Category: Music

More James Bond Music

Posting the Goldfinger theme put me in a James Bond mood. On the audio player is the classic James Bond theme by Monty Norman (disputed by John Barry), taken from the same LP mentioned previously. For me this just edges out Henry Mancini’s famous theme for Peter Gunn.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/JamesBond.mp3]

Daniela Bianci

The most adult and, I think, best James Bond movie is From Russia With Love. Some of the credit for that goes to the presence of the stunning Daniela Bianchi, who was only 20 when the movie was filmed.

Bianchi’s English wasn’t the best, so her voice was dubbed by the English stage actress Barbara Jefford. But no matter. Over 30 years before that, Hitchcock had Joan Barry dub the voice of German actress Anny Ondra, for Blackmail, the first talkie in England.

The From Russia With Love theme song was sung by Matt Monro. A couple of years later they probably would have given this track to Andy Williams to record.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/FromRussia.mp3]

When the movie Thunderball was being released, the Aston-Martin DB5 that had been been introduced in Goldfinger made an appearance at the Caldor in Norwalk CT. Caldor, a defunct discount chain store, was headquartered in Norwalk. I’m not much of a car person, but that is one beautiful piece of machinery, and I made my father take me back for a second viewing.

Aston Martin DB5.jpg

Here’s another often-heard Bond piece of music. It’s called simply “007”.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/007.mp3]

Cousin Brucie on WABC Saturday Night Oldies

Cousin Brucie on WABC

Tonight I happened to catch a few minutes of the legendary disk jockey Bruce Morrow on WABC’s Saturday Night Oldies with Mark Simone. Cousin Brucie talks about meeting the Beatles.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/CousinBrucie.mp3]

Bruce Morrow with Beatles

If you haven’t checked out my tribute to New York radio in the 60’s, click here. The picture above of Bruce Morrow interviewing the Beatles in 1965 is amusing, because the boys appeared bored and disinterested. Maybe they were stoned. Or perhaps they’d had their fill of New York DJ’s. Murray “The K” Kaufman had leveraged his contact with The Beatles during their first visit to shamelessly further his own career.

George Martin Instrumentally Salutes the Beatle Girls

George Martin Salutes Beatles Girls

My twinster Jean spotted this eBay auction for an original 1966 LP copy of George Martin Instrumentally Salutes the Beatle Girls. Sir George as Hugh Hefner!

I can’t find reference to this record in George Martin’s autobiography, “All You Need is Ears”, nor do I see mention of Martin’s better-known instrumental recording, “Off the Beatle Track”, from 1964. The book is poorly indexed, so I’ll keep looking.

Off the Beatle Track

The American soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night included instrumentals arranged and conducted by George Martin. Here’s one of them, taken from an ancient US LP. Sounds so-so.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/AHDN_Instrumental.mp3]

The year 1964 was a very good one for George Martin. Undoubtedly his best-known non-Beatles production of that year, and perhaps any year, is this one, taken from an old UK LP. Sounds super.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/Goldfinger.mp3]

Petula Clark 2002 Interview

Petula Clark as Carmen MirandaIf you click here, there’s a great interview from 2002 with Petula. It’s from a BBC radio show called “Woman’s Hour”, and in a short 13 minutes, including musical breaks, it covers all of the personal stuff — her pushy father, her career setbacks, her marriage arrangement, and her daughter’s drug addiction.

The show starts with an excerpt from a hilarious archive recording of Pet at 10. She was imitating Carmen Miranda, as seen in the picture at left.

The audio quality sounds like a 60’s pocket transistor radio, and it’s in Real format. So go to the link, but you may find it’s easier to listen to the interview here.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/PetInterview2002.mp3]

Petula Clark in Wales

Petula in Wales

Petula Clark is half-Welsh, and she spent a goodly part of her childhood in Wales. A few weeks ago, before her San Francisco concert, Pet was in Wales, visiting her grammar school. A TV show about the visit was shown tonight in Wales. Maybe it will show up somewhere online.

In the meantime, you can click here to go to a BBC page with pictures and a 15-minute interview from Welsh radio. Petula is 74 now, as charming as ever, in fine form, and still singing beautifully.

The radio interview is in Real format, which is often a problem, so I’ll provide it here on the trusty MP3 player.

[audio:https://dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/Pet2007.mp3]