Several years ago Auckland singer Tim Beveridge was with a mate when the Sheena Easton power ballad For Your Eyes Only popped up on the playlist. It got them talking about the best songs from 50 years of James Bond films, and bringing them together into a concert. "The brand of James Bond has an exciting, escapist nature and there's an intimacy and theatricality to all the music," says Beveridge. "They're huge tunes, performed by iconic pop artists."
The idea has evolved into The Music is Bond, a collaboration with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra. Beveridge names his top five James Bond tunes.
It's Groovy (1962)
The James Bond theme. Beveridge says it's the piece of music that immediately conjures the over-the-top drama and glitz of Bond films - and it sounds incredible when the iconic guitar is backed by a 70-piece orchestra. "It's groovy, baby," he says. "It's groovy." It was composed for the first Bond film, Dr No (1962).
Nobody Does it Better (1977)
"It's a great, sensual 1970s pop ballad," says Beveridge. Originally performed by Carly Simon, with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, it's one of the few Bond songs that doesn't share a name with its film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
Live and Let Die (1973)
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney, this song is an "extraordinary, iconic piece of music", says Beveridge. It was originally performed by the former Beatle with the band Wings, and memorably covered by Guns N' Roses in 1991.
