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That frequently happens ;-). I don't mind.
I don't deny that Arnold track is good but up with Barry's best romantic Bond themes not a chance.
Nothing will ever be as good as Barry, but I'd rather have Arnold on a good day than anyone else at the moment, to be honest.
As for Beatles/Oasis - Both are great albums, both are my favourite bands, but Be Here Now is my all time favourite album (yes, better than Definitely Maybe, WTS and Revolver).
Now I know I am in the minority with that one....
I can understand why, but there could actually be several composers who could do a better job. We won't know until we hear it though which is why I'm all for variety in this post-Barry era until Bond finds a comparable musical voice again.
I think Arnold on a good day is pretty decent and I don't have too many complaints about his best work, which I think is probably CR and QoS.
However, I find the idea that all Bond music from henceforth should sound like Barry rip-offs pretty depressing. It's that approach that gave us the greatest hits Brosnan era of Bond movies - nothing new, just endless poor imitations of the Moor era .
As someone else said Barry himself was not above experimentation and new influences. Many of his scores, while distinctively Barry, also have a contmporary sound that makes them very much of their decade. TLD is a good example - timeless in some respects, but also a lot of 80s inflections, which makes it all the more fun to listen to IMO.
What I'd love to see is someone new and immensely tallented come along and do something completely different, but as brilliant as Barry. Perhaps George Martin came closest, as one of the comments above suggested.
Newman just doesn't cut it for me he is the worst of both worlds. He's ditched the Barry sound but doesn't seem to have the ability to actually do something staggeringly wonderful in its place, so we end up with very bland wallpaper music. In this context, I'd much prefer Arnold's Barry rip-off style to Newman's personality-less tedium.
:!!
Seconded on this one.
This is another post this day :-). Sorry, I couldn't agree more. The thing I love about Thomas Newman's score is actually that it's not so "straight into your face". Some tracks you need to listen more often to appreciate them. But for me that's also the charm about it.
Moreover, if one really listens carefully, he actually uses quite a lot of cues from Monty Norman's James Bond theme. But then again, since David Arnold didn't want to fully include it anymore since CR, it has become a trend to use it sparingly. If you don't like it...perhaps write David Arnold for his "trendsetting capabilities" ;-).
And saying that Newman "completely ditched the Barry sound" goes too far for me. If there's one element Newman can handle, then it are strings.
"Severine" (very TMWTGG-esque, Andrea Anders theme):
"Someone Usually Dies" (strong, mysterious sounding):
"Old Dog, New Tricks" (wunderful DAF-esque playfulness, the kind of "source" music Barry always did so wel, like casino sequences. sadly not included in the final cut of the film):
"Komodo Dragon" (regardless how this track was realized, the end result is wunderful):
"The Bloody Shot" (very John Powell-esque, slightly more structured, good rhytmn with that "heartbeat"):
"Enquiry" (repeat of percussion can be so effective, especially when you only take the "heartbeat" as a rhytmn):
"Deep Water" (48 sec's and onwards, wunderful! epic! great mix):
It's not a love letter to Monty norman and Barry, but it comes very close to recreating aspects if the classic scores while venturing into new territory.
It's not hate - more disappointment. The SF score it not actively awful, just bland.
People are entitled to opinions and can gesticulate about what does and doesn't comprise a good score, but given we're discussing Bond films I regard this statement as fact.
That....subtleness is what I truly appreciate about it :-).
You also like the romantic Snow Job in TWINE, yet don't like Vesper's theme in CR...?
Something is not adding up here...
No.
For the very simple reason. Every Bond film, needs his own kind of score. For the sheer fun and 90's happiness, the trach "Backseat Driver is perfect. And I love that piece of music.
But it's not interchangeable with, let's say, "Skyfall". Well, that's my opinion. "Skyfall" is a film with a lot of thematical layers, subtleties and narratives, that deserves an equally complex score. Hence Thomas Newman.
So: I appreciate the subtleness of the score within the mainframe of the film "Skyfall". And I love the straight-into-your-face fun-scoring from Arnold's score in "Tomorrow Never Dies".
What's wrong with that. I can appreciate and like many elements of Bond films. Taste is so damn subjective. There's no need to use a compass for it and measure it on a scale of "black" and "white". It'll never hold up :-).
Ok, and Vesper's theme vs Snow Job?
If Newman could reinvent the sound like we've been waiting for instead of just delivering something that sounds like umpteen other films he's scored before, though I don't believe he's the kind of composer capable of that.
Michael Giacchino did such a wonderful job with The Incredibles but then he delivered a hugely memorable score for both JJ ST films. Considering you've had the likes of Goldsmith and Horner, MG scores still sounds comparable to those greats but it's not a sound alike exercise it sounds like someone who wanted to stamp themselves on the series.
Bond needs this kind of composer, Arnold was granted getting there with QOS and sorry I'll take that over the likes of Back seat driver, the Propellerheads are OK for some tribute project but to fill in your inadequacies for the score of a Bond film? Arnold's collaboration with Four Tet was much more inventive.
I watched Octopussy last night for the first time since I'd got the Blu ray box set and while it's far from Barry's best score it still has more than a few memorable cues, yes there is recycling going on but Barry did this better than any composer I know and it still sounded inventive.
Newman's problem is he wants variety, composer these days seem scared of repetition, maybe Barry's score didn't show a wide variety in each film and yes he did rearrange the same tune allot. Over and Out and Ski Chase are basically the same tune as OHMSS but they are arranged differently and given in the case SC are more subtle work over whereas OAO is actually slowed right down with an emphasis on atmosphere than excitement.
Less is more and unless someone can do Giacchino and deliver something new and inventive, we are destined to get Barry sound a likes or unmemorable mood music.
I'm willing to see what Arnold can do after a break and I kind of hope Mendes doesn't come back so Arnold gets utilised again.
But given a choice between Newman and Arnold, I'd take Arnold at the present time.
Hmmm... I thought they collaborated well on American Beauty. Newman's score for that film was, even I admit, very good. But their other work that I've watched I haven't been all that impressed with. I find Newman's scores give the films a very detached quality - at their best, they have a dreamy, floaty quality. In American Beauty that worked well. But in Road to Perdition it just contributed to a general 'flatness' to the film. His music acts like a sonic levelling compound - everything gets evened out, with no scene particularly differentiated from another. I thought the same about SF. Bland and undifferentiated mood music.
Mendes doesn't always work with Newman though. The soundtrack for Away We Go includes specially commissioned songs from Alexi Murdoch, and is actually very good.
Andre Desplat is a composer I'd give a shot although he seems to be filling in for John Williams on our first Star Wars spin off Rogue One.
I'm sure there must be someone out there can give the score a whole new spin but it remains to be seen whether EON want that or not or maybe BB & MGW think Arnold is their Barry and he'll return once Mendes has moved on.
Casting Craig is the single most brilliant thing I think Babs has done. It was genius on her part to see his potential and pursue him with such determination. I have a lot of respect for her. The Craig era is very far from being my favourite, but in my view her decision to cast Craig saved the series from irrelevance.
Casting Craig is the single most brilliant thing I think Babs has done. It was genius on her part to see his potential and pursue him with such determination. I have a lot of respect for her. The Craig era is very far from being my favourite, but in my view her decision to cast Craig saved the series from irrelevance.