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QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Music composed by
DAVID ARNOLD
That's hardly a defeat though for QOS, who end this contest as the second highest rated non-Barry entry, as well as the most popular one from the Wilson-Babs post-1990 era.
Unsurprisingly since QOS collected five top 5's: one gold medal, two silvers and two bronzes. One 8th and one 9th spot were also noted.
Additionally, ten more top 15's were given to our Academy's favourite of the David Arnold scores.
However, there was also a last place finish, by far the highest ranked entry that ended up as someone's bottom choice. QOS was given two more bottom 5's.
In total QOS's original music received 129 points.
Awardwise there was another BMI Film Music Award win for David Arnold, as well as an Empire and a Sattelite Award nomination.
Top 10 (chronologically ranked) :
FRWL
GF
TB
YOLT
OHMSS
DAF
LALD
MR
AVTAK
TLD
Eliminated :
11. QOS
12. OP
13. CR
14. TND
15. TMWTGG
16. TSWLM
17. LTK
18. DAD
19. TWINE
20. SF
21. GE
22. FYEO
23. CR67
24. DN
25. SP
26. NSNA
This to me is the kind of score Thomas Newman should have (and could have) done. It's modern, occasionally minimalistic, but always memorable and engaging.
CR is one of my least favourites though as I find it quite unexceptional, but for QOS Arnold finds the right balance.
His previous scores often vary between excellent cues and a few chaotic ones as well, but for QOS the tracks are fantastic throughout. Special mention also for that phenomenal end title track.
:))
You're absolutely correct of course. I have to laugh though because I wrote and deleted a bit about how great the Blu-Ray menu music is...!
I love it so much - and yes, I should've specified "blu-ray," since the 4K versions took the lazy route and copied the SF blu-ray main menu atmosphere, so they're all in a similar format. It was a bad tweak when the original blu-ray style and music was so great.
Agreed, especially because AWTD is just not good enough.
I'd rank any of Barry's Bond scores above LALD, which seems to me pretty lightweight -- and I'd include McCartney's title song in that judgment.
While I champion the earliest of Arnold's scores for Bond (Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, even Die Another Day to a similar degree) and consider them right up there with this one, I do think Quantum of Solace is his most accomplished work for Bond to date. Others have praised various parts of the score already, including the elegant "No Good About Goodbye" theme, the mysterious Quantum theme that's explored at its fullest in "Night at the Opera," and my favorite cue, the perfectly scored and deeply melancholy "What's Keeping You Awake?"
But there's much excellence throughout from one brief cue to the next: the slinky and playful "Field Trip," the pulsing electronics and snarling Bondian brass of "Oil Fields," the simultaneously cathartic and sobering farewell between Bond and Camille in "The Dead Don't Care About Vengeance" that segues wonderfully into an icy transition with chimes evocative of Russia. And I haven't even touched on "Inside Man," "Talamone," "Forgive Yourself," "Camille's Story," "I Never Left," or the very cool closing collaboration by David Arnold and Four Tet, "Crawl, End Crawl."
I would love to have seen what Arnold might have done with Skyfall, but I am confident that one day, as with 007 himself, David Arnold will return.
The "No Good About Goodbye" motif adds a great deal to the score, as well. It shows up in little doses but it absolutely fits like a glove ("Talamone" is a particular favorite rendition of it). The song itself, sung by Shirley Bassey, is the perfect complement to the soundtrack album. It's a great one and I love how it comes to an end. It begins to wind down at about 3:50; the instrumentation grows smaller as Bassey says "no good about goodbye" over and over again, and finally the cello brings the whole thing to a close.
Back to QoS, at 2:15 in "Time to Get Out" there is a stretch where brass and strings play five-note phrases. That part reminds me of John Barry in how it doesn't feel the need to fill every beat with something-- there's more room to breathe, musically. It reminds me a bit of the brass chords in "Moon Buggy Ride".
Another track I like is "No Interest in Dominic Greene", with those intriguing woodwind/harp figures, and that gorgeous brass/strings passage at 1:42 that I think is just loaded with emotional content when played in that key. It reoccurs in "Night at the Opera" among other tracks. For some reason that brass part I mention makes me think of John Barry's 90s scores-- things like The Specialist. In fact, it's a good comparison to make-- Quantum of Solace is David Arnold's The Specialist: a low-key but compelling score. (I know not everything has to be compared to Barry but I can't resist).
"Night at the Opera" itself is another highlight of the score. Accordingly, it has received concert treatment. It's stylish, mysterious and musically economical in the best way.
The second half of "Camille's Story" is for me among the most "different" parts in any Bond score, but it's quite beautiful and it goes fantastically well with the scene.
Another highlight for me is "Have You Ever Killed Someone?" which brings back a musical idea from "Time to Get Out" against heavy, driving percussion.
The last part of "Perla de las Dunas", first with the trumpets, and then with the Bond theme, is quite remarkable. I never thought I'd hear the Bond theme played like that. A really fierce, sinister version that perfectly goes with what's happening on the screen.
And I like the score's references to "Another Way to Die". They are brief but they tie the music of the film together. I particularly like the one at the end of "Greene & Camille" which is combined with "No Good About Goodbye" and the Bond theme chromatic vamp. Brilliant stuff. (Edit: a bit random perhaps, but the way in which all those ideas are linked reminds me of the overture of Lawrence of Arabia in how, towards the end, Jarre takes three musical ideas introduced before and combines them.)
This score has a minimalistic, more serious approach compared to the other ones by Arnold, which is why I prefer his early Brosnan efforts, but this is not to say it's worse, it's just different because the film demands it.
GOLDFINGER
Music composed by
JOHN BARRY
GF's highest finish was one second place. In addition it obtained four 3rd places, three 4th places and one 5th place. Six more top 10's were noted.
The lowest score was one 22nd place, the only bottom 5 it received.
In total GF's original music received 137 points.
John Barry was nominated for the Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show at the Grammy's.