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Can you be more specific?
'Mother' in Skyfall is only heard when 'M' is present, making it her motif. In SP it's then used again, when we see her on a recording in Bond's apartment.
Is that what you would consider plundering?
That is the truth. And that's why I'm afraid for Bond25.
I can't agree with you here.
People said the exact same thing about Newman, and—regardless of where his work falls in your own personal tastes—he had zero trouble matching and delivering the "big" sound we've come to expect from Bond. "The Bloody Shot", "She's Mine", "Backfire" and more instantly come to mind.
And Dan Romer, like Newman, is a supreme talent above all else. He's already demonstrated tremendous versatility in his work and I've no doubt he can capture the sound of Bond.
The real, more intriguing question to me will be: what type of film is Fukunaga's Bond 25 and thus, what kind of sound will it demand to compliment it?
For me OMHSS is still the high water mark. Journey to Blofelds hideaway is a piece I can play over and over. Sunday morning first thing making a coffee. What a start to the day. 👍🏻
If I'm hard pressed to pick an all-time favourite 007 score track, it's probably indeed that one. A lot of Bond musical perfection in that score. I wear it out listening to it every Christmas.
I did a whole thread of soundtrack reviews on here, and I did SP track by track. I can’t be more specific than I was in that. Off the top of my head he uses The Bloody Shot (or the other pts cue) in the helicopter fight, he uses his Skyfall in the funeral scene and again for Mr White, pts again in Backfire, and he runs (and runs) The Moors through 5 tracks for the London finale. Now that’s what I call plundering.
Count me in, the same. Was listening to it yesterday. :D
I'm really fascinated over the subject of the SPECTRE soundtrack, so I created a thread that's much more focused on that, so that this thread can be more geared toward Bond 25 and Romer's hiring and potential. Feel free to post thoughts.
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/19240/spectres-reuse-of-the-skyfall-cues-the-good-the-bad-and-the-inexplicable/p1?new=1
That cue was down to Peter Hunt not John Barry. Barry had left that moment with the SPECTRE helicopter being shot down unscored, possibly due to postproduction running extremely late and having to play catch up with the rest of the film's score. The one advantage Barry had to aid him complete the compositions was having Bart's title song in advance and of course the James Bond theme, which he used throughout. That's not to mention a couple of scores that appear on the LP that weren't included in the movie. Don't ask me why they weren't included as that's down to Peter Hunt and not Barry.
Fast-forward and the use of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture plus Elmer Bernstein's theme from The Magnificent Seven were just a continuation of the goofball silliness of TSWLM where Marvin Hamlisch first used the theme from Lawrence of Arabia and it becoming a trend with the subsequent two films in the series similarly referencing 'classic' film music within their scores. Another reason why I dislike this period in Bond history and refuse to hold it up as a shining example.
I'll be honest, I never noticed the reused cues from SF in SP. Maybe because both scores were so bland and bromidic that they both just washed over me. The only two cues that I can distinctly remember from either film, is the track called "Los Muertos Vivos Estan" which I thought was great (probably due to Tambuco more so than Newman) and "Komodo Dragon" from SF, which was down to the producer's insistence that an interpolation of Adele's song be included. Some claim that wasn't even Newman, but I don't know the real truth, and quite frankly I don't really care as Newman's entire score does nothing for me.
It's something like a dozen tracks out of 30 that are recycled.
Thomas Newman's work has sometimes performed better than a pop single of old. The downloads and usages of his cues for AMERICAN BEAUTY are heard millions of times a day via the various cell networks using the cues.
Way too many Bond music fans think they have found and can emulate the Bond sound. The truth is the Bond sound has many facets and tangents - whether on the title song or soundtrack cues - and sounding like Bond is exactly what tends to be ignored. To repeat my initial thought... the best Bond musical works (especially the title anthems) tend to not be the obvious. "Bondian" sounding tunes would rarely actually make good Bond songs in a real Bond film.
Why would Dan Romer want to or even be able to come up with something "generic" and "flavourless" for Bond? That is not why he has been hired.
Yes, there is already a younger zeal about the look and palette of this film and yes that also applies too to Mr Craig. Bash A VIEW TO A KILL because it is easy, by all means. But not everyone - especially some of those now charged with the creative decisions of Bond - are against that film. The very opposite. Not liking something isn't the same as it being creatively terrible. One might say that Thomas Newman is "vapid" but then others highly rate a great amount of his work.
