Close to "Rome"

(Photo source: Poetic and Chic)

"Rome, Italian Style," which I named after one of my favorite SCTV sketches, is an hour-long block I launched on A Fistful of Soundtracks last summer as a way to give some airplay to the badass and lush Rome album, the '60s Italian film music-inspired project produced by superduperproducer Danger Mouse and Magic City composer Daniele Luppi and featuring Jack White and Norah Jones on vocals. Besides the Rome tracks, the 11am block (which airs every weekday except Friday) also features '60s and '70s film and TV theme covers and tracks from outside the film and TV music world that were modeled after '60s and '70s film and TV scores.

The following tunes that I found on Spotify aren't currently part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist, but they ought to be.

Jones' new breakup-themed album Little Broken Hearts, which was produced by Danger Mouse, feels like a companion piece to Rome.

Both the Blue Harlem and Lena Horne tracks are covers of "Meglio Stasera" from the first Pink Panther. For some reason, the shots of Selina Kyle atop the Batpod in The Dark Knight Rises made me flash back to the first few seconds of this:

Starting next Monday, May 23: "Rome, Italian Style," a new block on A Fistful of Soundtracks

Rome, the intriguing Danger Mouse/Daniele Luppi/Jack White/Norah Jones tribute to '60s and '70s Italian film music that Capitol released this week, has inspired me to start a new hour-long block on A Fistful of Soundtracks. "Rome, Italian Style" will stream both film score-inspired tracks like Luppi's tunes from Rome and An Italian Story and covers of '60s and '70s film and TV themes. The mission statement of the block is basically "how musicians outside the film and TV music world interpret film and TV music."

"Rome, Italian Style" airs Mondays through Thursdays at 11am.

Here's one of the covers that will be part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist. It's "La Pantera Mambo," a 2004 cover of the Pink Panther theme by the Colombian band La-33:

Bootylicious Beyonce Bond theme rumors

Beyonce might be a frontrunner for the Quantum of Solace theme, according to the latest rumors surrounding the race to find a singer for the theme, which I've been following with all the tenacity of a political blogger covering the Obama and Clinton campaigns because Bond themes are a favorite topic of mine. If Beyonce does land the job, I wouldn't be surprised if it's partly due to her performance of the 007-style "A Woman Like Me" during Steve Martin's Pink Panther remake.

Like I said in the thread I started over on the Film Score Monthly boards, I'd rather see Portishead or Editors tackle the Quantum of Solace theme, and as someone else suggested, Goldfrapp would be perfect as well.

I've seen some commenters bring up The Last Shadow Puppets as their favorite choice, and I like them too. But the Puppets are unlikely to be hired because their retro sound wouldn't fit the change in tone and direction that's been brought about by the gritty Casino Royale, as an L.A. Times blogger says in his argument that Amy Winehouse would be wrong for the Quantum of Solace theme because her sound is influenced by soul music from the era of Roger Moore, whom Winehouse famously name-dropped in "You Know I'm No Good," and the Daniel Craig movies are doing their damnedest not to recreate the campy Moore era.

However, Beyonce isn't a bad choice. One of the coolest Bond songs that never were, "A Woman Like Me" is a still-unreleased and rather underrated jam. It captures the 007 vibe better than Madonna's "Die Another Day":