Volume VIII

Recommended music:

Ladies and gents, for tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we’ve got one more night of listening to music related to Goldfinger!

Founded by Henry Casella (King Henry) in 1960, King Henry & the Showmen was a band known for its long life. Known as the house band in Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountain’s Mount Airy Lodge since 1965, they played live shows through 2015. The show band quickly began gaining fans from all over the east coast and was able to take their show on the road to sell out shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Atlantic City, and even the MGM Grand Resort in Las Vegas.

Along the way they met show business such as: Barbara Eden, Frankie Avalon, Gregory Hines, Jerry Lewis, Joan Rivers, Rip Taylor, and Tony Bennett. After playing in Las Vegas with Lou Rawls in the 1970s, they ended up sharing a stage with him in the Poconos in the 1990s.

Maintaining three of the original members of the band, the group adapted to the sounds of the times. This versatility meant they could play a rumba or a tango, but could then switch it up to country, Dixieland, Italian music, pop, or rock as the audience dictated. One of their most popular tunes during the last decade of their run was a cover of Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines.’😛

King Henry & the Showmen released over thirty albums during their career including this 1976 LP vinyl record ‘Volume VIII” which features exotica/lounge/jazz pop/ rock music. Not only does this album include a cover of Pinball Wizard’ by The Who but also features their cover of John Barry’s ‘Goldfinger.’ It is a very loungy rendition, and a fun listen. Unfortunately, I cannot find a recording online, so you’re going to have to dive into the lounge music on your own to hear the cheesy tune for yourself.

134. King Henry And The Showmen – Volume VIII

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

Jazz “Hot and Cool”

Recommended music:

For tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we are still listening to music related to Goldfinger!

Harold (Hal) Serra was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1928. When Hal was in his teens, he went to New York City to study becoming a jazz pianist. Hal not only became a pianist, but also an arranger and a composer. He eventually formed his own trio, which was featured on NBC’s ‘The Today Show’ for more than two years, until the show changed its format. Besides ‘The Today Show’ performances, Serra wrote and recorded television commercials for multiple well-known products.

Serra played and conducted in the New York club scene for performers such as Woody Allen and Ella Fitzgerald. He even worked and traveled with singer Julie London. One interesting project that Serra oversaw was transcribing the music recordings from the album ‘Charlie Parker with Strings’ for a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall. Another unique jazz project would be recording albums in the 1960s and 1970s for Statler Records.

Formed in the 1940s by a professional dancer and dance instructor, the Statler Records label was known for recording popular music for use as dance instruction and gymnastics. While the early decades saw this music on vinyl records, it evolved into instructional CDs and DVDs before shutting down sometime around 2008. Fortunately, I was able to find this 1967 recording of Jazz “Hot and Cool” which features big-band jazz, ragtime, and swing covers for “dancing and physical fitness needs.” Now, I may not be dancing to this album, but it kicks off with a swing version of ‘King of the Road’ and also features yet another cool jazzy cover of ‘Goldfinger’ on it. I cannot find a recording of this album online, so you will have to seek out a physical copy if you want it for your own James Bond-themed physical fitness needs. 😛

133. Hal Serra And His Orchestra – Jazz “Hot and Cool”

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

Sounds For Spies And Private Eyes

Recommended music: [skip to 21:15 for Goldfinger]

For tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we are still listening to music related to Goldfinger!

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1920, Alexander Emil Caiola showed an interest in music in his youth. Rather than follow in his father’s footsteps as a barber, Caiola desired to be a singer but was soon convinced by his father to also seek career opportunities by playing an instrument. Soon enough, Caiola learned to play the banjo and, by the age of eleven, he was already a child prodigy on the guitar.

Al formally trained with guitarists in both Jersey City and New York City. When he was sixteen, he sang and played guitar on the children’s radio program ‘Sally and Sam’ along with jazz guitarist Tony Mottola.       

Caiola’s music career took a different turn when he joined United States Marine Corps. Throughout World War II, Caiola played trumpet in the Marine Band, and toured much of the Pacific Theater, until the bandmembers were assigned to active combat. Eventually, Caiola was also included and served as a stretcher bearer during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Following the war, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to study music composition and theory at New Jersey College of Music.

