Music like Moonraker

Moonraker is the soundtrack for the eleventh James Bond film of the same name.

Moonraker was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. Frank Sinatra was considered for the vocals, before Johnny Mathis was approached and offered the opportunity. Mathis was unhappy about the song and withdrew from the project, leaving the producers scrambling for a replacement. Kate Bush declined as she was due to embark on her British tour, so John Barry offered the song to Bassey just weeks before the release date. As a result, Bassey made the recordings at very short notice and never regarded the song 'as her own' as she had never had the chance to perform it or promote it first. Indeed, Bassey has seldom performed the song live in comparison to her other two Bond themes, "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever". The film uses two versions of the title theme song, a ballad version heard over the main titles, and a disco version for the end titles. Confusingly, the United Artists single release labelled the tracks on the 7" single as "Moonraker (Main Title)" for the version used to close the film and "Moonraker (End Title)" for the track that opened the film. The song failed to make any real impact on the charts, which may partly be attributed to Bassey's failure to promote the single, given the last minute decision and the way in which it was quickly recorded to meet the schedule.