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My review of this particular track: This is a perfect combination of some tongue-in-cheek, cheesy, but happy music (like we heard in his scores for "Towelhead" and "Wall*E"), with thrilling Bond-esque music that enhances mystery, espionage and suspense (think about Barry's track "Return To Scaramanga's Fun House") and opens up into one hell of a climax.
It has everything really. Thomas Newman's own theme/melody, that he composed specifically for "SPECTRE" (also heard on the track "Crows Klinik"), injects the film with both fun and mystery. A funny reference to the good old "Cuckoo!" hide-and-seek whistle that we grew up with as a kid makes us mellow down a bit;-). And then this wonderful climax kicks in in which he obviously uses some cues from Monty Norman's James Bond Theme.
I think Thomas Newman is especially good here with his electronic music. It enhances rhytmn, by using electronic drums/percussion, with lovely guitar riffs, simple piano riffs and lush strings.
By the way, I have to say something, and perhaps that's clouding my judgement a bit. You know, before Sam Mendes came onboard the Bond wagon, I was already a big fan of both Sam Mendes and Thomas Newman. I still love "American Beauty" as much as when I saw it in cinema for the first time in 1999. It's a movie that shows all the minor suburbian problems in a 1990's world where there was so little political worries. Thomas Newman knew how to give a sound to these careless 1990's.
So call me a big Sam Mendes-fan and Thomas Newman'-fan. Now what happens if your other fandom, James Bond, gets infused with that. Indeed, it's a movie lover's wet dream :-). I was so excited when Sam Mendes and Thomas Newman joined the Bond family. And I still am happy. Overjoyed really.
So pardon me if my reviews sound a bit....over-positive sometimes ;-).
Not at all, it is great to hear some enthusiasm for a change! we have enough negativity around here.
Thomas Newman was nominated 14 times for an oscar, he is a master of his craft so you would think he knows what he is doing, maybe some don't agree with his direction but thats fine. I for one love his soundtrack and embrace a new flavor. His music is very... Stylish, and he actually made me buy OST cds again with his Bond scores
Thanks @00Agent ;-). And welcome to the forum. I haven't seen you around here before :-). I too think Newman brought a sophistication and nuanced style and suaveness to the franchise that I didn't quite fel with David Arnold. For me his scores were great on first listen, but as a lover of classical music one actually loves re-listens much more. And that too is a quality.
I could not agree more. Arnold was doing a good job, but there was nothing really sticking out about his score for me. I can't even tell you why. The only Score of his that was memorable to me was Casino Royale, i think that was his best work. It will be interesting to see who will be doing the soundtracks in the future
Can I say something? I advised it to @gl007 as well (from Spain). Download SoulSeek: http://www.slsknet.org/news/node/1. It's a classic download program, that will remind you of Kazaa and Napster. But with one important difference: It's a sharing program, and it's devoid of any spyware and adware.
Once downloaded, you will have your own good-old physical .mp3's, .flac's or .m4a's again. It's your own, and you don't need that big internal memory-burden anymore that Spotify or iTunes will cause to your hardrive. I severely dislike Spotify, as it's streaming stuff, constantly interfered by commercials.
Can't get enough of this track :-). So...so "SPECTRE"-esque :-P.
Nothing Newman has done so far outperforms Arnold, IMO, who put his heart and soul into delivering great scores. Take 'Night of the Opera' from the QoS soundtrack, the 'Vesper'-theme and 'City of lovers' from CR, 'Diamonds' and 'Jinx Jordan' from DAD, most of the TND score and his rendition of the Bond theme for example. "Nothing sticking out"? To each his own, I guess.
Indeed. The SF OST was brilliant.
I am now listening to leaked material from SP and am liking what I'm hearing.
"Crows Klinik":
"Secret Room":
"Safe House":
I love these tracks. They combine a certain fun with the mystery of espionage. Simply great espionage tracks.
I think Newman actually is the anti-Arnold for me. While I found Arnold too bombastic, loud and unmelodic, I find Newman way too refined, mellow and subtle, so much so that I actually miss out on a lot of what he's doing (and there's a lot of articulate finesse in his scores....it's just lost on a lot of people, myself included). Arnold was a thundering painful hammer to my ear for the most part........Newman is a fine small needle....so delicate that he isn't making enough of an impact in many cases..
Having said that for the most part I've liked what he's done for the last two scores. Even though it's not what I ideally want for Bond, there are new sounds, and I like that from any composer.
Most importantly, I don't find that he 'competes' with the scenery, but rather supports it. That's important to me. That was a criticism I had of the Man From Uncle score, where I felt Pemberton was showboating. Like Joe Kraemer on MI-RN, I think Newman supports the accompanying scenes, rather than compete with them. That's to be commended.
Can confirm it's the same. The two 30-second clips ("Hotel" and "Future") both use "Secret Room" actually, which makes sense as actually in the film the scenes come one after another.
:D
Exactly. Exactly.
Sadly, that's an aspect most Bond fans don't really like :-). It has to be perfect on first listen :-).
Part of my love for Thomas Newman also comes from previous work he did. Always been a big fan of this track from Newman. Now this is music I would have loved to hear in "Casino Royale":
Great movie
The elegance and beauty of it gives me goosebumps every time, and for me this is also a very important aspect of Bond Music.
Another cue that is one of my all time favorites is Eric Serra - We share the same passions. So emotional, It perfectly scored the scene in which Brosnan really became Bond, when we saw him in his tux in the casino with Xenia for the fist time. Timeless Music
It should have been used more often. Same with Severine from SF.