of film music.
David Arnold is a British film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day, he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and for Sherlock, he and co-composer Michael Price won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Casino Royale is a 2006 spy film, the twenty-first in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel of the same name. Directed by Martin Campbell from a screenplay by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis, it stars Daniel Craig in his first appearance as Bond, alongside Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, and Jeffrey Wright. In the film, Bond is on assignment to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen) in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.
Since its inception in 1962, the James Bond film series from Eon Productions has featured many musical compositions, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known piece is the "James Bond Theme" composed by Monty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by British or American artists such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only", Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" also become identified with the series.
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No, released in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in every Eon Bond film besides the 2006 reboot Casino Royale.
Thunderball is the soundtrack album for the fourth James Bond film Thunderball.
The World Is Not Enough is the 1999 soundtrack of the 19th James Bond film of the same name and the second Bond soundtrack composed by David Arnold. The score features more instances of electronic music, which Arnold included to "make the thing a little more contemporary". To add an ethnic flavor to tracks that conveyed the film's Turkey and Central Asia setting, Arnold brought in percussionist Pete Lockett, qanun player Abdullah Chhadeh, and singer Natacha Atlas.
"You Know My Name" is the theme song of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, performed by American musician Chris Cornell, who wrote and produced it jointly with David Arnold, the soundtrack's composer. The film producers chose Cornell because they wanted a strong male singer. Cornell and Arnold tried to make the song a replacement theme for the character instead of the "James Bond Theme" reflecting the agent's inexperience in Casino Royale, as well as an introduction to Daniel Craig's grittier and more emotional portrayal of Bond.
"All Time High" is a song by American singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge that serves as the theme song to the James Bond film Octopussy (1983). Written by John Barry and Tim Rice and produced by Stephen Short and Phil Ramone, the song was released through A&M Records in 1983.
Tomorrow Never Dies: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack of the 18th James Bond film of the same name.
The James Bond film series is a British series of spy films based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond, "007", who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. It is one of the longest continually running film series in history, having been in ongoing production from 1962 to the present. In that time, Eon Productions has produced 25 films as of 2021, most of them at Pinewood Studios. With a combined gross of over $7 billion, the films produced by Eon constitute the fifth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the Eon series, the latest being Daniel Craig.
From Russia with Love is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service ("OHMSS") is the soundtrack for the James Bond film. It was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; his fifth in the series.
Octopussy is the soundtrack for the eponymous thirteenth James Bond film. The score was composed by John Barry, the lyrics by Tim Rice. The opening theme, "All Time High" is sung by Rita Coolidge and is one of six Bond film title songs or songs that are not named after film's title.
Quantum of Solace: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the James Bond film of the same name. Released on 17 October 2008. The album contains the score composed by David Arnold. It is Arnold's fifth soundtrack for the James Bond franchise. His frequent collaborator Nicholas Dodd orchestrated and conducted the score.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to James Bond:
Skyfall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 23rd James Bond film of the same name. Released by Sony Classical on 29 October 2012 in the United Kingdom and on 6 November 2012 in the United States, the music was composed by Thomas Newman. This is Newman's first Bond soundtrack, making him the ninth composer to score a Bond film. The score won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. In 2013, it became one of two Bond scores to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The other to be nominated was the score from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
"You Know My Name" is a 2006 song by Chris Cornell and the theme to the James Bond film Casino Royale.
Spectre: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 24th James Bond film of the same name. Released by Universal Music Classics on 23 October 2015 in the United Kingdom and on 6 November 2015 in the United States, the music was composed by Thomas Newman, who previously composed the soundtrack of the 23rd Bond film Skyfall, making him the third composer after John Barry and David Arnold to score more than one film in the series. The film's theme song "Writing's on the Wall" performed by Sam Smith is the fourth theme song that doesn't feature the title of its film in the lyrics. It is also the third song after "You Know My Name" (2006) and "Skyfall" (2012) that did not appear on the film's official soundtrack album.
