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Propellerheads | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Bath, Somerset, England |
| Genres | Big beat, breakbeat |
| Years active | 1995–2003 |
| Labels | Wall of Sound |
| Members | Will White Alex Gifford |
Propellerheads were an English electronic music duo, formed in 1995 in Bath and consisting of Will White and Alex Gifford. [1]
Prior to Propellerheads' formation, Alex Gifford played as a backing saxophonist for The Stranglers appearing on the albums Dreamtime (1986) and 10 (1990) as well as the live album All Live and All of the Night (1988). [2]
Their first release was an EP named Dive!, released in 1996 through the independent label Wall of Sound. [2] They gained fame the next year by providing a remix for James Bond movie composer David Arnold's Bond tribute album Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project covering John Barry's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the theme song to the sixth James Bond film, re-orchestrated by Arnold. [1] They also collaborated with Arnold on the track "Backseat Driver" for the soundtrack of the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies . The single "History Repeating" followed, a collaboration with Shirley Bassey [2] (also well known for her James Bond music), fusing big beat with jazz. [1]
The Propellerheads album Decksandrumsandrockandroll was released in 1998 by Wall of Sound in Europe and DreamWorks in the US and Japan. [2] The DreamWorks versions include collaborations with hip hop artists De La Soul and Jungle Brothers, [2] and the Japanese version is a two disc special edition including some of their earlier singles. A track from the album, "Spybreak!", [2] became widely known after its use in the lobby scene in the 1999 feature film The Matrix . They are also noted for providing "Crash" (a remixed cover version of Brass Incorporated's "At the Sign of the Swinging Cymbal", perhaps best known as the theme song of BBC Radio 1's Pick of the Pops) as the theme tune to Radio 1's 'Official Chart Show' between 1998 and 2002, when Mark Goodier was the host. This song was also used in the 1999 hit comedy film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me .
After touring for their hit album, White fell ill. They released Extended Play EP in 1998, and in the song "Props' Vote of Gratitude", Alex Gifford raps for the first time, explaining to the listener that the band would "be back after this short break". Gifford moved to New York and produced the Jungle Brothers' 1999 album V.I.P., [2] in which he raps with The Black Eyed Peas among others. White provided the drums for the eponymous track. He has also produced "Shadows", a track for Rufus Wainwright on his 2001 album Poses. White has since released a mix compilation for the Beatz and Bobz series, and he has also appeared as a member of the De-Fex music project.
In November 1998, the song "Bang On!" was included in the Nintendo 64 video game Wipeout 64 . Earlier that same year, the same song was also featured on the Lost in Space soundtrack. Another song "Lethal Cut" was featured in the PlayStation game Wipeout 3 , while "Big Dog" was featured in the background music of the PAL version of Gran Turismo 2 .
Following their 1997 collaboration, in 2000, Propellerheads again worked with Shirley Bassey, this time remixing her 1964 song, "Goldfinger". This version was included on Bassey's remix album, Diamonds Are Forever .
In 2001, the band recorded "Star Crossed Lovers" with Martha Wainwright for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Indigo , a tribute to Duke Ellington, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.
In October 2003, Wall of Sound commemorated its tenth birthday. To commemorate the occasion, the label released a two disc album charting ten years of its pioneering British music. The first CD featured Röyksopp, The Wiseguys and Mekon, while Gifford provided a mix CD for the second disc. The first track on that disc, "Ten Years (Johnston's Strut, Part 1)", was a new song by Propellerheads featuring the Brooklyn-based writer Livingroom Johnston.
One of the trailers for the Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles featured "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". [3]
Their version of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" featured as a choice of Horizon presenter Kevin Fong on Desert Island Discs , as this was the track he played every morning when driving to the Kennedy Space Center while working with NASA.
