Under the Covers with James Bond - "For Your Eyes Only"
The year is 1981 and Bill Conti accepted the mission to provide the score to the 12th James Bond film adventure, For Your Eyes Only, with pop singer Sheena Easton providing the voice and the face of the title song. For such a strong piece of cinematic pop and as one of the more popular title songs in the James Bond canon, there have been surprisingly few attempts at covering it.
Sheena Easton had recently enjoyed a number one hit in the US with "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" prior to performing this song, which at the time was the third highest charting Bond theme in both the UK and US. See if you can spot the one thing which makes this Bond title sequence stand out from all the others in the series.
Released two months before the debut of MTV Music Television and the subsequent era of the music video, legendary Bond title sequence designer Maurice Binder was particularly prescient in choosing to actually film Easton and include her in the film's opening; the only time in the 50 year history of the franchise which this has been done.
Interestingly, Sheena Easton was not the first choice to perform this now classic Bond theme. The filmmakers had originally offered the role of recording the theme to For Your Eyes Only to New Wave pioneers Blondie. But that is a tale for another day.
For a straightforward, yet slightly unusual sounding cover, check out this riff on "For Your Eyes Only" by Symphonic Metal band, Edenbridge.
Released as a single in 2006 (B/W "Evermore") this Austrian metal group covers the song in beat-perfect fashion, choosing to merely play the song in their style as opposed to taking it in strange directions.
Another close to the vest performance can be heard from German singer, Thomas Anders.
Anders' name and voice will be familiar to Euro Pop fans which listened to Modern Talking, the duo he performed in during the mid-80's and again at the turn of the century.
It would seem this song is quite ready for a performer to try their hand at covering it in an original fashion. Let's hope one does and that they don't make it for their ears only. (Yes, I went there.)
The music of James Bond will return in Octopussy.
Comments
Post a Comment