The first album I ever purchased was the soundtrack to the 1973 James Bond movie, LIVE AND LET DIE. I’m not sure what year it was, but it was the early ‘80s and I had taken a city bus to downtown Chapel Hill to seek the record out at either Record Bar or Schoolkids. Both stores were very close to one another, with only a hallway of another business separating them (Schoolkids itself was a hallway of a store).
These places being so close meant that customers could walk back and forth to compare prices on records. Sometimes Record Bar’s prices were just a bit lower than Schoolkids to compete. I can’t remember which store I bought the Bond soundtrack at, I think it was Schoolkids, but I do recall my bus ride home where I devoured the album art and anxiously waited to get home and listen to it. The record was one of the few 007 records to have a gatefold, and it was definitely a beaut.
LIVE AND LET DIE was Roger Moore’s first film as Bond, and while many think he never lived up to Sean Connery’s iconic interpretation of the part, Moore did have something his predecessor didn’t have: a big ass rock theme song delivered by a former Beatle, no less. Paul McCartney, along with his longtime Beatles producer, George Martin, and his band, Wings, were recruited to contribute the song while McCartney was working on the Red Rose Speedway album.
Although I had heard the song before, it was exciting to put the vinyl on the turn table, putting the needle in the groove, and listening to the tune come alive. It begins as a somber piano ballad with McCartney telling us that he “used to say ‘live and let live’,” and anyone can tell what’s next as he declares the title sentiment and the tune goes into orchestral overdrive with Wings inserting their bombastic beats into the thrilling chaos.
While the song had much chart success, and received a Oscar nomination (it lost to Barbara Streisand’s “The Way We Were,” there was one element that was largely criticized. That was the fact that the lyrics contained a grammatical error. The line “But in this ever-changing world in which we live in,” has been considered ungrammatical and redundant, because of that extra “in,” and maybe the whole “in which we live in” phrase.
But many including the song’s composer maintain that the lyric is “in which we’re living,” as McCartney told the Washington Post in 2009: “I think it’s ‘in which we’re living’ - ‘In this ever changing world….’ It’s funny. There’s too many ‘ins.’ I’m not sure. I’d have to have actually look. I don’t think about the lyric when I sing it. I think it’s ‘in which we’re living.’” That’s fine, but it doesn’t sound that to me.
As for the rest of the LIVE AND LET DIE soundtrack, the flavor of the film’s New Orleans settings are established by Harold A. “Duke” Dejan & The Olympia Brass Band’s rendition of the funeral dirge that abruptly becomes the rejoiceful rave-up, “New Second Line.”
Then we’re into the first of five tracks on Side One written and composed by Martin, “Bond Meets Solitaire.” These selections are mildly enjoyable as incidental suspense music, but are a bit samey sounding as they provide the customary instrumental variations on the title song, mixed with Bond theme progressions. The most interesting of these tracks may be “Baron Samedi’s Dance of Death,” with its Herb Albert style horns, and fast tempo arrangements. Following that is a similar yet lazier “San Monique.” Seems like Martin was really cinematically spreading his wings here.
Side Two kicks off with one of two versions of Martin composition, “Fillet of Soul.” The first is labeled “New Orleans,” and it morphs into an alternate version of “Live and Let Die,” a silky yet spooky rendition by actress/singer BJ Arnau (Arnau put out a single of her take).
Despite its funky bass, and heavy strings, “Bond Drops In” is broken down into too many swirling sections to take hold, and too resembles Side One’s background ques for multiple set-pieces. Likewise the next several tracks, which repeat the same beats, and motifs over and over until I was dying for another funeral dirge.
But the two concluding selections, “Sacrifice,” and, of course, “The James Bond Theme” help the soundtrack to go out on a high note. “Sacrifice” is an eerie, scary piece of embellishment to a voodoo sacrifice involving Bond’s love interest Solitaire (Jane Seymour). Its tribal drums and building orchestra frighteningly build to a sharp jarring moment that climaxes into a stinging instant that sums up the film’s menacing methods.
Now of course, “The James Bond Theme” is in all the Bond films, well, the EON-produced ones that is. But it never sounds the same – sometimes it’s surf guitar dominated, sometimes its epically orchestral, sometimes its rock, sometimes (or once at least) it’s all disco-fied like in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.
But in LIVE AND LET DIE, the theme’s vibe is funk-ified with dirty wah wah guitars, and a heavy baseline. There has been controversy, though I think it’s most resolved now, about who wrote “The James Bond Theme.” Both Monty Norman and John Barry have been credited for it, but it’s become known that Norman was the track’s composer and Barry was its arranger.
Unfortunately, the album doesn’t have a credit for who did the arrangement – only a credit for Norman as composer. As it’s possibly my favorite version of 007’s signature theme, it would be nice to know.
More later...
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