White was part of the live incarnation of Long Range, the now defunct project of Phil Hartnoll of Orbital.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [4] | AUS [5] | CAN [6] | EUR [7] | FIN [8] | FRA [9] | GER [10] | NLD [11] | NZ [12] | US [13] | |||
| Decksandrumsandrockandroll |
| 6 | 13 | 56 | 18 | 36 | 20 | 26 | 29 | 11 | 100 | |
| Year | Title | Tracks | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [4] | AUS [5] | FRA [9] | HUN [16] | ITA [17] | NZ [12] | |||||||||
| 1996 | Dive |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 1997 | Propellerheads |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 1998 | Extended Play |
| 184 | 41 | 77 | 1 | 11 | 8 | ||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [4] | AUS [18] | EUR [19] | FIN [8] | FRA [9] | GER [20] | NLD [11] | NZ [12] | SCO [21] | US Dance [22] | |||||
| 1996 | "Take California" | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Decksandrumsandrockandroll | ||
| 1997 | "Spybreak!" | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 47 | — | |||
| "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (with David Arnold) | 7 | — | 73 | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | — | ||||
| "Bang On!"/"Dive" | 86 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "History Repeating" (featuring Shirley Bassey) | 19 | 55 | 67 | 16 | 71 | 65 | 52 | 32 | 24 | 10 | ||||
| 1998 | "Bang On!" | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 56 | — | |||
| "Velvet Pants" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1999 | "Take California and Party" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
| "Lethal Cut" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 2004 | "Take California" (remix) | 154 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" | 1997 | Various Artists | Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project |
| "Lopez (Hard On)" (A Progressive Mix By The Propellerheads) (808 State) | 1998 | 808 State | "Lopez" single |
| "Goldfinger" (Propellerheads Mix) (Shirley Bassey) | 2000 | Shirley Bassey | The Remix Album...Diamonds Are Forever |
| "Star Crossed Lovers" (Propellerheads + Martha Wainwright) | 2001 | Various Artists | Red Hot + Indigo |
| "Ten Years (Johnston's Strut Part 1)" | 2003 | Various Artists | Off The Wall (10 Years Of Wall Of Sound) |
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists in Britain.
The Best of Bond... James Bond is the title of various compilation albums of music used in the James Bond films made by Eon Productions up to that time. The album was originally released in 1992 as The Best of James Bond, as a one-disc compilation and a two-disc 30th Anniversary Limited Edition compilation with songs that had, at that point, never been released to the public. The single disc compilation was later updated five times in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2021. The 2008 version was augmented with the addition of a DVD featuring music videos and a documentary. Another two-disc edition, this time containing 50 tracks for the 50th anniversary of the franchise, was released in 2012.
David Arnold is an English film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films, as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day, he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and for Sherlock, he and co-composer Michael Price won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
Decksandrumsandrockandroll is the only studio album by English electronic music duo Propellerheads. It was originally released by Wall of Sound on 26 January 1998 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it was released by DreamWorks Records with a different track listing.
Since its inception in 1962, the James Bond film series from Eon Productions has featured many musical compositions, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known piece is the "James Bond Theme" composed by Monty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by British or American artists such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only", Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" also become identified with the series.
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Bond film since Dr. No in 1962. Composed in E minor by Monty Norman, the piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in every Eon Bond film besides Casino Royale.
"The World Is Not Enough" is the theme song for the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, performed by American rock band Garbage. The song was written by composer David Arnold and lyricist Don Black, previously responsible for four other Bond songs, and was produced by Garbage and Arnold. "The World Is Not Enough" was composed in the style of the series' title songs, in contrast with the post-modern production and genre-hopping of Garbage's first two albums. The group recorded most of "The World Is Not Enough" while touring Europe in support of their album Version 2.0, telephoning Arnold as he recorded the orchestral backing in London before travelling to England. Garbage later finished recording and mixing the song at Armoury Studios in Canada. The lyrics reflect the film's plot, with themes of world domination and seduction.
