Piz Palu

Sex Mob Does Bond is the soundtrack to an imaginary James Bond flick, and a tribute, of sorts, to the music of John Barry. Aside from the leadoff track and its reprise ("Dr. Yes," ostensibly the title of the film), the program is a collection of Barry tracks taken from various Bond films. As always, Sex Mob applies its own swaggering brilliance to the proceedings, spicing up the somewhat familiar music with outrageous musicianship and a sly grin. Joined by guests John Medeski (organ) and the Sex Mob Soul Choir (backing vocals), Sex Mob rip through the Barry songbook, infusing each piece with a sexy, almost trashy vibe that was always subdued in the Bond films..

John Barry's best score for any James Bond movie – including the best song ("We Have All the Time in the World") ever written for any movie in the series – is reasonably well represented on this CD. Barry had already begun adding more diverse and complex orchestral pieces to his underscoring and greater lyricism to his songs with the preceding movie, You Only Live Twice, and he continued the process with On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The serious nature of its plot, however, and the unique mood of the movie, dictated that almost an entirely new score be devised: the brassy "007 Theme," which had appeared in three prior films, was absent, and the "James Bond Theme" was re-arranged. Barry also wrote one of his longest and most easily embellished action themes (heavily featuring the synthesizer, an instrument new to film scores), and dressed it up with a string section playing running scales that is startling to hear in stereo, with the discreet separation of the orchestral parts. And then there was "We Have All the Time in the World," the best song ever written for the Bond series; a serious, poignant love song that underscores the doomed romance between Bond and Tracy (Diana Rigg), it was sung by Louis Armstrong in what proved to be the jazz legend's final recording session.

Guiding Light is the third instrumental release from Arild Brøter's Pymlico outfit, where the main protagonist wrote, arranged and produced every note, as well as playing drums and keyboards on the finished pieces. However this is no vanity project, Brøter fully utilising the skills of another thirteen musicians to bring his creations to life; something they and he do extremely well…