Product: Bond - Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2001)
Rating: 5.0
Ah, Hype...
Okay, I'll admit that Bond's not the self-inclusive symphony that it has been hyped by the record label as. However, anyone who says that their 'Coyote Ugly'-esque costumes are the evidence that Bond 'isn't about making classical music cool, it's about sex' don't know too many 24-year-old women. My credentials in this area come from two sources: first as a classically trained singer (as such I'm professionally familiar with orchestras) and as the friend of numerous women in their twenties. From women at my work to women I've sung with, I've covered many differant personality-types, and with only a few exceptions they would all love to get out on stage and play sex-kitten for a night. As a band, Bond is about re-vamping Classical music, the leather pants and low-cut silk shirts are simply the natural result of young women getting to pick their wardrobes when money is no object. With that out of the way...Bond has to be one of greatest ideas for a 'reinvention' of a genre ever. Quickly after William Orbit's 'Barber's Adagio for strings' took over clubs some record excutive decided to see if he could make a band out of it. Are the four 'Bond girls' a manufactored quintet, of course! But when was the last time you heard of a twelve piece orchestra coming together because they met in college and thought playing together would be fun? Of course Bond is four string-players, but they tour with an actual orchestra, complemented by DJs and a standard rock-band. So the CD is an orchestral endevour, Bond is simply the figure-head. Kind of like Bruce Springsteen's last album.In sort, disregard what you've heard disparaging Bond's artistic credibility. Think only of Paul Oakenfold getting a hold of Beethoven's fifth symphony, run through a few bars, and if you like, jump on the Bond wagon. This is classical fused with techno, and unlike most orchestras, the stage show's just as good as the music.