Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/15/2002
A sort of cross between
Sex and the City and
the Kronos Quartet as they might be remixed by
Paul Oakenfold (actually
Orion and
the Beatmasters do most of the producing),
Bond is a string quartet of toothsome beauties at least as concerned with their hair and makeup as their playing whose work on
Shine is heavily augmented with dance beats. It's a formula that sits them atop the
classical crossover charts, up there with
Sarah Brightman and
Josh Groban, and why not? As with their peers, the music is only ersatz
classical, containing
classical tunes here and there mixed in with
classical-sounding new compositions. And the elaborate dance programming makes the music highly, well, programmable. Leadoff track
"Allegretto" was quickly tapped for an upscale television commercial, a mark of success in this market previously achieved by the likes of
Moby. Here and there among the oddly familiar melodies are actually identifiable ones.
"Strange Paradise" is a much modified version of the same theme from
Borodin's
"Polovetsian Dances" in his
opera Prince Igor that became the
show tune and
pop hit
"Stranger in Paradise" from the musical
Kismet;
"Kashmir" is the
Led Zeppelin song;
"Libertango" comes from
Astor Piazzolla; the bonus track,
"Bond on Bond," is, inevitably,
Monty Norman's
James Bond movie theme; and
"Space" sounds like the theme from every movie ever set in a Middle Eastern desert (although here it sounds like it comes from a Middle Eastern disco). The CD booklet, full of fashion-style photography, outdoes anything from
Britney Spears, and, of course, there's nary a musical instrument in sight. The music may be the least of it, but as marketing,
Bond is hard to fault.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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