Recommended video: [I couldn’t find anything like this album to share, so here’s a review of the 1966 book, Octopussy And The Living Daylights]
Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re back to listening to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball, but also adding in You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and …The Man With The Golden Gun?
This 1972 album is a mystery, so stand by for some history…
British record label Music For Pleasure started in the mid-60s, selling low-budget reissues and some original music outside the United States. They released thousands of albums through the 1970s under the name ‘MFP’ but became solely a music distributor by the 1980s.
The plot thickens as the name ‘The London Original Sounds Orchestra’ is only attached to this one album, ever (besides the track: ‘The James Bond Theme’ also being used on a French album “on the occasion of the launch of its stereo system and for you to appreciate its high musical performances Manufrance has specially designed this stereo disc” or something like that…
My copy of ‘James Bond 007’ also features French text, but is not the version released in France, but rather, Belgium (which has one-third French speakers). The lone image on the front cover (of a Sean Connery-esque Bond stuffed into the letter J) is credited to Columbia Records Japan, yet the Japanese version of this album is titled ‘Diamonds Are Forever / For Bond Lovers Only’ and only features art from that 1971 film.
You may also be wondering how can this album feature tracks like ‘Live And Let Die’, ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’, ‘Octopussy And The Living Daylights’, and ‘Moonraker’ alongside memorable bond tunes like “Goldfinger’ and ‘We Have All The Time In The World” when these films were yet released? Did this vinyl record go back in time?!? Nope, these were original tracks written by a Japanese composer, Go Misawa, and named after Ian Fleming’s Bond novels of the 1950s.
So, there you have it. A fun playlist of familiar film melodies combined with original compilations to celebrate the books of Bond.
48. The London Original Sounds Orchestra – James Bond 007
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