Under the Covers with James Bond - "Tomorrow Never Dies"
Tomorrow Never Dies features a theme song performed by Sheryl Crow which, while it went unnoticed by the pop charts here, made it to #11 in the UK in 1997, making it tied with "You Only Live Twice" as the eighth highest charting James Bond title songs at the time. The song was among a dozen themes submitted for consideration to open the second big screen Bond adventure for Pierce Brosnan. I was hoping to find a unique cover version which would elevate this piece in the minds of its detractors. My ears (and hopefully yours, too) were not disappointed.
First, take a listen to Sheryl Crow and Mitchell Froom's original.
Numerous outlets at the time were less than pleasant in their critique of the theme. It is not really a bad song and it does have the ear marks and DNA of a Bond theme, but it isn't one of the instantly memorable ones.
Now, would you like to know how to make a less-than-memorable James Bond theme song into something awesome? By doing this.
A little dash of Santana-influenced Jazz and you have a completely new song. This track hails from the 2007 album, Mister Bond - A Jazzy Cocktail Of Ice Cold Themes, which is an (ahem) interesting set of cocktail lounge variations on Bond themes new and old. Perhaps not ironically, the best songs on this album are improvements upon several of the latter Bond themes, as you will hear in a future installment in this series.
The music of James Bond will return in The World is Not Enough.
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