That’s enough Al Caiola talk for tonight as his covers of James Bond music appear on a few albums in my collection. This 1965 compilation ‘Sounds For Spies And Private Eyes’ includes themes from many films and television shows in the spy genre, including Goldfinger. The record is full of jazzy surf rock with Caiola nailing the guitar, and even though I am not familiar with all the themes, the whole album is a fun listen.

132. Al Caiola – Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

The Silence (Il Silenzio)

Recommended music: [skip to 13:45 for Goldfinger]

Tonight, we’re still listening to music featured in Goldfinger!

Born in 1925 as Hans Joachim Etzel in Breslau, Poland, Roy Etzel grew up during World War II. He received his musical training at the Army Music School in Frankfurt, Germany. Following World War II, Etzel played trumpet in multiple well-known big bands from the 1940s until 1966, eventually earning the nickname “Mr. Trumpet” in Germany. That same year, Etzel appeared as a trumpet player in the film ‘Come to the Blue Adriatic’ and played the song ‘Golden Midnight Sun.’

At this point, he had put a handful of albums under his own name and decided to go into business for himself. He became the band leader of his own band, the Roy Etzel Sound Orchestra, which released albums throughout the 1970s, with Etzel composing and writing lyrics along the way. Etzel’s music career continued with more records released all the way until 1985.

Etzel published an autobiography, This is My Life, in 2004 and lived in Munich until his passing in 2015 at age 90. Fortunately, before Etzel transitioned to being a bandleader, he did release this 1965 compilation album, ‘The Silence (Il Silenzio).’ The Italian song ‘Il Silenzio’ is an instrumental piece notable for its trumpet theme and normally contains some spoken Italian lyrics. Written earlier in 1965, the song uses the same Italian Cavalry bugle call that Russian composer Tchaikovsky used in 1880. Etzel’s version, which leads off the album, does not have any lyrics and sounds remarkably like the U.S. military bugle call ‘Taps.’ This album reached the US Billboard 200 on Christmas 1965 and stayed on the charts for five weeks.

Anyways, the track that closes out the first half of the album is a cover of John Barry’s ‘Goldfinger.’ Just a year after the film’s debut, it was still immensely popular to cover. This is an incredibly unique version with the only lyric retained being the word “Goldfinger,” while Etzel’s trumpet takes center stage.

131. Roy Etzel – The Silence (Il Silenzio)

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

A Musicor Musicale

Recommended music:

Tonight, we’re listening to music featured in Goldfinger!

The Musicor Records label was founded in New York City in 1960 by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records. By 1964, Mercury Records co-founder Arthur Talmadge bought the Musicor label from United Artists. The history of this label has seen it sold off many times during the past six decades, with over 1400 releases to date. As far as I can tell, it does still exist, but mostly for catalog content from the current owner, Gusto Records.

Musicor had its best-selling artists appear on releases in the 1960s and 70s. Some of the artists with releases on this label that I most recognize include Gene Pitney, Rupert Holmes, and country music singer George Jones, who recorded for Musicor from 1964 to 1972.

Some of the earliest recordings featuring the 1960s invention of the Moog synthesizer were also produced by Musicor. In 1972, Musicor had one last significant hit with the song ‘Popcorn’ from the one-hit wonder Hot Butter, reaching the Top 10. I did notice one other album in my collection from the Musicor label, as The Electric Moog Orchestra’s album ‘Music from Star Wars’ was released in 1977, featuring synthesized versions of music from the first Star Wars film.

The album that brought Musicor to my attention for today’s post is the 1965 compilation album ‘A Musicor Musicale.’ Besides a variety of musical genres covered from organs to Hispanic music (and some original recordings by the same well-known artists mentioned above), this album features a cover of John Barry’s ‘Goldfinger’ from big-band leader and trumpet player, Ralph Marterie. It is a jazzy trumpet-forward orchestral version of the Goldfinger theme, worth listening to. Unfortunately, I cannot find a recording of this online, so you will have to track one of Marterie’s albums with this piece to hear it for yourself.

