Battle of the Bands

A View To A Kill BoTB Showdown

February 1, 2022 /

The 1985 spy thriller A View To A Kill featuring Roger Moore as 007 is the 14th action flick in the series and the last time Moore played Bond.  Wikipedia says this “Duran Duran was chosen to do the song after bassist John Taylor, a lifelong Bond fan, approached producer Albert Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked “When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?” The song was written by John Barry and Duran Duran who performed the song.  A View To A Kill peaked the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and in the UK took number 2 on the Single’s Chart making it the best song in James Bond series. 

In today’s battle, should you choose to accept the mission (yeah wrong movie), your task is to pick the best A View To A Kill cover artist for the song between the international music group Tape Five or British singer/songwriter, Skye Edwards.

Which artist is your favorite, Tape Five or Skye Edwards? Cast your vote by leaving your pick in comments!  

I invite you to visit these BoTBers today.

*Unless noted, all other participants will present two battles per month on the 1st & 15th

Polls close noon (EST) on Feb. 7th.

Next week, same time slot I’ll be back to announce the winner in this round, so be sure to mark your calendar to see if your favorite artist wins in this showdown. I’ll be back tomorrow with my newest edition of Wild Wednesdays, the linky party where just about anything goes!

This is CAAC signing off!


The name is Paws, James Paws!

34 Comments

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      Eugenia,

      I betcha kind find A View To A Kill to stream. In the past Netflix has had all of them but we no longer have it. I did a quick look for the streaming version but couldn’t find it without having to rent or buy it. Oh well, it will eventually make it to one of the streaming services I would think. Anywho, thanks for voting for TAPE FIVE!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 8:17 am

      Carol,

      You’re not alone, this isn’t my favorite Bond film, either. I actually enjoyed both cover versions and really thought for sure your pick SKYE EDWARDS would have trouble against the male vocalist but I was dead wrong. Thanks for visiting and for casting your vote. Please join me anytime!

        • Cathy Kennedy

          February 2, 2022 at 12:19 pm

          Carol,

          That’s right, sometimes I get a surprise even when things tip heavy to one side as it’s doing right now. We’ll see, though. Learning and sometimes relearning about songs/artists was added benefit to blogging, as many aspects of this platform have been. This bi-monthly hop is a fabulous way to dig into the unknown which I really like and then doing research for songs to use each week on Monday Music Moves Me is another excellent opportunity to enlighten my brain and senses.

        • CarolCooks2

          February 2, 2022 at 2:05 pm

          Blogging definitely opens up a world of learning, Cathy I learn something new everyday either from my research or blogs I read… 🤗.. Its one of the reasons I love blogging 😊

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 8:15 am

      Brian,

      The animate character, Foghorn, was based on a TV radio actor’s character, a southern politician named Senator Claghorn. 🙂 That’s kinda interesting the governor of South Carolina sounds like Foghorn. That’s a hoot! Thanks for voting for SKYE EDWARDS, my furriend!

  • Birgit

    February 1, 2022 at 1:47 pm

    First..love your artistic creation of Foghorn with he dog…you captured the antics of these 2 well. I love the little kitten…sooo cute. I remember this Bond song and film which…isn’t the best one in my books…Poor Tanya screamed a lot. I am giving my vote to Tape Five. I like their jazzy take on it, like a Michael Buble song. The Gal is ok but to whispy for me.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 8:12 am

      Birgit,

      This isn’t my favorite Bond movie, either. I think I remember Tanya doing a lot of screaming. I had forgotten. She’s a pretty girl but not the same caliber of past Bond Girls, though. Thanks for stopping in to vote for TAPE FIVE!

  • Stephen T. McCarthy

    February 1, 2022 at 1:14 pm

    Howdy, CAThy! It’s That You?

    I don’t believe I ever heard this song before. But that first rendition by TAPE FIVE (not to be confused with ‘Take Five’) was pretty groovy. I was pretty certain it would get my vote, but then that sexy silky, Bossa Nova-ish version by Skye Edwards started playing and I knew instantly that this was going to be close contest.

    Ordinarily, I lean toward male vocalists, but there are occasional exceptions.

    Please bring me a SKYE EDWARDS, shaken – not stirred.

    ~ D-FensDogG
    STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 8:09 am

      Stephen,

      I’m like you, I usually prefer male vocalist to female but SKYE EDWARDS sound is what I like in a female voice. Not everyone enjoys the soft, whispery tone but I LOVE it! It beautifully, feminine and sexy, so pleasingly inviting to the ear. I had no idea Skye would do this well in the showdown. I banked on Tape Five commanding the lead. Boy, was I ever wrong on this one! Thanks for visiting and voting, my friend!

  • Debbie D.

