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The video blog has some humor with using that r&b rap track, but with this composer i expect should have it from litle cues/elements and confirm in my opnion from what we see are more inportent.
Music can destroy the beautifull things we see. Calm music for beach scenes and mabey a bit up thempo for cuba. The music track of Spectre Mexico City was great before helicopter scene and fado singer in between very nice.
Listening to this music now. Its really similar to the best parts of Newmans work on Skyfall and Spectre. This strikes me as a positive as it wont feel out of place and will connect well with the two previous films.
Regarding the news of Dan Romer as the composer for ‘Bond 25’ - color me excited! I instantly went over to YouTube and listened to some of his tracks from Beasts of No Nation, FarCry , & Maniac and was struck by how eclectic his sound/percussive elements are. Very refreshing, especially after having been disappointed with the last two Bond scores from Thomas Newman.
Like some others here, I would’ve loved to see David Arnold back in the composer’s seat, especially with this film presumably being Daniel Craig’s last, but I feel that Romer’s musical sensibilities and experimental sound will maybe be what the franchise needs.
This I love very much, so much so that I once used it as temp score for a short film. Still not very Bondian to me, but incredibly effective especially when you visualise the respective scene it accompanies.
+1
I feel the same way about GE’s score too. It’s dated, but at the same time, one of the best of the more “modern” Bond scores - a classic in its own right, imo.
Certainly not a copy-and-paste, no. But there could be some interesting philosophical overlap.
Who knows? The best part of the fun will be finding out!
Confirmed by Romer, it seems:
Come on, that was ages ago. I think Romer will fit the style that Cary wants. As long as it it fitting, truly appropriate for the film, I'm okay. I'm relieved he's chosen someone he has worked with. Also he is certainly not Mendes. I don't think he chose Romer just for comfort or get along with personality; I think he is confident Romer can put the music into the film the way that Cary wants it to be. I'm staying positive because I trust Cary as director.
Of course, I do want a great theme song, sure - and I want it subtly woven in at times. But I'm not set in cement on anything regarding music because I am trusting Cary to deliver us a beautifully filmed (thank you, Cary and Sandgren), good story told very well. I think it will be visually exciting and moving ... and the music needs to fit that (not my/our preconceptions from previous Bond films).
Just a tiny bit disappointed Arnold isnt returning to close out Craig's era.
Edit: Totally forgot about Maniac, loved the show and the soundtrack!
I sensed (perhaps unfairly) that Mendes didn't care about Bond or certainly not the music so much. I love Skyfall to this day (do NOT start a Skyfall bashing here; I don't want this thread derailed) but the music was definitely disappointing to me (only major flaw I found for that beautiful Bond film).
I think the music will not be just an add on; I think Cary knows music is important to a film.
From the examples I've heard, it sounds like Bond 25 will be another moody Newman type job, which I'm sick to death of. I was really hoping Arnold would have returned. It was the one thing I was holding out for (that, and some unused Fleming scenes).
So I'm already disappointed now by Bond 25 from the choice of composer. Here's hoping we at least get a few lifted Fleming scenes (although again, wishful thinking.)
I really think the producers need to sell the franchise on to people who know what they are doing with Bond. I think Babs and Wilson's time is up.
Cubby knew he needed to stick with Barry whenever possible, and he also knew he had to still rely on Fleming, even during the 80's when the novel titles dried up. Short stories and scenes were still heavily relied upon. Other than CR, we haven't seen any Fleming scenes adapted since LTK in 1989. Instead, we've had to suffer poor attempts at `Fleming re-imagined' by P&W.
The main issue is that those guys are not musicians at all, they are mere sound manipulators with their synthesizers , strange noises and beeps... Forget the melodic line, the orchestra, the good mix of old and new. Why don't they cast real musicians?
And his score is a big misfire to my ears. It is quite a relief when they use another composer for the tank chase in Moscow.
If Dan Romer is hired that late in the production cycle (while the composer is usually announced during the big press conference or presentation that usually marks the beginning of production), it brings a few elements of information:
- It is a vote of confidence by EON on Fukunaga. Rumours of "mutiny" by the crew, of dissent? They give an important position to one guy he brought to their attention. Along with the writing credit, it's more than a sign that they trust Fukunaga in a major capacity.
- Dan Romer had most likely time to write demos or even to put them on some edited footage.
If EON had reasons to accept that Mendes would prefer to work with Thomas Newman (who had by then a ton of references with Soderbergh, Pixar, Ron Howard, and then would be Spielberg's pick to take John Williams' mantle on Bridge of Spies, not to mention that he's part of the Newman dynasty), Romer was most likely an unknown element, even if brought by Fukunaga. They wouldn't risk a blind buy on him. My guess is that they were willing to wait for what he had in store for this project, as they still had David Arnold ready to work for them if Romer didn't deliver the goods.
What will the score sound like? I have zero idea. David Arnold does fine pastiches of John Barry, with some electro elements added to the mix, but he has never really delivered anything as marking or iconic as any of the sixties scores by Barry. Thomas Newman had more of an impressionistic approach to the scores, he was also working on Mendes' instructions, and Mendes didn't give him many opportunities to experiment, especially on Spectre ("Los Muertos Vivos Estan" is a lovely exception).
Once again, to my ears, a great score would honour the legacy of the franchise, feature some leitmotive, and some bold brass at some point, but also carry the film into some uncharted territories, just like Barry wouldn't repeat himself between Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, or between YOLT and OHMSS. Barry wasn't afraid to experiment with the Moog synth on OHMSS, and he was originally hired because he could quickly write arrangements rather than for the compositions that later made him famous, so Romer could also deliver something that's not totally in line with his previous scores, not Bondian with a risk of being a pastiche, but something fresh and subversive.
I don't agree with this at all, and I think it's a little insulting.
Film composing is a wondrous creative landscape that allows for an unlimited range of melodies, sounds and flavours to enrich the film the music is supporting. It's not about writing great music to stand on its own, although that's always a nice bonus. It's about creating an engrossing cinematic experience that feels right and feels honest and emphasizes the emotions for the audience that the experience has been specifically designed to produce.
Melody is part of that. Sound is part of that. Ambience is part of that. It's all the same toolbox, and as stories and narratives and characters' inner lives become increasingly complex (and real) in the way they're depicted on screen, so should the music that supports them.
Just because the first trumpet part or the principle violin aren't carrying an instantly recognizable leitmotif for 120 straight minutes doesn't mean that an ambient score—synthesized or otherwise—can't get the job done in a compelling way.
There is no absolute right answer. It's all about the experience.
And I say this as a 'classic' Bond music fan in the sense that David Arnold could return, deliver an absolute pastiche near-copy of the Goldfinger score, and I'd love it to death. But as much as I'd love to always stay firmly in that John Barry sandbox, the series can't—and won't—survive if it simply played it that safe all the time.
I sympathize with the hesitation, believe me. I thought very differently about this not all that long ago. But at this point, I'm all for rolling the dice with a new voice and a new sound that respects and builds on the old.
Some really cool-sounding music from this show by Romer. I don't know how his Bond will sound, but I imagine something different from anything we've heard before.
"You Know My Name" from "Casino Royale".