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It would be a first in the series. From what I have seen, I wouldn t be against it.
On other forums I've criticized Arnold's scores. I loved TND, but TWINE was a slog and DAD wasn't much better.
I pointed that I listened to the entire CR soundtrack on a travel and barely registered it was still playing at points. I thought it most came alive when he incorporated Cornell's theme into it. African Rundown, for instance, starts well and just gets lost. Liked QoS a little more, thought it worked well but still wanted more out of it.
Funny thing is I felt the exact same thing with Newman's scores as well. I've tried to give both a chance multiple times and it's even worse. There's a track from a scene in Blofeld's lair where it's a good 30 seconds or so of silence or something so low it barely registers.
As far as the SF soundtrack selling well, I wonder how much of that came from unsuspecting people who bought it thinking the Adele theme was on it or other songs from her. I question this because I recall when AVTAK came out the album sold well also I've heard due to Duran Duran fans thinking it was all their music. How disappointed they must have been after the opening cut.
I also recall at my first viewing of SF hearing some teen girl singing the theme over and over before the film began and wondering if she had a clue what the movie was about and if she just was curious because she liked the song. Not that that's a bad way of getting butts in the seats, but how many came not knowing anything about Bond.
Barry's soundtracks and some of the others were imprinted on my brain for years - I recall humming the YOLT theme when I was a preschooler - and I honestly can't hum anything from Newman's 2 works and fewer from Arnold. Maybe it's just a sign of the times.
And you failed to read why I mentioned awards and Billboard. Go ahead and adore Arnold. That’s fine; he did some good work. But Newman is perfectly fine without Bond; he’s still going to score some of the best films every year. There is a reason he is one of the most sought after composers in the biz. And there is a reason Arnold is sitting on the sidelines. And those are facts.
And yet, these debates (or "debates") keep popping up, over and over.
Because that's what we do. The matter will never be settled and when it comes to Bond, we'll continue to bring up these issues. But a little of it in the "wrong" threads doesn't hurt. ;-)
Musical tastes are purely subjective. But in the most objective terms there are, Hamlisch's TSWLM score exceeded everything Barry had done in his previous seven films. Hamlisch was nominated for an Oscar for his score and his song (those are his peers speaking). And his song for TSWLM charted higher in the US than any of Barry's over the previous 15 years (that's the public speaking).
Peers and public, Grammies and charts, subjective, objective—Arnold is in good company.
I expect him to have a definite say in the script. I'm just unsure how that will evolve. He is a great storyteller, so I find his involvement reassuring.
Seconded.
I literally tweeted the same thing a day or 2 ago, just a different image/gif of Craig.
As for Newman I'm perfectly aware he's sought after and respected but he gave no respect to his job when it came to scoring SP, not that is it's worse crime.
Copy and paste of his SF score, he was more concerned scoring Bridge of Spies. Just hope whoever gets to score Bond 25 realises they are scoring a Bond film.
These well respected composers are all well and good but if they are just there to stamp there style all over and bring nothing of the Bond sound then no thanks.
I don't care what you've scored or what Oscars you have if you don't understand the remit of the assignment or aren't going to respect the legacy of the series, I'd rather see a so called out of work has been like Arnold who knows his job on board.
Spot on.
Better to let someone new have a go. I would love to hear someone truly be able to ape Barry's sound, but with a fresh twist.
I have always said that I don't think Arnold is the best composer, and that the series could do better. But give me a CR or QoS level score over Newman's aural anaesthetic any day of the week.
So it's with the awareness that things can be much worse that I say I would be happy with Arnold returning. He may not be the most original or talented composer, but at his best - as he was in CR and QoS, he delivers a very solid Bond score. Much better that than some lazy new age meditation soundtrack (Newman) or totally jarring inappropriate synthesiser score (Serra).
