Interestingly, it is also the last time that John Barry would characterize a new Bond. Sean Connery was the bass guitar, George Lazenby was the psychedelic synthesizer and Roger Moore were the violins. Timothy Dalton's version of the theme were these drum loops, which took over for the big band section of the theme (which I can't remember Barry ever using for Moore at all).

I still think that this is one of Barry's best efforts for the series and a fine bow out (literally, as he's in the last scene of the movie). I also think that the movie itself was a pretty good Bond film in its own right, and that Dalton's reputation as Bond was marred by the very un-Bondian tone of License To Kill, but in his performance in The Living Daylights is an excellent interpretation of Fleming's character.