    February 1, 2022 at 1:01 pm

    Hi Cathy, this is not exactly my favourite Bond theme and I can’t say the cover artists did much to improve on it. But, that’s just one opinion. 🙂 I preferred the crooner-style vocals of Tape Five to the soft voice of Skye Edwards.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:54 am

      Debbie,

      If I were a beating gal, I would’ve scored big. I was confident who you would pick and I was right TAPE FIVE. I do enjoy their style and I plan to listen to more of their music soon. Thanks for popping by, my dear!

  • annie

    February 1, 2022 at 12:45 pm

    I have to choose Tape Five. Over all though I really did like the Duran Duran original. It isn’t as sophisticated but it was fun.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:53 am

      Annie,

      Thank you for casting your vote! It’s great having new people to get in on the action. As I mentioned earlier, I like Duran Duran’s song but not for a bond theme. The previous theme songs were so brilliant. I can’t imagine why the producers took such a gamble unless they wanted to appeal to a younger audience but in the process annoying the generation who grew up watching the films.

      It’s great to see TAPE FIVE get another vote!

  • John Holton

    February 1, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    This is generally thought of as the poorest Bond theme, and I think I know why: they let Duran Duran do it. Either of these artists could have done a much better job of it. I liked both of them pretty much equally, but Skye Edwards gave it a bossa nova feel, so I’ll go with hers.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:49 am

      John,

      I may have read something along that line but I knew this years ago when the film came out. I don’t know if it was Duran Duran’s song that didn’t set the right pace for the audience or if it was a combination of that and the script not being the best. The acting was good but I didn’t care too much for the story. I have you down for SKYE EDWARDS. Thanks for voting!

  • Arlee Bird

    February 1, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    Both were interesting, but I’d still prefer Duran Duran. The Skye Edwards version was pleasant enough, but maybe a bit cliched. I’m going to give my vote to the more eclectic sounding version by Tape Five. I think they captured the Bond spirit better and I liked the varied sound to the rendition.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:47 am

      Ahhh, thank-you, thank-you, Lee for voting for TAPE FIVE! I was getting a bit worried that it the band was going to be left out. At least, this won’t be a shut out. Now the big question is will enough people come out of the wood works to support Tape Five? I like the band Duran Duran and even like this song but it’s not the classic James Bond theme I’m used to. I’m sure they were hoping to draw new interest from a new crowd but this theme song never worked for me. I think others felt the same. Thanks for voting, my friend!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:42 am

      Sandee,

      SKYE EDWARDS has taken the first three votes. This alarms me just a bit in that perhaps I didn’t do a very good job pairing these two contenders. We’ll see! 😉

  • Thomas Anderson

    February 1, 2022 at 6:31 am

    Hi, Cathy!

    Happy February 2022 and BOTB Day, dear friend!

    Yessum, I well remember Duran Duran’s hit version of “A View To A Kill.” We ran that mewsic video in heavy rotation on our MTV influenced station. My favorite moment in the vid comes at the end. Wiki describes what happens: << The video ends with a beautiful young girl approaching Le Bon to question him, “Excuse me…aren’t you?”, where he breaks the fourth wall to say, “Bon. Simon Le Bon”. >>

    Both artists in your battle are new to me. I read that the German studio group Tape Five performs styles that include swing, electro swing, Nu jazz, Latino, Lounge, Dub, Trip hop, and Chillout. I can appreciate their inventive approach to the 007 soundtrack song, but found it a little irritating after a while. My ears had an easier time listening to London singer/songwriter Skye Edwards. Her voice is refined, soft, yet strong, and the performance is intimate, Her voice gets inside your head. In addition, I found the arrangement much more pleasing. Skye reminds me of Sade, another smooth jazz singer who grew up in England.

    Please give my vote to Skye Edwards.

    I think every one of your posts should include Foghorn Leghorn and his ACME Corporation mallet. He’s a hoot!

    Awww… I just wanna smooch James Paws, the kitten who is obviously a fan of the Bond books and films.

    I see you have a second post published today. I’ll hop over now. Have a happy Tuesday, dear friend Cathy!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      February 2, 2022 at 7:40 am

      Tom,

      I frequently do not watch music videos so I don’t recall the scene Wiki describes at the end of Duran Duran’s video but that sounds really fun. Thank you for sharing what you learned about Tape Five. They have a nice vibe but Skye’s whispery tone makes the cover very inviting to the ear. This theme song and movie is probably my least favorite prior to Daniel Craig landing the role. Although, we’ve seen two of the movies with Craig we didn’t care for them. The music was good is all I can say for those two that we did see. Thanks for casting the first ballot in this battle for SKYE EDWARDS, my friend!

error: Please contact me for permission to download. Thank-you!!

Discover more from Curious as a Cathy

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading