It is certainly worth mentioning that "All Time High" was one of the many song options Barry presented to the producers. They chose it over other demos Barry had written.
Alex
Alex, were any of the other songs Barry presented for Octopussy used for other movies or albums?
It is certainly worth mentioning that "All Time High" was one of the many song options Barry presented to the producers. They chose it over other demos Barry had written.
Alex
I would love to hear all those demos - would be extremely interesting! I wonder if they still exist somewhere - and maybe, some day will be released on a CD like the YOLT-demo...it would practically mean that we would get new Barry-Bond-songs!
I'm pretty sure I remember reading Tim Rice say as well that he submitted several lyrics to different Barry themes and the one they went with was 'All Time High'.
Whoops. The Chinese Whispers machine is creating new facts here.
Let's re-trace what was actually said ... and it was from Jon Burlingame's book, The Music of James Bond, p. 156-157 of the hard back edition.
"... Octopussy was so problematic as a title that there was no need to include it in the lyric. So, in late 1982, Barry suggested that [Tim] Rice come up with half a dozen potential song titles."
The book goes on to say Rice submitted six song titles, they chose "All Time High", then Barry wrote *a* (notice: singular) melody that would incorporate those three syllables.
I fall into the category of fans that love this song. As a kid I found it really out-there. Unexpected, dangerous, exciting. Shake your heads, tsk tsk all you want, but I love it! It's not in my top 5 Bond title songs, but if we count "Never Say Never Again" and "The Look of Love" (and why shouldn't we?), it's definitely in my top 26.
I completely count Never Say Never Again and The Look of Love, not to mention the Casino Royale title theme, which has an hilarious cover from Roland Shaw on this album!
Here's what I'm talkin' about!
Love those hilarious fan-girl screams that turn into something much more sinister every time.
Speaking of Never Say Never Again and going back to All Time High, I think it's interesting that these two songs, released for the year of the competing Prime Bonds, are both solid middle-of-the-road mid-tempo pop songs. Neither really shout James Bond to me, but I played them back to back recently and they work.
The book goes on to say Rice submitted six song titles, they chose "All Time High", then Barry wrote *a* (notice: singular) melody that would incorporate those three syllables.
Always go back to the sources.
Cheers
OK. I´m definitely NOT interested in those other five song titles!