130. A Musicor Musicale

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

Bons Baisers De Russie (From Russia With Love)

Recommended video: FRWL French Trailer

Tonight, we’re listening to music featured in From Russia With Love!

Born in 1931 as Terrence Edward Parsons in London, Monro faced some challenges as a youth. His father passed when Monro was three, and he spent several years in the foster care system following his mother’s being stricken with an illness. By 1948, he joined the British armed forces and served as an instructor for tank driving while stationed in Hong Kong. During his time in the service, he started entering talent contests and even sang on the radio. Following his discharge, he returned to London to pursue a singing career while working as a bus driver and doing other odd jobs.

Monro released a demo record in 1956 that caught the attention of pianist Winfred Atwell. She took Monro under her wing, helping him get signed by Decca Records and allegedly helping him come up with his stage name. In 1958, producer George Martin asked Monro to lend his deep voice to a Peter Sellers’ album of Frank Sinatra satires, and his career really took off. Within a few years, he had a handful of top ten hits in the UK.

While his theme to From Russia with Love only reached the British Top 20 in 1963, it amplified his exposure worldwide. His next single following FRWL, “Walk Away,” peaked at number four in Britain. By 1965, Monro moved to America and gained even more recognition singing the Oscar-winning title song for the film ‘Born Free’. This was his second out of a handful of collaborations with Bond composer John Barry and became his signature tune (besides From Russia With Love).

Following several years living in the US, Monro eventually returned to England, where he again had albums on the U.K. Albums Charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Monro’s career was cut short after he died of liver cancer in 1985. In the decades since, his estate has kept his legacy alive, releasing archival recordings that also reached the top ten on the U.K. Album Charts.

This 7” French album was released in 1964, and features three other Monro tunes in addition to the From Russia With Love main theme. While the album’s cover features a seldom-used shot of Sean Connery as James Bond, Monro is pictured, in color, on the back of the sleeve.

129. Matt Monro – Bons Baisers De Russie (From Russia With Love)

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

Alan Tew – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Recommended music:

Tonight, we’re listening to music from the first four Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever and The Spy Who Loved Me! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a recording of all of these, so you’re going to have to pick up the vinyl for yourself.

Born in London in 1930, Alan Stanley Tew broke out in the 1950s as the arranger and pianist for the British Len Turner Band. By 1960, Tew composed the song “Zou Bisou Bisou” (also known as “Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo.”) Originally performed by both Gillian Hills and Sophia Loren in 1960, with many covers over the next five decades, the song was even featured in the season five premiere of the TV show Mad Men.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Tew continued his career composing stock music that was then licensed out for films and television. While I am not familiar with most of the British programs in his credits, some of the musical cues he created would eventually be used as incidental music in modern shows like SpongeBob SquarePants.

Tew released half a dozen albums of his own and more than twenty records with his own orchestra, the Alan Tew Orchestra, in the 1970s. Besides a collaboration with Cat Stevens, the 1970s saw Tew’s Orchestra produce some bombastic scores, which eventually led to the development of funk music. In 2009, his arrangements were used in the score for Black Dynamite, a dozen years after his passing. His funky music would go on to be sampled by a variety of hip-hop artists, including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube.

The album that brought Tew to my attention is this 1978 jazz/pop compilation, “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” The music really reminds me of Meco’s disco-esque covers on ‘Music Inspired By Star Wars And Other Galactic Funk’, released the year before. Not only does this album feature Star Wars and Close Encounters (hence the album name) among the film and TV tunes, but it also features a pair of Bond tracks. The most recent Bond song, ‘Nobody Does It Better’ from “The Spy Who Loved Me” is included on the A-side, while the B-side ends with a unique 007 medley featuring The James Bond Theme first heard in Dr. No, and instrumental covers of From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and Diamonds Are Forever.

128. Alan Tew – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

What’s Your Name?

Recommended music:

Tonight, we’re still listening to music related to Dr. No!

In the late 1970s, Belgian cartoonist and comedian Fred “Balls” Jannin started a novelty New Wave/synthpop band, The Bowling Balls, with rock journalist Bert Bertrand. What started as a joke led to a full-sized hoax and then morphed into a real-life ensemble with multiple singles released. In early 1983, Bertrand’s suicide brought an abrupt and tragic end to this fun collaboration.

