Vic Flick Performs the James Bond Theme

Vic Flick, the original guitarist for the legendary James Bond theme for "Dr. No" in 1962, performs the signature tune on the same Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe used 50 years ago. From the Academy event "The Music of Bond: The First 50 Years" on October 5, 2012 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

• Category

  Entertainment

[DMJC1988]

best 119 seconds ever!

[MrImiller07]

In my view, the most effective use of music in any of the James Bond films was John Barry's atmospheric score for "From Russia With Love". The opening sequence with the Bond impostor being strangled by Red Grant was beautifully done, the theme music over the titles was great and the score throughout was comparable to Bernard Herrmann's best for Hitchcock.

[foxnebula145]

cool,, old fashion is the best,,

[eldorado62]

I first heard of Vik Flick in 1960 (though I believed he joined the John Barry 7 in 1959).

Vic is playing a Clifford Essex Paragon DeLuxe guitar, the guitar he used on many of the recordings with the John Barry 7 on Columbia Records. Vic was also a session guitarist & was very much in demand back then. He was also featured on the TV series 'Drumbeat' playing the same hollowbody electric guitar. Original John Barry 7 tunes are on You Tube & you can hear Vic's playing on those early recordings.

[MusicManxxxxx]

Indeed it is slightly sharp and the rhythm/picking is not as incisive as it was on the original. Could be various reasons for this; lack of practice, boredom, wrong balance with the backing track, sense of pitch changing with age.

Remember, he would have been at the top of his game back then and #1 call for such recordings.

Vic once dep'd on Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre in London & sight-read the whole thing ( a fiendishly difficult guitar part) and wow'd the rest of the band.

[Rishon Saeroon]

Everytime i hear the JamesBond theme i get a smile on my face Best theme song ever!!!!

[jeff clarke]

OmG!!!!!!!!!!

[olvinyldude]

They drilled, installed cyanide capsules into their teeth.

[fabrikk60]

It's NOT out-of-tune! The only thing that sounds "wrong" is the lack of studio reverb, which gave the original that wonderful greasy sound that we all love. This one sounds too clean, but what do you want from a live TV performance decades after the fact? For me, it was a treat just seeing & hearing the original guitar and the original player.

[Daniel58S]

Saw Brian Setzer and his big band open with this...it was cool way to start the show...

[Nestor Pigrounet]

not even in rythm ?