"Human" is a song by British electronic music duo Goldfrapp. The song was written by the group with Startled Insects' Tim Norfolk and Bob Locke, and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album Felt Mountain (2000). "Human" is the only track on Felt Mountain with additional songwriters. It was released as the album's third single on 26 February 2001 and reached number 87 on the UK Singles Chart.
You Only Live Twice is the soundtrack for the fifth James Bond film of the same name. It was composed by Bond veteran John Barry. At the time, this was his fourth credited Bond film. The theme song, "You Only Live Twice", was sung by Nancy Sinatra, the first non-British vocalist of the series, with music by Barry and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The soundtrack has previously been available in two versions on CD – the first, a straight reissue of the LP soundtrack, and the second, an expanded reissue including several previously unreleased tracks. The film soundtrack was recorded at CTS Studios, London. It debuted on the top 40 Billboard 200 album chart on August 19, 1967, and went up to 27.
"Goldfinger" is the title song from the 1964 James Bond film of the same name. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release. The single release of the song gave Bassey her only Billboard Hot 100 top forty hit, peaking in the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 2 for four weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, and in the United Kingdom the single reached No. 21.
"All Time High" is a song by American singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge that serves as the theme song to the James Bond film Octopussy (1983). Written by John Barry and Tim Rice and produced by Stephen Short and Phil Ramone, the song was released through A&M Records in 1983.
Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project is an album of cover versions of James Bond film themes organized and produced by David Arnold. Featuring contemporary rock and electronic artists of the time, it was compiled by Arnold in 1997 and released on East West Records in the United Kingdom and Sire Records in the United States. Following this project, Arnold would go on to compose the music for a number of Bond films.
Tomorrow Never Dies: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack of the 18th James Bond film of the same name.
Goldfinger is the soundtrack of the 1964 film of the same name, the third film in the James Bond film series, directed by Guy Hamilton. The album was composed by John Barry and distributed by EMI. Two versions were released initially, one in the United States and the United Kingdom, which varied in terms of length and which tracks were within the soundtrack. In 2003, Capitol-EMI records released a remastered version that contained all the tracks within the film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service ("OHMSS") is the soundtrack for the James Bond film. It was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; his fifth in the series.
"History Repeating" is a 1997 song written by Alex Gifford and originally performed by English electronic music duo Propellerheads featuring Welsh singer Shirley Bassey. It was released shortly before their only album, Decksandrumsandrockandroll, released in 1998 by Wall of Sound in Europe and DreamWorks in the US and Japan. The single was a #1 hit on the UK Indie Chart, and was also Bassey's first top ten appearance on any US chart since 1973's "Never Never Never", making #10 on the US Dance Club Chart. According to Bassey, Gifford wrote the song especially for her. The sleeve cover, an illustration by Duke D. Jukes, takes its inspiration from classic album sleeve from the Capitol 1957 release Just One Of Those Things by Nat King Cole.
This article presents the discography of Shirley Bassey.
Thank You for the Years is a 2003 album by Dame Shirley Bassey.
The Performance is an album by the Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, released on 9 November 2009. It is her first studio album of original compositions in three decades. The album was executive produced by music executive Paul Carey and English film composer David Arnold co-produced the entire album with Mike Dixon. Songs on the album were written specifically for Bassey by renowned writers such as Rufus Wainwright, Gary Barlow and Pet Shop Boys. The recording of the album became the subject of a BBC documentary titled The Girl from Tiger Bay named after the song written for the project by James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers. The album gained favourable reviews and was certified gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 copies.
The Remix Album...Diamonds Are Forever is a remix album by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, released in 2000. It contains some of Bassey's most popular songs, along with lesser-known Bassey tracks, remixed by contemporary DJs and producers such as Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, Kurtis Mantronik, Nightmares on Wax, Groove Armada, Mark Brydon from Moloko, and Propellerheads, who had collaborated with Bassey three years earlier on their single, "History Repeating".
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