Bond - Classified (CD)

All Music Guide

It's telling that Bond decided to cover the flutter disco classic "Fly Robin Fly" for Classified, its third official album. An irresistibly flaky studio confection of chirping strings and lighthearted beats, "Fly" was essentially a 1975 blueprint for the Bond girls' 21st century sound. Naturally, they handle it with professional charm. Backed by capable beats and processed guitar, violinists Eos Chater and Haylie Ecker, violist Tania Davis, and cellist GayYee Westerhoff reproduce the track perfectly, right down to the vocal interjections (handled by Eos and GayYee). Yes, it's fluff. But so was the original, and it was a worldwide smash. Like the sweet violins cascading through the disco era, or Welsh whelp Charlotte Church transposing her soprano over show tunes and pop, Bond's classical skills are just arrows in their quivers as macropop interpreters on the world stage. Classified's set list of softballs and wideangle international flair bears this out. The keening strings and pulsing... beats of "Explosive" and the likelynamed "Samba" are lit with a Latin flame; "Hungarian" amplifies its gypsy qualities with relentless electronic rhythms; and "Lullaby" crosses the familiar sway of Pachelbel's Canon in D with cutup pop resembling Madonna's "Don't Tell Me". The support of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on many of these tracks is a nice connector to the classical world, but Classified is still dominated by slick pop production and clicky drum machines, often rendering even Bond's playing as part of the overall scenery. There's filler here too, where Bond's recombinant formula takes things too far. "Highly Strung", for example, tries to marry Khachaturian's manic "Sabre Dance" to spy movie guitar and chattering electronics, the result being more garishly cartoonish than interpretive. Still, as their cover of "Fly Robin Fly" suggests, Bond is just trying to have some widely accessible fun. Classified doesn't have purist appeal, but who needs those sourpusses, anyway? - Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide Read more Less