By 1985, Jannin decided to revive his musical career with a new Eurodance/New Wave/synthpop duo. Along with his comedian partner and radio/TV producer, Hugh Jempy, they formed the group Zinno. The pair self-produced their debut single, “What’s Your Name?” The song was billed as a quirky synthpop cover of John Barry and Monty Norman’s “James Bond” theme from Dr. No. The Belgian track became a hit on radio charts across Europe and was soon re-released in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the UK. Hoping to avoid being a one-hit wonder, the duo released multiple albums until they broke up in 1989, never matching the success of their debut on any later releases.

There are many weird things to me about this 1985 German 12” version of the track. Besides the alternate spelling of the band name, the song contains a sample of the Bond Theme, but does not really match up with anything specifically from Dr. No. Perhaps the film name was mentioned so the franchise and character would not be. I also have questions about the song itself. The tune uses sound clips pulled directly from James Bond films. Not just Sean Connery’s iconic line, but also dialogue from Jill St. John as Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever. I wonder if there was ever a cease and desist, or if this album and its subsequent remix albums, released in the following years, were allowed to be sold internationally due to parody laws.

Regardless, it’s a catchy track, and the video is really a time capsule of the silliness seen in some 1980s music videos. Even this appearance on French TV with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg is an interesting alternative to the original video.

127. Zinnon – What’s Your Name (Theme From Dr. No)

#JamesBond
#Vinyl
#VinylLove
#VinylRecords

The Best Of Si Zentner

Recommended music:

Bond (on Vinyl) is back! Today, we’re taking it back to the beginning and listening to music from Dr. No and From Russia With Love!

Born in New York City in 1917, Simon Hugh Zentner started playing the violin at the age of four. Later in childhood, he sought to master the trombone and earned a music college scholarship for his abilities. Originally, Zentner aimed to be a classical musician. However, he switched his focus to commercial music after playing for a recording session with composer Andre Kostelanetz. During the 1940s, Zentner continued to learn the tricks of the trade by playing in bands led by Jimmy Dorsey and Henry James.                           

During World War II, Si moved to Los Angeles, finding work as a studio musician. He eventually was on the staff at MGM and stayed until 1955, working on ‘Singing in the Rain’ and the 1954 version of ‘A Star Is Born’.

Zentner’s desire to lead his own big swing band eventually led him to get a contract with Liberty Records in 1959. While most big bands were dying off at the time, Zentner took his orchestra show on the road. He played a steady stream of ballrooms, clubs, and colleges. So steady, in fact, Zentner was quoted to have played 178 one-night stands in a row. The band also found commercial and critical success at this time. They won polls as ‘Best Big Band’ for 13 years in a row. Zentner specifically was recognized as ‘Best Trombonist’ in Playboy’s Jazz Reader’s Poll. The band scored their biggest hit in 1961, with a twist version of “Up a Lazy River,” which reached the Top 40 of the pop charts and won a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Number

The public’s interest in big bands dropped off in the mid-1960s. Zentner then moved to Las Vegas and opened The Blue Room, the lounge at the Tropicana Hotel, in 1965. However, within a few years, he was back touring with a big band on the road. Remarkably, Zentner kept performing up until six months before his passing in January 2000.

Fortunately for us, this 1965 compilation album from Liberty Records features a great rendition of Monty Norman’s ‘The James Bond Theme’ as well as a big band version of Lionel Bart’s ‘From Russia With Love’ on the B-Side. Unfortunately, this “Best of” album does not include Zentner’s cover of the ‘007 Theme,’ but that is a story for another time.

126. Si Zentner – The Best Of Si Zentner

#JamesBond
#Vinyl

From the archives: The World Is Not Enough Trading Cards

Recommended Music: Garbage – The World Is Not Enough (Live, 2022)

On this #WhateverWednesday from the archives, we’re celebrating last year’s 25th anniversary of The World Is Not Enough hitting US theaters. Here is a set of The World Is Not Enough trading cards!

