Hey Dennis,
Can you share some thoughts on how you put this song together?
I'm especially intrigued as to how the prospect of it being used as the theme to the new Bond film influenced the various musical elements you included. How much extra effort, if any, went into being cinematic for this one?
And, since it's Friday, do you have a favourite Bond theme?
Thanks
Man With The Golden Gun
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VinceRaven
- Billion Dollar Baby
- Posts: 456
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:33 pm
Re: Man With The Golden Gun
Vince and I used to go to a local Drive-In near my house (my parent's home) in Phoenix. We saw the Pink Panther films, Psycho, Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart trilogy, and the Bond films. We noticed that at the very end of each James Bond film, following the final credits, the very last thing you saw on the screen was the name of the next Bond film.
Later on, we found out that Neal was also aware of this. In 1973, the band saw Live and Let Die and had already planned to find out what the next film title was so we could write the title track.
As for writing the song, like most people, we were quite familiar with John Barry's style and did our best to come up with riffs and melodies true to his legacy. It was a full on collaboration with everyone working together in the rehearsal room under Jack Richardson's expert talent for helping us arrange the parts so they would accommodate the horns that were to be added later. I leaned on Jack as a fellow bassists for ideas in the middle section, and we decided to have the low piano note double the opening bass riff for a orchestral feel (I had also done that on Hello Hooray). All of the various parts were complex but our unified goal was clear so they fell together fairly easily.
The icing on the cake is Liza Minnelli's amazingly high background vocals.
Unfortunately, the Muscle of Love sessions wrapped up a bit too late and Lulu had already been contracted for the film.
My personal fave Bond themes are Goldfinger and Live and Let Die.
Later on, we found out that Neal was also aware of this. In 1973, the band saw Live and Let Die and had already planned to find out what the next film title was so we could write the title track.
As for writing the song, like most people, we were quite familiar with John Barry's style and did our best to come up with riffs and melodies true to his legacy. It was a full on collaboration with everyone working together in the rehearsal room under Jack Richardson's expert talent for helping us arrange the parts so they would accommodate the horns that were to be added later. I leaned on Jack as a fellow bassists for ideas in the middle section, and we decided to have the low piano note double the opening bass riff for a orchestral feel (I had also done that on Hello Hooray). All of the various parts were complex but our unified goal was clear so they fell together fairly easily.
The icing on the cake is Liza Minnelli's amazingly high background vocals.
Unfortunately, the Muscle of Love sessions wrapped up a bit too late and Lulu had already been contracted for the film.
My personal fave Bond themes are Goldfinger and Live and Let Die.
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VinceRaven
- Billion Dollar Baby
- Posts: 456
- Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:33 pm
Re: Man With The Golden Gun
Thanks Dennis
Re: Man With The Golden Gun
quote Unfortunately, the Muscle of Love sessions wrapped up a bit too late and Lulu had already been contracted for the film.
so it has nothing to do with the fact that the ACG reputation at that time was stil "too special" ? Thought I read that somewhere .. But it would have fitted perfectly, imho...
so it has nothing to do with the fact that the ACG reputation at that time was stil "too special" ? Thought I read that somewhere .. But it would have fitted perfectly, imho...
you really wouldn't understand..
