Weird Old Bond Cover Album

I came across a vintage album of James Bond covers by David Lloyd and His London Orchestra that confused the heck out of me.

There are a bunch of albums like this, with arrangements of the familiar title themes. So I was like, cool, let me hear what these guys did. (I like the Roland Shaw albums.)

Upon listening to the opening track, “Diamonds Are Forever,” first I thought, well that’s an interesting way to get into the theme. But within a minute it was clear it wasn’t Barry’s theme at all. The same was true for other titles, like “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Live and Let Die.”

Turns out this was recorded in 1965 before most of the films were made. So aside from tracks from the first three actual Bond movies, they are new themes inspired by the Fleming books. And, sorry to say, I didn’t find any of them very compelling—rather like old library music, without much in the way of tunefulness.