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You'd prefer a vastly inferior 'safe-choice' composer like Arnold instead of Serra ? Sorry but Serra is the only non-Barry composer to rivalize Barry himself in the talent and versality departments.
I Wish we had Serra for all of the Brosnan films. :D
Yep, every single time. It's all a matter of taste at the end of the day but Serra's soundtrack makes me feel ill. I agree Arnold's work isn't a patch on Barry but I really can't stand Serra's attempt at Goldeneye. Those horrible 'Dum Diddy Dum Dum' drums that play the guitar line make me feel sick.
PS. I wouldn't call Arnold vastly inferior...he's so much better it's insane. What other work has Eric Serra done?
I swore I would stay out if this and not be like people who love to voice a negative opinion in appreciation threads, so I will stick to your statement. The romantic themes in this soundtrack may be "technically" better in music theory, but that's nothing but an elitist opinion. In terms of feel and emotional content, Arnold's romantic pieces are a BILLION miles ahead of anything on this soundtrack. The only good music in the GE soundtrack is the theme song, which Serra didn't write. Enough said or I will wind up being who I am not nor ever want to be.
But still I like the GE music, the only bit I don't like is the gunbarrel, which I think should've had the proper Bond theme.
You know thats right. I am not a fan of GE but the Tina Turner song is very good. I remember feeling disappointed that it wasnt incorporated into the film instead of the tiny dum-dadda-dum-dum noise in a tin can we got.
Agreed. I find Serra's work in this film, in a technical sense, very "atonal". It may be different, but to me it does not work. I appreciate what Serra scores in other things he's done much more than in this film, which I feel is easily his worst work and the worst music in the entire series. Legrand has a similar effort for himself in NSNA, but I digress because it's not an official Bond film even with Connery in it and EON owning the rights to it now.
Just to convince myself that my opinion had merit in terms of the "Bond sound", the terms and style of which to me are the musical standard of the entire series, I dubbed two CD's of my favorite romantic pieces from the series. One I did with all the composers without Serra, and one with. In terms of continuity, Serra's work stands out like a sore thumb whereas Arnold's fits with everyone else. Kamen's work in "Pam" also stands out from the others, but I'm not going to elaborate on him or that piece since he wasn't brought up here, nor am I a defender of DA's action pieces by any means, but in terms of understanding what Barry laid down as far as feeling and emotional content, he gets it a whole lot better than Serra does in this instance.
He *is* vastly inferior. Serra is one of the most talented composers working today. Serra is much, much more trained than Arnold. Even if you like Arnold, you can't deny he is a poor composer. Serra's GE work is the the only non-Barry soundtrack that come close to the Barry soundtracks. Arnold is simply a safe choice, simple by-the-numbers composer next to the genius Serra.
So you prefer GE to LALD then?
I think this is a French thing with you. It's French, so it must be better. Truly, I do.
You disappoint me @tommychameleon. After you voiced your love for GE to me I was thinking "he's a decent guy" ;)
I'm actually listening to the "same passions" track right now. It always calms me down if I'm feeling angry or upset.
But is Serra's score better than LALD's?
This may sound controversial but IMO YES!!! (theme song excluded)
I LISTEN TO SERRA'S SCORE IN MY CAR AND I'M PROUD TO ADMIT THAT :D
I don't listen to Live & Let Die's
He's not, he's much, much better than Serra ;-)
Being "much, much more trained" doesn't make any difference at all. It's whatever music that comes out of them that's important, not how long they spend training. In my experience, virtuoso, uber technical musicans are f***ing boring to listen to. You give Lennon or McCartney a guitar and 3 chords and they make beautiful art. You give Miles Davis a trumpet and he makes a ****ing awful racket. Just my opinion, obviously ;-)
Serra's score just doesn't feel like Bond. It's dull, mechanical and really takes away from the movie in my view. Okay, his romantic stuff isn't that bad but we're watching Bond here, it takes a whole lot more than that.
Tina's track is genuinely awesome and one of my favourite in the series...the fact that Serra had nothing to do with it says it all...and don't even get me started on 'The Experience of Love' *CHOKE*
Haha, you're beginning to sound like Dr. No :-)
:)) I thought Bain was taking dictation from someone else!
Suffice it to say, the movie is a whole lot better than the music.
What?
Stop getting English wrong!!
http://www.cosmicpuptees.co.uk/home/wp-content/themes/cosmictheme/images/alan-partridge-stop-getting-bond-wrong-t-shirt.jpg
I need that T shirt.
Thats one of the biggest understatements in history.
One can only assume that the conversation when something along these lines:
'Sorry Eric the studio has decided to go with Bono and Tina Turner so can we put your epic Bond song on the end credits?'
At which point Eric gives a big gallic shrug of disgust 'well then you cant use my Bond song then.'
'But youre contracted to provide an end titles song.'
'Wait a minute'. Cue 2 mins (at most) of scribbling. 'Here you go'
'Whats this?'
'My end title song'
EON listen to it. 'Eric what the f**k do you call that?'
'Thats my contract fulfilled. I'm outta here.'
'B*gger the premiere is tomorrow we'll have to use it'
Babs turns to MGW at the premiere 'why didnt we just use the Bond theme?'
Or something like that.
Its the only rational explanation for why a professional musician writing a song for a Bond film could possibly turn in this pitiful effort. Makes NSNA sound like GF.
Hahah, I think that goes for his entire score actually ;-)
There's 2 tracks I'm not that keen on. One is "Run, Shoot and Jump" which thankfully isn't in the film and the other is, as Ive mentioned, The Experience of Love.
The rest are fine (yes! even "Ladies First")
I remember sitting through GE and squirming in my seat at how bad the music was - naff tinkly riffs and a total failure to match the mood and atmosphere of each scene. It's not just the worst Bond soundtrack, but one of the worst soundtracks I've heard in any film, ever. David Arnold was a god-send after the disaster that Serra made of GE.
I can imagine that his 'sound' might work better with a different type of movie, but he was a poor choice for Bond.
Ok so what about "whispering statues". That doesn't sound somber? I was thinking the other day that the piano part sounds like something they'd play on a Crimewatch reconstruction talking about a murder victim (i.e. it was sad - which is a good thing).
What about Goldeneye Overture? Doesn't it sound sound cold and metalic, like the backdrop of Soviet Russia.
Oh yeah David Arnold, the man fickle fanboys like to bitch about also.
(Note: I don't mind DA either)
I've never had a particular problem with Arnold. In the Brosnan era he was one of the few relatively decent elements in the movies. That said, I'm happy for someone else to be given a go. Arnold never made himself essential to the series, and I think Mendes knows a thing or two about film scores, so I am confident his man will do a good job.
I was delighted to discover this thread because I've always been of the opinion that his score for GE was a great reboot and infinitely superior to the bland Arnold work that followed.
I would have loved to see him do more and am excited that "Skyfall" will be going in a new direction.
Regards,
Bentley
I couldn't agree more. The whispering statues especially sets the tone for that scene.