New release: Casino Royale: 50th Anniversary edition Soundtrack. This original film soundtrack has been a special favorite among LP collectors and fans of spy movie soundtracks, and now a 50th Anniversary Edition will be released on CD in a limited run of 2,000. Long before Daniel Craig starred as James Bind in Casino Royale, the story was adapted as a comedy romp in the 1960s. Starring David Niven and Peter Sellers as just two of the Bonds (Woody Allen as 007's nephew, Jimmy), and Ursula Andress (Doctor No, The 10th Victim), the project also included many writers and directors. The results were understandably uneven, but there were enough sequences that worked- as well as some stunning set and costume design- to guarantee the film's status as an interesting time capsule of sixties sensibilities. From the press release: "Quartet Records and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a very special new edition of Burt Bacharach’s timeless classic soundtrack for the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The infectious main theme performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass is just the starting point of an epic comedy ride that includes such highlights as the unforgettable “The Look of Love,” sung by Dusty Springfield, or the epic fight music at the end of the film. Produced by record industry legend Phil Ramone, the original soundtrack LP offered selected highlights, expertly edited to showcase the best parts of the entire score. Thanks to the legendary sound quality of the stereo copies, this record became one of the most highly sought-after collectibles in the industry. Previously released on CD by several labels, including us (twice, both now out of print), this edition is an important landmark for this legendary score, and we can proudly say that it now sounds better than ever. This new edition has been produced, restored and mastered by wizard engineer Chris Malone, rebuilding the score from the ground up. Malone’s work has focused on addressing unintended technical anomalies (such as filling dropouts and covering analogue splices) rather than broadly applying a modern sound palette. He has eschewed dynamic range compression and retained the brilliance of the original recording. Because the LP program derived from the original film recordings (with some edits made for a more pleasure listening), we have included it on our CD and added all the music composed by Bacharach that was not on the LP to make a 77-minute CD. The bonus tracks are in mono (music stems are still the only available source to date), but Chris has worked them in a very different mood from our previous edition, respecting the mono without adding any stereo reverb and carefully restoring each track in a very warm way. We can say the sound is day and night compared with our previous edition. Live and learn. This release includes a bonus track making its CD debut: the promo-single version by Mike Redway, and arranged by Bacharach, of the song “Have No Fear, Bond Is Here.” The CD also showcases all-new, exclusive liner notes from film music writer Jeff Bond, and new art design by Nacho B. Govantes in a 20-page full-color booklet." These limited CDs can get pretty pricey once they go out of print, so I encourage Spy Vibers to pick it up if you're interested. More info at Screen Archives Entertainment. Check out my interview with historian Mike Richardson about his book, The Making of Casino Royale. Related posts: Avengers Interview: Mike Richardson, UK Satire/Surrealism: Sellers to Lennon, Fear and Fashion, Agent Woody. In other news, check out my episodes of Cocktail Nation radio as I introduce some of the great spy classics and soundtracks: Episode #1 (Danger Man) and Episode #2 (The 10th Victim), Epsiode #3 (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), Episode #4 (Roger Moore/The Saint), andEpisode #5 (The Avengers), Episode #6 (The Prisoner), and Episode #7 (The Ipcress File), Episode #8 (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.). Enjoy!
