Under the Covers with James Bond - "License to Kill"
The title song for Timothy Dalton's second and final film outing as James Bond could have been very different. A duet was recorded by a pair of guitarists, including Vic Flick, the man who gave birth to the signature guitar sound of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" and the legendary Eric Clapton. The producers instead went with Gladys Knight's "License to Kill. Similarly to the previous Bond theme, there are relatively few examples of covers of this song.
Despite it note-checking "Goldfinger," this was never one of my personal favourite Bond themes, though it has grown on me over the years. It is definitely not a bad song and is very Bondian in its sound. Plus, it did give Gladys Knight a Top 10 UK single for the first time in two decades.
For a really cool and interesting cover of "License to Kill," check out this rendition by Austria's Count Basic (not Basie).
Blending Trip Hop and Smooth Jazz elements into the song revitalizes it and, quite frankly, had this film/song been made more recently, this would not have felt out of place whatsoever as an actual James Bond theme song. I was able to unearth another, more straightforward cover by a German singer named Barbara Pythagoras.
This doesn't deviate much from the original, and that is ok, as the singer with very Bond Girl-like looks does a good job with it. I've tried to find out more about Barbara Pythagoras, but apart from the fact she hails from Germany and has posted a few cover songs on YouTube, there doesn't seem to be much else about her online. The song feels too well produced to be an amateur YouTube cover though. Not bad, but the much more interesting variant is the one by Count Basic.
The music of James Bond will return in GoldenEye.
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