Cover Charge is simple: A covers B, B covers C, C covers D and so on, until I loop back to where I started, Ouroboros-style.
Last time: Girls Aloud to Chaka Khan
Like live performances and TV specials, Bond themes provide a rich seam of cover versions (as we have already seen). I guess everyone knows them, they are generally well liked - safe ground for a cover then, right? Especially if you play it with a pretty Straight Bat, as Chaka Khan did with her 2004 reworking of Goldfinger. This was recorded for her album ClassiKhan, in which Chaka ran through a series of covers and standards, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.
That's pretty good, right? Except the problem with taking the Bond cover pill, especially with this song, is that you're inviting comparison with a well-known and much-loved original. Brilliant though both Miss Khan and the LSO are, no cover of this track can ever measure up to the original by Dame Shirley Bassey, presented here in title-sequence context. Put simply, this is the best Bond theme of them all, from the best Bond film of them all. Enjoy.
Next time: from Cardiff to Birmingham...
No comments:
Post a Comment