Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Who Should Sing The Next Bond Theme





The release of the next James Bond film, Casino Royale, will be here before you know it. I'm not much of a Bond bluff though. Sure, I enjoyed the first few Connery films and any person with eyes and ears can see that Brosnan was born to play that role, but what I'm most excited about is who will sing the next theme song. For the most part, the Bond songs have been killer. I mean seriously killer. "Goldfinger." "You Only Live Twice." "Diamonds Are Forever." "License To Kill." Even A-Ha managed to squeak out a quality Bond tune. The history of these songs is what makes the themes so anticipated. As of now, no one has been named, but I figured I would give my opinion before it's too late. If the producers of Casino Royale were smart, they would choose one of these five options, instead of say Beyonce or Coldplay. While the more recent Bond songs have been solid, they will less than likely be immortalized like the aforementioned songs. These people have the potential to add proudly to the Bond legacy.


Fiona Apple
The next Bond theme is expected to be darker than the previous installments of the franchise. Bond songs have long been heavy on sex appeal and sorrow, which Apple could deliver without straying too far from the grittier tone of the film. It's no question that Apple knows how to do sorrow, but the movie would still retain some of its sex appeal through Apple's husky voice without having her sing about lust and martinis.

Bjork
What may seem like an odd choice at first is actually quite perfect for the Bond series. Bond songs are heavy on bombast and dynamics, which Bjork can deliver greatly. Just imagine a Bond theme song that has the ambient feeling of being washed calmly under the sea one minute and a soaring vocal that blasts you into the galaxies the next minute.

Franz Ferdinand
They're one of the hippest bands going right now to have reached a wide audience. There's no telling if Franz Ferdinand will still be relevant by the time the second Craig film rolls around which makes it even more important to capitalize on someone who's still popular and is still critically acclaimed. Franz Ferdinand have proven countless times that they have enough suave to handle the task of a Bond theme, and if chosen, they would be the first rock band to do so since A-Ha performed the theme for The Living Daylights.

Goldfrapp
Probably the least commercially viable out of all the hopefuls here, only because a lot of people have heard the songs, but probably don't know who they are. "Ooh La La" has been inescapable for the past year and landing the Bond theme song could push Goldfrapp into the mainstream, where they've seemed to be on the verge of since the days of "Strict Machine" and "Train." If the producers want to keep the sound of Bond futuristic, as seen by Madonna's synth heavy "Die Another Day," then you could not do any wrong with Goldfrapp as a choice.

Prince
It's been a while since someone's done a classy, soulful Bond theme. There are plenty of talented singers available, but few can match the songwriting skill and the coolness of the Purple One. Imagine Prince doing a slow, scorching stab at a Bond song. The anticipation for that song would be crazy.


And a few other artists who have no chance in hell in being asked to do the Bond theme, but would still make a pretty kick ass one:

Air
Could take the Bond song darker than its ever been before, but still palatable for the ordinary consumer.

Van Hunt
Knows all about being one of the coolest men on Earth.

Pulp/Jarvis Cocker
The 90's are over and it's been 4 years since their last album. They've already been bumped from one Bond song by Sheryl Crow, but whenever Jarvis Cocker opens his mouth and lets his wit shine, you couldn't imagine the perfect soundtrack to the opening credits.

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