The Louis Armstrong comment was regarding how in the height of 1969 and a very different cultural, youth steered culture and movie culture, it was a brave move to attach a song to a film from a jazz legend when younger audiences were hitchhiking back from Woodstock. It worked brilliantly of course and the right choice was made, but it was a brave call when the younger audiences needed to chime with Bond.
And yes - Bond has always evolved with his times and cinema's times. BOND 25 will feel very different in parts to CASINO ROYALE as cinema is an ever evolving beast.
But you're right when you say "others highly rate a great amount of his (Newman's) work" though, I might add, there appears to be little love shown here on this Bond forum for it. I could also say "others" highly rate DAF, but it's difficult to quantify and add support to my own belief that this Bond movie is still of a high-caliber, even if I use its huge box office receipts to back it up. Of course, you're going to get exceptions that like something that many others do not. Ed Sheeran case in point. I happen to love the Louis Armstrong song and also love the way Barry incorporated it into his score, but it was a song that didn't bow to the contemporary hipster landscape around it, which is at odds with what you're saying about continually moving forward. If anything, the song had two feet planted firmly in the past. A modern day example would be perhaps like getting Smokey Robinson to perform a romantic ballad on B25 and having it as your only featured song in the movie. Notice I don't include Do you Know How Christmas Trees are Grown? because it's played incomplete and faintly in the background. Then again, that sounds more traditional than counterculture contemporary for '69. But Barry could get away with anything because he's bloody brilliant.
Not wanting to pick apart everything you say, but you make it sound like we're experiencing a continued Golden Age of Hollywood when it's the complete opposite. Poorly-received remakes (reboots) and a plunge in U.S. box office receipts every year paint a different picture entirely of an evolving cinema. Like the current apathy towards new homogeneous music governed by algorithms, movies are stuck in a creative rut thanks mostly to the guys in suits not taking creative risks anymore. However, Bond is the exception due to its long established tradition that relies heavily on delivering what made it successful over the course of its 50 year life. I seem to recall Cubby saying to his daughter: "It's okay if you screw it up, but don't let anybody else screw it up for you." He said that for a reason and he meant that she should keep creative control. I'm not so sure she kept to that advice with Mendes and the same applies to Fukunaga.
For the record, I don't know how B25 is going to look or sound. It might be absolutely astounding and Romer ends up knocking it out of the symphonic bandstand. But past experiences have taught me not to be over-exuberant and to set my expectations much lower. I'm still a big fan of the series but that doesn't mean I'm going to fawn over every single artistic decision that gets made because it's a Bond movie and as a consequence does everything right, because that's clearly not the case. Secondly, we've waited five years for this movie, so it's going to have to be beyond run-of-the-mill for me to get excited by. Sadly, Romer doesn't excite me. I'm hoping he can change my mind.
On a side note, Young disliked Norman's score and would've preferred William Walton instead.
Thanks for that information.
I'm ok with this style.
The perfect chill out music after such a troublesome production. :>
I have a feeling we will be getting a Dr No-Thunderball styled film. Very retro. I haven’t been that impressed with any of the Craig Soundtracks besides Casino Royale.
Komodo Dragon is probably my favorite, Istanbul, Day Of The Dead, Backfire are not terrible.
I’m hoping Dan can bring something different than his previous projects. Fingers crossed.
"Sleepwalking in the Rift", "Far Cry", "Beasts of No Nation", "Maniac" are all very different instrumentally, stylistically, tonally. Listen to "Maniac" and then "Sleepwalking..." and you'll notice how different this scores. Can even think that two different composers created them.
Yeah I spotified them all.
I see what you mean, but they all have the trademark plucky string that he does.
Maniac definitely has some potential Bond vibes. That’s a physiological thriller just like Bond is rumored to be. So could get something similar.
A trademark is not the same as sounding always the same.
I mean they all sound the same to me.. It’s the same plucky string and synths. Maniac is probably his best work.
They don't all sound the same.
That one would be so nice as background music while working. :-?
Really?? Just sounded dreary and plodding to me. Arnold's Venice theme is far superior.
Well said. I'm really not looking forward to Bond 25 at all now. The score is a big thing for me in a Bond film. EON are just showing once again they are no longer fit to run the franchise anymore.