The Sound of 007: Live from the Royal Albert Hall

The idea of celebrating Bond music in a grand concert setting sounds fantastic, but The Sound of 007: Live from the Royal Albert Hall fails to deliver. While some performances capture the essence of Bond's legendary themes, others fall flat, with a few singers struggling to hit the mark. Unfortunately, these lackluster moments overshadow the good ones, making the experience uneven and, at times, cringeworthy.

The production value and venue are impressive, but they can't make up for the inconsistent quality of the performances. For an event meant to honor the rich musical history of Bond, it feels underwhelming. Hardcore Bond fans may find a few highlights, but overall, this concert fails to live up to its potential.

This concert felt shockingly dull. Lots of glitz and glam but low energy overall. The modern "artists" they picked to sing renditions of the classic songs overall were uninspired, some bordering on downright terrible.

I had to skip through 'You Only Live Twice' I found it so awful. And the woman singing "GoldenEye" was trying so hard to imitate Tina Turner's singing it was comical.

Perhaps it was the sound editing for the entire thing but the orchestra as well just seemed flat. I heard that there were many renditions of score excerpts left out which is sad, because that music is as much Bond as any song.

I really have to recommend, if you love Bond and Bond music and want to feel the energy of the music being played by people who are as excited about it as you are, look up Q the Music Show online. I found myself wanting to look up their YouTube videos instead of slogging through this.

This is cut down version of the live concert held at Royal Albert Hall to celebrate 60 years of the James Bond films. I have no idea why Amazon, a streaming service could not broadcast the full concert.

Music has always been an important component of the Bond films ranging from the iconic Bond theme to the title tracks.

David Arnold who composed five Bond movies curated the music for the concert. He even took over vocal duties from the late Chris Cornell as he belted out You Know My Name. I was mildly surprised how good Arnold's vocals were and he was clearly nervous.

The biggest applauses were for the original singers who appeared. Dame Shirley Bassey got a standing ovation along with Lulu and Garbage.

Others such as Celeste and Skin sang cover versions of Bond songs. It ended with Arnold's interpretation of the Bond theme which has been used in films where he has not been the composer.

It is certainly worth watching but I would like to have seen the extended concert that included collaborators talking about the music.

Out of a three hour concert, there had to have been better cuts than some of these. A few are fantastic, half are passable covers, and the rest are nigh painful.

Dame Shirley Bassey is game, but clearly had issues with her upper range as well as breath support. Still, at 85, she was the class of the evening in more ways than one. Opening the concert with Diamonds Are Forever and moving right into Goldfinger? That's brass.

David Arnold's cover of You Know My Name also deserves a mention. Not wanting anyone else to sing the late Chris Cornell's theme to Casino Royale, Arnold does the tribute himself. Surprisingly good.

Lulu earns a thumbs up for a playful rendition of The Man With The Golden Gun, clearly having more fun than Shirley Manson of Garbage. Manson's vocal started shaky and breathy on The World Is Not Enough, but accompanied by her band mates, she seemed to gain traction as the song progressed. And Hans Zimmer once again filled his requirement of appearing onstage any time his work is performed in concert.

The covers range from powerful and energetic (Skyfall, Live and Let Die), to stolid and business-like (From Russia With Love, License to Kill), with a bizarre Tina Turner impersonation by Paloma Faith (Goldeneye) thrown in for good measure.

That leaves us with two extremely painful performances: Celeste (You Only Live Twice) and John Grant (We Have All The Time In The World). Both seem to have issues finding the key in which the orchestra is playing. Celeste attempts to riff artfully through the deceptively simple melody. Unfortunately, she never ends the phrase in the proper key, seeming under rehearsed or unfamiliar with the chord progression. Grant, on the other hand, seems to fight to stay on pitch despite the earpiece, and the fact he's standing in front of the bloody orchestra. Also, the arrangement is set much lower than the original Louis Armstrong track, yet Grant struggles in his low register. Again the feeling is one of under-preperation.

So, like the Bond franchise itself, there are perfomances we love because of the icons involved, those we respect on reputation, those we appreciate for good effort, and those that clearly could have been better with more effort.

Kudos to the band! Apart from the great Bassey, what a shambles!! Singers were out of tune, time and couldn't be bothered!! We had to rely on the old vanguard of Bassey and Lulu to add a little class to the evening.

Singers don't seem to realise in the modern era that it takes thousands of hours of practice to reach a level that's required to perform professionally. They rely on producers to auto tune them and give them as many takes as they want to get it right. In the past, you had to get it right the first take like the rest of the musicians!!

If it wasn't for the orchestra, the rating would be lower.

What a disappointment!