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But Arnold was still on top of his game, even after 5 films.........i mean Barry wasn't sidelined after 5 films. I think it was all down to Mendes, as he wanted his own composer for his Bond films.
David Arnold isn’t John Barry. I rather see EON keep a revolving door of composers. There’s so much talent out there. I rather not see it wasted on just one composer.
Also it was actually Newman who asked for the gig once he heard the news of Mendes being hired.
If it hadn't been for Mendes the producers would have kept Arnold. Babs praises Arnold's work on CR in the Being James Bond documentary.
And yet they went with Zimmer anyway, despite that praise for Arnold.
Definitely on the cards. 👍
The last 20 seconds of The Factory definitely sounds like Gumbold's Safe.
Eric Serra’s effort was better than anything Arnold accomplished.
My issue with Arnold is he that while he may know how to play the Bond sound it’s not the same as knowing how to score a film. Scenes like with Bond and Paris Carver at the hotel room are ruined by Arnold’s over-dramatic approach.
Knowing how to score a film is more important than knowing the Bond sound. That’s the difference between a real composer like John Barry and a lesser one like David Arnold.
No, no , no! Ah I know you aren't a fan of Arnold MP, but no!
John Barry loved Arnolds work by the way :
John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; "He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered."
Edit; Re: the Shaken and Stirred album, before he got he TND gig.
Sorry but definitely not..........the score Serra used for the car chase between Bond and Onatopp was silly. Anyway has Serra ever scored a Bond film since. No of course not. That must say something?.........:)
That’s why I rank the scores by Hamlisch, Conti, Kamen, Serra, Newman, and now Zimmer higher. They use the Bond sound but not at the expense of their own distinctive sound. It’s the Bond sound done their way, as opposed to Arnold trying to preserve the Barry sound.
Yeah, I can hear that a bit.
In fact that particular theme/motif/sound that Hans uses throughout the score just...generally sounds very OHMSS inspired. As that's my favourite Bond score, hearing NTTD full through was like a dream the first time.
Those ambient evil vibes...sweeping strings...absolutely stinging and powerful horns....just a dream for me.
You must be joking. Serra's effort was -awful.- No connection to anything remotely 007ish. Arnold, on the other hand, brought his retro A game to TND. Not a single redeeming track on GE except for the title song, which is excellent.
I disagree. I don’t want a retro score. I want something unique that fits the individual film rather than conform to the franchise. Eric Serra’s score wouldn’t work for any other Bond film, but it fits like a glove on GE.
The idea of GE featuring a David Arnold score sounds painful to me.
I would argue that of the Arnold scores, DAD is most unique in that he doubled down on the electronic/techno theme pulled from Madonna's song. There's nothing quite of that flavor the rest of the Bond canon. I still like his QOS and CR scores, mainly because he relies less on frantic electronic noises in his action cues and they have strong melodies that appear throughout. I would say that his first scores do come across as more pastiche, especially TND.
To bring this full circle, I think Zimmer's is unique when compare to the rest of the Bond films. That said, it is not relative to his other scores, so I do have little pause with him doing another (perhaps its just Spectre haunting me). However, if he was given more time to compose, I think he probably would do less cut and paste.
And while I'd agree that Arnold isn't the caliber of Newman or Zimmer, he does 'get' Bond. To me it makes a lot of sense for him to score the next one. He said he'd sharpen the pencil and I'd love nothing more than to see what he's got.
CR
QoS
NTTD
SF
SP
SF
NTTD
SP
QOS
CR
1) QOS
2) CR
3) NTTD
4) SP
5) SF
Please don't take this as damnation of Newman's music. I can't say I think of his efforts as harshly as others sometimes do. In fact, I truly like his SP music. But 'mature' Arnold really made me a fan of his work in the Craig Bonds, with QOS an atmospheric, ambient, sober yet delightful entry in the series. CR is a close second, replete with strong themes and awesome action music. He also understood the proper balance between teasing the Bond Theme without quite handing it to us just yet.
Zimmer did well, in my opinion. Here's another case of a mature composer delivering good work. Long gone are the days when Zimmer and his soundtrack factory were squeezing out similar-sounding soundtracks, one after the other, for Michael Bay films and other blockbusters. Zimmer has firmly established himself as a composer who is brilliant when he's at his most minimalistic, and one of the few who can turn "ambient" into a good thing. His NTTD score, furthermore, doesn't shy away from queuing in a few Zimmerisms, but at the same time, he seems to be staying in touch with the Bond scores that preceded his own.
Newman was operating outside his box when he did SF and SP, at least IMO, but while some have responded to his scores with third-degree hostilities, I've always taken them as pretty fine (SF) or even really good (SP). Newman has some strengths too. Music from SP like Bond and Lucia, L'Americain, love on the train, ... is very romantic and classy, almost Barry-esque. I understand the disappointment but not the resentment when it comes to Newman. He didn't "suck", at least not in my opinion.
Classic Arnold! In fact we wouldn’t get something like this until the love theme between Bond and Vesper. “City of Lovers” is the one I’m thinking of.
Thank you!
I quite like the Bond and Paris cue, too. I've seen it get a bad rap a few times but I never got on board with the criticism. I enjoy it a lot.
The Zimmer score is growing on me and he did well consider the time he had. The OHMSS stuff is still jarring though.
I still prefer Newman's SF score.
But none of them come close to the CR and QOS scores.