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And to accompany your Seinfeld clip, I made this a few months back. :))
The Recording Academy didn't forget. They gave Newman a Grammy for SF. That's how kick@ss the OST was.
I hadn't noticed the difference until I saw that comment. Good spot.
Well I don't mind Skyfall, but it certainly makes you scratch your head that John Barry got no acknowledgement for his 007 soundtracks. Is SF a favourite soundtrack for you?
Excellent, and very fair review. There's very little I would argue with.
SF I can live with but we have severely diminishing returns here. The only moments that spring to mind as being decent are walking across the rooftops, driving towards the Coliseum, powersliding past the Vatican, finding the Vesper video, WOTW instrumental and driving towards the crater. That really isn't much in a 150 minute film.
The overwhelmingly naff MP cue (I think it's meant to be flirty and cheeky but it just makes me want to punch someone) is a particular bugbear and a serious factor in me finding Harris irritating.
And a 'Tanner theme'. Christ who knew? But you're absolutely correct. A new low even for Newman.
He is wrong about the 'Tanner theme' comment, though. Vauxhall Bridge is actually an original track and is fairly different from Skyfall's New Digs.
I'd jam screwdrivers into my ears. :))
Well I said he reused the theme, rather than completely regurgitated it note for note like he did with M's theme and Moneypenny's. It's much the same style. There are the same pauses for orchestral moments then back to the electronic beat section, just that those sections are played slower this time and the percussion element is lower in the mix. I'd call it Tanner's theme remixed. He has certainly used it as the basis of this effort.
Likewise you could say that he hasn't reused "The Moors" as they are new recordings and are not note for note matching the Skyfall track. But he is replaying the bass or the repetitive strings over an over, so in effect he is reusing it (at great length) just with some rearranging.
You don't have to convince me. If it's got Tanner's name attached I despise it.
It's like a sort of dance mix for bean counters.
Count yourself lucky then, it's a new track for you.
I do listen to tempus fugit , snow plane and backfire quite a bit. You can find the opening prelude on youtube its the same name as the first track but just add, "sxf" and "movie version", then download it using youtube to mp3.
Totally agree with this :D
Some things that came to mind while reading your review (and listening):
- At times, the sound of the score, with its prominent use of timpani and brass, is especially reminiscent of Zulu, which of course is also by John Barry.
- What I love the most in the main titles music is the transition between the very end of FRWL and the beginning of the Bond theme. Terrific stuff. The organ in the film version was played by Alan Haven, who also colaborated with Barry on The Knack and some other scores.
- The SPECTRE theme is really rather good, isn't it? It doesn't sound merely sinister, but also Machiavellian, scheming.
- Like in other Bond scores, the FRWL theme is used flexibly. In some scenes, it functions as a romantic theme for Bond and Tania, but in others it works as a general main theme for the film, providing connective tissue. For example, when Tania is going to meet with Klebb, or when Bond and Kerim go into the catacombs.
- As discussed in another thread some months ago, it's very likely the Krilencu cue was officially released as Mort De Krylenko in a French vinyl back in the day.
- I also enjoy the Zagreb Express theme. It features a Barry staple in how at first, the melody is played on horns/trombones and the harmony on trumpets, and then they switch roles, with the melody on trumpets and the harmony on horns/trombones.
- "Red Grant's massive cultural cock-up". :))
- I believe I read somewhere the Golden Horn is the name of the ferry in which Bond and Tania meet, so the eponymous piece was probably intended to be source music for that ferry scene.
- It's worth pointing out the harp in Guitar Lament is playing the Bond theme chromatic vamp. And as you say, the theme does sound like a variation on the FRWL instrumental; the beginning of the melody is identical to FRWL.
- If I'm not mistaken in following your labeling of the motifs, the Chess Match cue does in fact not feature the SPECTRE theme, but that "clock-sounding tune" heard right before the consulate explosion.
- I believe it was said elsewhere on these forums that the Dr. No suspense theme was in fact re-recorded for the FRWL boat scene. I'm not sure that is true, but I'm going to listen to both of them and compare them; I want to hear it for myself. Now, why bring that theme back? Well, perhaps the other tracks of the FRWL score didn't quite fit the boat scene. After all, it's a rather low-key score without much action music apart from the 007 theme. Now, if they actually re-recorded the Dr. No track, that complicates matters. Perhaps it was an order from above to create stronger musical continuity between the films?
- Last, but not least: just what version of the 007 theme is used in the gypsy camp attack? I've never really wondered until now, but listen to 1:52 of the video you posted of the scene-- the brief piccolo phrase. I can't believe I've never given this any thought, but the fact is that little moment is not present in identical form in either 007 theme rendition in the album. The phrase is heard at 2:12 of the track named 007, but underneath the trumpet melody, which is absent at 1:52 in the video. It could be assumed that they simply removed the trumpet for the film mix, but the fact is the film version of 007 is much faster than the 007 track, and I believe it's faster than even 007 Takes the Lektor (which doesn't feature the piccolo phrase, mind you). Am I nuts, or are we looking at another unreleased piece?
Spectre soundtrack review/
Skyfall soundtrack review/
@mattjoes thanks a lot for your comments. I’m going to have to check out 007 again to hear the differences.
I researched this 007 theme thing a bit further. I metronomed the different versions of the theme, and by my count:
a) The track named "007" plays at 149-151 bpm.
b) The track named "007 Takes the Lektor" plays at 157-163 bpm.
c) The film version of 007 in the gypsy camp scene plays at 167-169 bpm (audio here, taken from the FL channel for most clarity).
The film version must be different. If true, all that repetition of the "dada-dada-da-dada-daaaaa" (you know what I mean) is probably not due to editing, but because the theme was arranged that way for the film. Just by the tempo, the gypsy camp scene definitely does not use "007". The tempo is more similar to "007 Takes the Lektor", but the piccolo phrase heard in the film is missing from the track, so it can't be that either. And just by ear, "Lektor" appears to be slightly slower than the film version.
I also checked out that Death of Dr. No music. DN and FRWL present different edits of the cue, with some parts only heard in one version or the other, but it's the exact same recording as you had stated in your review. I verified this by taking a fragment common to both pieces and checking its length-- it's the same.
I trust the worst is behind you now!
That's interesting. I'd never noticed that "007" at the gypsy camp was a separate recording.
Thanks for checking out "Death Of Dr No". There's so much noise going on in both films that I never could hear that track clearly, though I suspected they were the same.