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Come on now.
Hardly.
The greater point would be that while Barry remained consistent, filmmaking changed. 90s actioners and adventure flicks, once we hit '94 and '95 especially, had evolved. Things were faster, leaner, more focused on bombast than elegance. Tony Scott, Michael Bay, Simon West etc.
Barry wasn't giving the studios what they wanted anymore - Carter Burwell being drafted to write "punchier" action cues for Mercury Rising is proof of that alone. The emergence in popularity of Remote Control film scores from Zimmer and his apprentices, focusing on that bombast, was no accident. Barry's closest effort would be The Specialist, a score which has excellent romance and suspense cues but for me falls a bit flat in the larger set pieces.
Now, even Brosnan's Bond flicks (for all the flack they get) are more elegant than 99% of blockbuster adventures that came out at the time, so I'm sure he would have managed. But the point is that Barry's style was, overall, being left behind at the time. It's one of the reasons why I like Arnold so much - he kept that Barry style in the background while punching it up with his own, so it all felt very consistent.
As for the idea that every film would benefit from a Barry score - I'm sorry, but nope. This is fundamentally false.
I don't think it's a slight on Barry whatsoever to say that things evolved around him. That happens in film and music. Things go out of style and then they come back around. Thankfully, outside of Bond at least, that style is starting to seep back in again.
“Did You Call Me?” would have been a nice piece for the Monte Carlo casino scenes for sure.
Indeed...
This is one of the comments on YouTube.
"I always imagined the casino scene in "Goldeneye" with this soundtrack-that film so needed this impeccable 007 inspired soundtrack-most particularly the sweeping strings part at 1:19-so distinctively Barry and so undeniably Bond."
I am working to splice in the “Did You Call Me?” cue in the casino scene on Youtube just for fun. Kind of a more difficult process than all other music splicing I’ve done with Barry inserted into GE.
Here’s what I did before:
I resent that remark. I wouldn't and couldn't, for the life of me, "bash" John Barry. Three decades of epic Barry scores for the Bonds... who, in their right mind, could argue with those? I'm even willing to take a stance for his TMWTGG score, often treated as somehow inferior.
But even a Barry fan like myself must--and it grieves me to do so--acknowledge the fact that while he still composed excellent music in the '90s (Dances With Wolves, The Specialist, ...), the Bonds would eventually walk away from Barry's elegant strings and flowers into an era of more bombast, as already stated by others.
I know the awesomeness of the score for The Specialist. It's not a very good movie but I went looking for the score like a madman. In times when it was declared out of print, I paid over 80 dollars to get my hands on an unused copy. Often have I dreamed of experiencing LTK with Barry's score for the Specialist instead of Kamen's score. So please don't talk to me about being a Barry basher. I mourned the man's death for a long time. But apart from being a Barry fan, I'm also realistic enough to understand that the Brosnan era, especially GE, would most likely not have found much compatibility with Barry. I won't apologise for that statement since there's nothing wrong with it.
I appreciate your job in trying to fit Barry's music in here, but IMO they don't work. The gunbarrel and the Bond theme as Bond drives the tank are pretty good (though I think the GE gunbarrel fits the movie better) and because I'm not a huge fan of Altman's track I actually prefer Barry's rendition of the theme to underscore the tank chase.
As for the 007, it's too lighthearted. It just doesn't work in a scene where Bond is destroying the town and chasing the bad guys to save the girl. It almost makes it feel like a parody.
The OHMSS title song, on the other hand, is too dramatic for the ski chase in TWINE. The OHMSS theme song is my most favourite piece of Bond music (besides the Bond theme) because it's an epic big scale piece and it makes you feel like Bond is facing his most dangerous mission yet. It works in OHMSS because the ski chase is full of tension; Bond is completely unarmed and escaping not only from SPECTRE goons but from Ernst Stavro Blofeld himself. The ski chase in TWINE feels very low-key compared to OHMSS', maybe because it's just Bond vs. the goons, maybe because he never feels in danger or maybe because the chase itself isn't that good.
With each Bond actor Barry stepped up to the plate to give them each their own individual Bondian sound, particularly in regards to the Bond theme. Strings for Roger, drum machine for Tim and so forth.
I really loved Barry's arrangement of the Bond theme for Lazenby.
Fun to speculate.
Looks like Dan Romer is going for a cello for Craig
Craig also deserves one big bombastic rendition of the Bond theme at some point. How many more films must the man do before his Bond has earned it?
Let's face it - the one easy thing Romer can do to GUARANTEE every Bond fan gets on board with his score is doing a rendition of the 007 theme.
If he did that, the pressure would be immediately off. Hell, ever the Arnold fans (like me) would be cheering him on to do the next Bond film too.
Absolutely. I do miss David Arnold but I'll keep an open mind (and ear) for Romer. I'm all for experimenting but there are a few easy tricks to win us over and a rousing rendition of the theme would do it. Yeah, we got a bit of it when the DB5 is unveiled in Skyfall but otherwise we haven't had it used in an action scene since Die Another Day. I'm all for limiting the use of it, but it's been long enough.
Look, there are two things we can all agree on that are absolutely necessary for the Bond 25 score.
And then there are some 'elements' (by lack of a better word) I think would elevate the score and get the fans on board. To me, these include:
But I totally agree with everyone here that a thunderous rendition of the Bond theme is what we deserve and need. Not the 'hints' Newman sprinkled through his scores, but soaring high, à la TND. I'm still a bit angry we didn't get anything when the plane crashed through the barn in SP. Compared to the Bond Theme Arnold gave us in TWINE when Bond hit the water in the Q boat... Boy.
I’m not setting rules for how Romer can make a great Bond score. I just want him to deliver what’s right for the film, regardless of the franchise.
What's right for a Bond film in essence is evoking or reworking John Barry. Modernise it by all means (Arnold did a great job evoking 70's Barry in QoS, even though the Bond theme wasn't used), but it must sound like a Bond film, and that is the DNA of John Barry.
Radically departing from that kind of sound, and giving us a trendy atmos Netflix drama background 'noise', because it appears to suit the film won't do Romer or his director any favours with Bond fans in the long run.
If that happens, a few years from now Romer will be thought of in the same way Newman now is by the Bond fan community - not very high at all.
Whatever Romer does, I hope it’s engrossing and not too slavish to Barry. Bond deserves to move forward and not become stagnant.
I've just wtched the trailer for 'Skin', which Romer has said uses his feature score. his score in the trailer hasn't convinced me to watch the entire film:
I wouldn't mind if they teamed Romer up with a more seasoned composer to help. It's not uncommon. On blade Runner 2049, Hans Zimmer worked with the less well-known Benjamin Wallfisch.
Maybe get someone like Michael Giacchino to assist. We still haven't got official word from Eon.
Basically..........at the moment, I fear Romer could still depart the film if Eon are unsatisfied. His position is the most precocious. Remember, we still haven't got official word from Eon.
Though I'm wishing him the best. I wanna see this guy smash it.
Romer isn't doing the score? @DoctorNo
Isn't he, do you have some kind of scoop on this?
Although EON hasn't announced it he has said he is and no one apart from yourself has said anything different.
Spill the beans @007Blofeld.
Oh, and I do think we may hear a snippet of "Under the Mango Tree" subtly put in at sometime during a scene in Jamaica. Because I think some subtle nods will be part of what Cary gives us. I don't see him being OTT though in any nods; hope not, but I don't think he will go that route.