Of the eleven tracks, there are three instrumentals and these are generally the least successful, indeed the arrangement of the Bond theme itself is positively dreadful. Most of the track is taken up with dull, laid back drum loops that completely fail to capture anything of the original. I have no idea what Arnold was attempting, but of all the tracks, this is the only one to seriously avoid. Space March is a little comatose, but does at least lend the right kind of feeling and while On Her Majesty's Secret Service is too long, it does a good job of upgrading Barry's original for the 90's once it gets going. Curiously, it features another rendition of the Space March (uncredited as such) midway through, which is a considerable improvement on the track solely focusing on that theme.
It has to be said that almost all of the songs are very well arranged. Bond and Barry purists may object, but this is not an attempt to simply re-record the songs, but to give them a very much more modern sound. Arnold (together with Nicholas Dodd) does provide the original orchestral backings, even if they aren't always precisely as they were originally and where appropriate, merely adds some synthetic percussion. In many cases, the slightly beefier and more expansive sound is perhaps more pleasing than the not always brilliant sound quality on the older original recordings. Diamonds are Forever (with David McAlmont's very feminine vocals), Moonraker, Thunderball and We Have all the Time in the World are all terrific. It's probably sacrilege, but I much prefer Iggy Pop's performance of the latter to the original Louis Armstrong rendition. Only Jarvis Cocker's breathy and unprojected vocals on All Time High are a disappointment, even more obviously inappropriate when the arrangement is so gutsy and exciting.
All the non-Barry tracks are great, Live and Let Die has a fantastic performance by Chrissie Hynde and a riveting update to Paul and Linda McCartney's frenetic original. Aimee Mann does a great job with Nobody Does it Better, Marvin Hamlisch's terrific song attached to the series' least inspiring score. It's a shame that the instrumental tracks are so disappointing since they could have been like the best bits of Arnold's own Bond scores, but I rather feel that Arnold's collaborators were more interested in playing with their toys than providing a faithful update as opposed to the other performers who I suspect simply performed and didn't co-arrange. If you can accept the concept, then it's a hugely enjoyable album, despite the occasional misses. If only Arnold could write some Bond songs as good as these himself.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 52:39