There was a trading cart set issued around the time of the film’s 1999 release. However, this 72-card set released by Rittenhouse Archives in 2016 retells the entire story of Pierce Brosnan’s third turn as 007. I chose not to make a video with the seventy-two cards in order. Instead, I decided to see if they could fit on top of my The World Is Not Enough fleece jacket in chronological order. It is absolutely not clear from the photo, but they do fit. This promotional jacket is similar to one that was worn by/given to cast and crew members while shooting the film, but differs in that the TWINE logo is on the back of the jacket, with a Heineken logo on the front. 😄
Cheers!

#TheWorldIsNotEnough
#TWINE25

Stay tuned, the return of Bond on Vinyl is coming up next!

From the Archives: James Bond on Vinyl will return 3

Recommended music:

Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, here’s a bonus picture from last year.

When the end credits ran for Goldfinger in 1964, it assured audiences that Bond would be back the following year. I’ll be back with more Bond on Vinyl as well! I hope you enjoyed this year’s selection. Hopefully, you can find time to listen to your favorite tunes. This can be between viewings of Bond films (more on that coming soon).

I have accumulated enough new music on vinyl to take the collection beyond 150 albums. At this point, I will once again be covering EVERY era of the James Bond series through vinyl record releases. This includes more music from each film that is celebrating a big anniversary in 2025. There is also additional music from No Time To Die. Filming wrapped five years ago this past month, but its theatrical debut was delayed by a year. Dalida was just the first bit of source music that appears in the film that I’ve found on vinyl.

As this is the final Bond on Vinyl archived post, instead of waiting 11 months, you just need to wait until tomorrow to see what’s next in store.

Until next time, Bond fans, cheers! 🍸😎

From the Archives: Dans La Ville Endormie – Les Belles Chansons Ne Meurent Jamais…

Recommended music:

Finally, today from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re listening to music from No Time To Die!

Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti was born in 1933 to Italian parents living in Cairo. Her family lived a conventional life until the arrival of World War II in Egypt. Though previously neutral, Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia caused Egypt to side with the Allies and caused Gigliotti’s Italian father to spend four years in an internment camp. When Gigliotti was seventeen, she began entering beauty and talent competitions.

By 1954, she won the Miss Egypt pageant and made her first appearance on the big screen. Gigliotti started using the name “Dalila” due to her resemblance to actress Hedy Lamarr’s character in the film Samson and Delilah. A lull in Dalila’s acting roles led her to move to Paris and take on singing. By 1956, she was winning singing competitions and gaining fans, which caused a slight name alteration to what she would be most famously known as – Dalida.

Over the next 30+ years, Dalida would become a superstar in France and throughout Europe with 45 gold records and a pair of platinum records. Worldwide, she sold more than 140 million records, recording nearly 700 songs before her tragic passing in 1987.

What does this have to do with James Bond? Well, an obscure Dalida track (from a 1968 B-side) titled Dans La Ville Endormie, which translates to “In the sleeping city,” makes an appearance in No Time To Die. Just 55 seconds into the film, a flashback to the 90s shows Madeleine Swann’s mother lying down with a cigarette in hand. She is surrounded by a haze of pills and wine, listening to the tune on CD.

When it was announced that the song would be included in the 2020 film, Dans La Ville Dormée was reissued as a single and also leads off this compilation album of Dalida hits released near the delayed film’s release. I’ve listened to this track more than any other French language song in the past 20 years (since being hooked on the Amélie soundtrack), but like Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, in The Shawshank Redemption says, “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid.” The full album title translates to In the Sleeping City – Beautiful Songs Never Die.

125. Dalida – Dans La Ville Endormie – Les Belles Chansons Ne Meurent Jamais…

From the Archives: James Bond Theme (Bond vs. Oakenfold)

Recommended music:

Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re listening to music from Die Another Day!

Following the positive reception to the soundtrack for The World Is Not Enough, composer David Arnold was brought back to score Die Another Day in 2002. Besides musical references to John Barry’s classic score for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Arnold was also able to create an updated version of the James Bond Theme with the assistance of British DJ Paul Oakenfold.

Besides being a record producer and being voted the “No. 1 DJ in the World” in both 1998 and 1999, Oakenfold is also a renowned remixer. He has provided over one hundred remixes for over one hundred artists, including Britney Spears, the Cure, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Moby, the Rolling Stones, and U2.

