You may remember that, last August 6, Video WatchBlog directed you to some interesting videos from the musical career of former actor (and HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON star) Stephen Forsyth. Stephen and I have kept in touch; he's a talented and interesting man, a supportive friend, and always good for a surprise... and the other day, he came to me with a bombshell bit of information. Back in the early 1980s, he wrote a title song for a James Bond movie that the world has never heard.In Stephen's own words:
During the filming of the James Bond movie NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, I co-wrote the title song for the movie with Jim Ryan. Warner Bros informed our attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture. However, shortly before its release, Warner Bros informed us that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. So my song was never released.
The legendary Phyllis Hyman was my first choice to sing the song and working with her is one of the highlights of my musical career. I personally auditioned and sang the song to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office. After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take.
Phyllis sadly took her own life in the early nineties. The year before she died, she called me late one night and told me she felt that "Never Say Never Again" was "her best and favorite recording." I have just now made the song available on the Internet (itunes, amazon, emusic, rhapsody, etc.) on an album of some of my early songs. I’d like to make the song available to Video WatchBlog readers to listen to. Enjoy.
I've always thought of NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN as an underrated Bond picture. It's got Connery, an attractive and capable female lead in Kim Basinger, and it's distinguished by one of the series' most intriguing and realistically faceted villains (Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo)... but it's seriously hobbled by its soundtrack, and particularly its theme song (an "all time low" in contrast to OCTOPUSSY's "All Time High"). Written by Michel Legrand, produced by Herb Alpert and Sergio Mendez, and sung by Lani Hall (a distinguished member of Brasil '66, and also Mrs. Alpert), it qualifies as an inexplicable off-day for four very talented people. Its embalmed-sounding, air-conditioned, disco schmaltz sounds more like a love theme from a Joe D'Amato grindhouse picture rather than the curtain-opener of a James Bond movie. The masochists among you can refresh your memory of it here.
Stephen's version, on the other hand, is much more like it. One can hear a John Barry influence in its dramatic unfolding, its alluring and insinuating minor chords, the way it oscillates from vulnerability to bringing out the big guns. It has the mystique and sultry sex appeal that a Bond song requires, and Phyllis Hyman drives it home with confidence.
So, Bond fans... enough of my Q-like preparation, it's time to do your own field work. Here's your link to a lost chapter in 007 history: "Never Say Never Again," sung by Phyllis Hyman -- words and music by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan. Give it a listen; you'll be surprised how quickly Maurice Binder-like images will start streaming through your head.