As you quite rightly said, it's not about Arnold being the best composer and winning tons of awards. It's about hiring someone who'll deliver the right sound and do a competent job. Why take the risk hiring a composer that just doesn't get it and wants to do his own thing? Or even worse, who is totally wrong for the job. I agree that I wasn't particularly impressed with both Arnold's TWINE or DAD scores, but CR was like another composer entirely. A vast improvement that still hasn't been bettered to this day, despite me having a hankering for his QoS work. The Bond sound doesn't need to be reinvented. It's the one thing that distinguishes it from the pack. After all, does MI disregard Lalo Schifrin's musical themes for something new? No, it embraces the old themes to the point where the soundtracks pretty much feel the same as to what went before. The only exception and misstep being the dreadful Hans Zimmer score for MI2.
So back to my original point. I believe hiring Arnold is better than hiring another Newman or some experimental New Age composer. Bond 25 needs to sound like Bond with a capital B.
In saying that, I've just listened to Clint Mansell's score for Sahara which I believe was orchestrated by Nicholas Dodd (Arnold's righthand man) so Mansell could be a good stand-in.
I have a distinct memory of reacting to Skyfall's score—a Newman score, no question—by being surprised just how Arnold-ish it was in spots. Tom really didn't bring any ego to that project, as far as my ear's concerned. He very much identified the sound of Bond (both contemporarily with Arnold, and classically with Barry) and played very respectably in that combined arena with his own contribution.
To be honest, I love the Skyfall score. As such an Arnold/Barry fan, I can't quite believe I think this, but it's one of my top 007 soundtracks.
The driving and classicaly distinctive Bond-ness of "The Bloody Shot."
The ambient, Fleming-inspired ambiguity of "Enjoying Death."
The relentlessly building tension of "Jellyfish."
The playful, classy warmth of "Close Shave."
The showstopping title song reprisal that opens "Komodo Dragon", a truly great Bond-arrival moment.
The tension-filled definitively Bond vibe of "Someone Usually Dies."
The perfection of the emotional rise, fall and relief in "Tennyson/Enquiry".
The classic Bond theme rendition in "Breadcrumbs".
The orchestral powerhouse "She's Mine" - as good as any Arnold finale track and embracing everything that an epic 007 score track should be.
The death and rebirth in "Mother", both an ending and a beginning captured perfectly in the character's realization.
And then that actual track, "Skyfall" -- more a sound than a song -- but one that so perfectly captures the emotion of the moment, a painful and suspect nostalgia that Bond warily reenters for the purpose of moving himself forward.
SPECTRE just let me down because of the direct lift-repeats. It has some beautiful work too, but pretty clear that either Mendes fell in love with a temp score (and wouldn't let Newman change it) or Newman himself just didn't have the same fire.
I think that's a pretty fair assessment of both Newman's SF score and Arnold. Though I find "The Bloody Shot" owes as much to Zimmer's modern action scoring than it does to anything resembling 'Bond-ness'. The rest is a pretty good summary of the good aspects of the score. Hugely effective in parts though not amongst my favourites.
Without Mendes, though, I feel Newman is definitely done now. I'd be happy with Arnold coming back as I am a fan, but I too would be happy to see someone else have a go in the composer's chair.
Agree, there's a Zimmer influence there. Being a fan of Hans, I was happy with that too. ;)
It's that particular section from about 1:40-2:20 (basically the "digger jump") that I just absolutely love so much. And where it repeats again later in "Deep Water." That's just Bond score perfection, to me. The way the brass takes over, the bold rhythm it drives -- sounds like something ripped right out of Goldfinger.
Not dissimilarly to how "Old Dog, New Tricks" (should have mentioned it above) feels like it could have been a Thunderball OST track, verbatim. I've never understood the criticism of Newman's work being too "ambient" for Bond, considering Barry himself was capable of some of the greatest ambience in the genre.
I can't wait to find out, stylistically, what we're in for with Bond 25. I'm confident it won't be Tom Newman. I'm hopeful it will be David Arnold. I just want someone who loves Bond, Bond music, and has enough fire to bring something interesting and new to a difficult job which also includes past reverence as part of its description.
To me, that's not a bad thing. It's the fun of the challenge.