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Screen Archives have remastered the soundtrack of
the James Bond spoof movie "Casino Royale" (1967)
for release early next year...
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Soundtrack Preview: Casino Royale (1967) Remastered
27th December 2010
Screen Archives Entertainment
In 1953, British author Ian Fleming created one of the most enduring
cinematic characters with the publication of his first
007 novel,
Casino Royale. Thirteen years later, producer Charles K. Feldman
(of What’s New Pussycat? fame) reimagined Fleming’s
story as a large-scale, star-studded spy spoof inspired by the
Bond mania that swept across the world in the 1960s. While not
exactly delivering the kind of James Bond films audiences had
loved and come to expect, Casino
Royale has became a cult classic
in the ensuing decades, a colourful addendum to the history of
the 007 legacy. With an all-star cast that included David Niven,
Deborah Kerr, John Huston, Woody Allen, Peter Sellers, cameos
by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Peter O’Toole,
and even featuring an authentic Bond girl, Ursula
Andress (from
Dr. No), the rag-tag craziness on view was directed by several
different directors - John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert
Parrish, with Val Guest overseeing the entire production. As
would be expected, the end result was eclectic, sometimes very
funny, and sometimes just plain weird.
One person who immensely helped tie the whole
thing together was the brilliant Burt Bacharach, who provided
one of the most
popular and universally applauded features of Casino Royale:
its musical score. Hired on the strength of his music for What’s
New Pussycat?, the composer was expected to bring the same kind
of cheek to Feldman’s latest picture, offering a colourful
kaleidoscope that went on to define the Swingin’ Sixties
without referencing the typical musical spy vernacular. In fact,
Bacharach’s approach is much closer to the Henry Mancini/Blake
Edwards song scores such as The Pink Panther or The Party, which
may explain the soundtrack’s extraordinary success on its
own. The score was nominated for a Grammy and “The Look
of Love” received an Oscar nomination. Bacharach had, of
course, had countless hits by the time of this film, and would
go on to have countless more (one of the only pop song composers
to have hits in every decade since the 1950s), as well as providing
the soundtracks to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Arthur,
and many other films.
This is the third CD release for Casino Royale (although both
releases on Varese Sarabande were pretty much identical) - the
original LP has long been considered one of the great audiophile
releases, thanks to a nod in The Absolute Sound. But due to an
unfortunate accident, just prior to the transfer of the master
tape, the tape was rewound too quickly and stripped of iron oxide,
thereby compromising and damaging the tape. The transfer could
still be made and the CD came out - but anyone expecting
it to sound like the LP was disappointed, and for obvious reasons.
For this release, we have spent much time in trying to alleviate
some of the effects of the tape damage - our mastering
engineer, James Nelson, has painstakingly and lovingly repaired
numerous dropouts and other anomalies and we’ve worked
very hard to get this to sound as good as it ever has or will,
and the result is pretty amazing. We’ve also added three
short bonus cues, available on CD for the first time, including
the original end credits vocal. And, of course, we get the great
performances of Dusty Springfield and Herb Alpert and The Tijuana
Brass.
But one of the main reasons for doing this third CD release
was to offer as a bonus a straight transfer of that original
record - done from several pristine copies of the LP - so
that the original sound, with no additional processing or EQ,
is captured on CD for the very first time. We leave it for others
to judge whether that sound holds up for today’s listeners.
Given what happened to the master tape, this is as close to that
original LP sound as we’re ever going to get.
PLEASE NOTE: This item has a planned release date of mid-January
2011 and is only available for pre-order at this time via www.screenarchives.com
Film Presentation
1. Casino Royale Theme (Main Title)
Performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
2. The Venerable Sir James Bond
3. Agent Mimi
4. Little French Boy
5. Money Penny Goes For Broke
6. The Look Of Love (Instrumental)
7. The Look Of Love Vocal by Dusty Springfield
8. The Indian Temple
9. Sir James’ Trip To Find Mata
10. First Stop Berlin
11. Home James, Don’t Spare The Horses
12. Hi There Miss Goodthighs
13. Dream On, James, You’re Winning
14. Le Chiffre’s Torture of Mind
15. Flying Saucer
16. The Big Cowboys and Indians Fight At Casino Royale / End Credits (vocal version)
17. Bonus trackette: Keystone Kops |
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Original LP Presentation
18. Casino Royale Theme (Main Title)
Performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
19. The Look Of Love Vocal by Dusty Springfield
20. Money Penny Goes For Broke
21. Le Chiffre’s Torture of the Mind
22. Home James, Don’t Spare The Horses
23. Sir James’ Trip to Find Mata
24. The Look Of Love (Instrumental)
25. Hi There Miss Goodthighs
26. Little French Boy
27. Flying Saucer - First Stop Berlin
28. The Venerable Sir James Bond
29. Dream On, James, You’re Winning
30. The Big Cowboys and Indians Fight
at Casino Royale / Casino Royale Theme |
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