This 12” promo vinyl goes beyond the Bond Theme featuring Oakenfold’s work from the Die Another Day soundtrack to include four longer mixes with either extended dialogue from all eras of Bond films, or just some bonus beats. The label on the sleeve promotes the “original version” of this new James Bond Theme would be available on the forthcoming CD of the DAD soundtrack, which itself hit store shelves 10 days before the film hit the big screen in November of 2002.

124. Oakenfold – James Bond Theme (Bond vs. Oakenfold)

From the Archives: Songs, Bond Songs: The Music Of 007

Recommended music:

Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re listening to music from EVERY Bond film up through Spectre, including The World Is Not Enough!

Songs, Bond Songs: The Music Of 007 is an album of cover music from James Bond films released digitally and on CD in 2017. Thankfully, the album received a reissue on vinyl in 2024. The Mondo exclusive is limited to 300 copies and is printed on a cool black and white swirl colored vinyl meant to evoke a “Tuxedo Pinwheel.”

The compilation album is meant to be a tribute to all 26 Bond films at the time from Dr. No through Spectre, and plays in chronological order. The album also features some Bond themes often overlooked, such as “The Look of Love” from Casino Royale (1967), “Never Say Never Again”, and “Moonraker” (this one, and others on the album are unique when you hear the vocals sung by a male when you’re used to hearing Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, etc.

The song I wanted to focus on for today, though, is The World Is Not Enough by Look Park. While Look Park may not ring any bells (as all the bands on the album are pretty obscure), you may recognize the vocals as belonging to Fountains of Wayne founder and frontman Chris Collingwood. The tempo is a bit different from the original version by Garbage, and a fun listen.

After Fountains of Wayne split in 2013 (though there was no official statement from the band), Collingwood released a self-titled album in 2016 under the band name Look Park. The band had a slow start following the album, but finally had some tour dates planned for 2020, but this never happened due to the pandemic. It is unclear if Collingwood intends to play with this iteration of the band again.

123. Songs, Bond Songs: The Music Of 007

From the Archives: Enter

Recommended music:

Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re listening to music related to Tomorrow Never Dies!

I’ve mentioned before that Sheryl Crow’s title track to Tomorrow Never Dies is not my favorite Bond theme song (see Bond on Vinyl #27), but my mind is still not made up 27+ years later if Crow’s rendition was even the best option for the film. While KD Lang’s song for the film was kept for the end credits, there were as many as a dozen songs pushed aside for the film’s soundtrack.

After Eric Serra’s style from the GoldenEye score was not well received by Bond fans, a new composer was brought in, with David Arnold taking the baton to conduct the first of his five Bond scores. Arnold delivered a big, brassy score, with a brassy theme to match that shows up in motifs throughout the film. In the end, MGM intervened to select a well-known artist for the main theme, which is how pop/country rock singer Sheryl Crow was chosen to kick off the film, while the brassy crooning of KD Lang was reserved for the end. Also, before selecting Crow, the producers had an open audition for main theme submissions. One of these is our subject for today, a rendition of Tomorrow Never Dies that really grows on you by Danish indie rock band Swan Lee. By the time you finish the Goldfinger-inspired music video, you may be thinking this should have been the theme.

Although the group was formed in 1996, they ended up being too obscure at the time the TND title tune was selected, having released only a three-track EP by 1997. Unable to get a contract for a full album as a group, the band started their own record company, GoGo Records, in 2001. Their version of Tomorrow Never Dies was finally released on their debut album Enter, pictured here with floral artwork. The album sold 40,000 copies while peaking at #27 on the Danish charts before being nominated for a half dozen Danish Music Awards, including Group of the Year, Album of the Year, and Danish Hit of the Year.

In 2006, a rendition of the song was featured on smaller screens for the video game Hitman: Blood Money. While not a Bond film, it is a similar aesthetic, and the game’s Danish developer (IO Interactive) is now working on Project 007, a brand-new James Bond video game. Unfortunately for Swan Lee, despite the huge commercial success of their second album in 2004, the group fell apart by 2005 en route to a 17-year hiatus before releasing a third album.

122. Swan Lee – Enter