In Help!, he can be briefly seen playing a pastiche of the Bond guitar theme, no less! In the former, he performed Ringo’s Theme (This Boy) on his famous Olympic white 1961 Fender Stratocaster (the same model that Hendrix had and played upside down), which can be heard in the background during Ringo’s scenes on the riverbank. He was also proud of his association with The Beatles, contributing to the soundtrack of the A Hard Day’s Night and Help! films. For a while this led him to be featured on several UK pop records, particularly in the 1960s. Outside of Bond, Flick was frequently in demand as a session player until he stepped down from session work in 1983. Flick continued to contribute to the James Bond soundtracks from the 1960s through the late 1980s, firmly establishing himself as the guy who reliably could conjure up that unique feel of the James Bond guitar lines in various forms. With a royalty-based deal he would have been a rich man today.Īt least it did open doors to future work, including a lot of continued work on the Bond film series. His payment was a one-time amount of £6 British Sterling. The initial Bond recording session may have brought Flick fame (eventually), but it didn’t make him rich. Who knows if a different take would have led to the same adaption. Other guitar players would no doubt have been able to play the theme well, but as each guitar player has their own feel, who knows if something else would have felt similar? It was the uneasy tension in Flick’s playing that made the producer’s ears perk up and put it all over the first movie. His technique and unique way of inserting tension into into his playing made his performance extremely suitable for the Bond series. His parts were originally recorded with the 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe guitar, plugged into a Fender Vibrolux amp. No.įlick’s very guitar lines are really what most of us think of when we think of the James Bond Theme. It was his renown (and availability) as a session player that led Vic Flick to be hired to play a guitar based theme for the first Bond-movie, Dr. Flick quickly made his mark by writing and playing many well-known guitar riffs with them – such as the theme for the popular TV show Juke Box Jury, as well as for the BBC show Drumbeat.Įventually he left the group in 1962 due to increasing demands on his time as a session player outside of the group. Barry had formed the band after abandoning his original career path of arranging for big bands. The dramatic flair and overall tone was completely down to the guitarist.įlick was already well familiar with Bond music writer and arranger John Barry, having joined the John Barry Seven in 1958. The man who played that solo guitar and breathed life into the famous Bond guitar theme is Victor “Vic” Flick, born in Surrey in May 1937. The distinctive guitar part is often referred to as The James Bond Guitar Theme. The theme was recorded on 21 June 1962, using five saxophones, nine brass instruments, a rhythm section, and crucially: a solo guitar. Barry is however credited with arranging the piece. The James Bond Theme was written by Monty Norman, who has successfully defended twice in courts against claims from John Barry that he wrote it. Still, this theme is nothing less than one of the best known instrumentals of our time. Well, except one (they opted not to use it in the 2006 film series reboot Casino Royale). No in 1962, and has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in every James Bond film since From Russia With Love in 1963. The main signature theme of the James Bond films have been used in every official Eon Productions Bond movie since Dr. This time, a special spotlight is put on his contributions to the James Bond Theme. Unknown because he never fronted a well-known band, but best known as he played on hundreds of hit songs for all kinds of artists, a lot of which you will undoubtedly know – some of them very well. Where to even start with someone like Vic Flick? The best known unknown guitar hero of the 1960s and 70s.
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