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Detailed gunbarrel music guide + Gunbarrel music ranking game

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  • 007ClassicBondFan007ClassicBondFan
    Posts: 2,270
    I’d be interested too.
  • R1s1ngs0nR1s1ngs0n France
    Posts: 2,148
    I'm in for that as well. By this stage, you can play me the beginning of each gunbarrel and I can instantly recognize from which movie it is.
  • vzokvzok
    Posts: 4,044
    I'm in
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    This is a go. Busy at the moment but will provide more details later.
  • ringfire211ringfire211
    edited November 2023 Posts: 654
    FYEO is my personal favorite. Love Conti’s version the best!

    Cowbell! We need more cowbell!!
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    I'm also oddly partial to Kamen's. Feels distinctive and yet still Bond.

    I don't think there was a bad gunbarrel until the Craig era.
  • 007ClassicBondFan007ClassicBondFan
    Posts: 2,270
    echo wrote: »
    I'm also oddly partial to Kamen's. Feels distinctive and yet still Bond.

    I don't think there was a bad gunbarrel until the Craig era.

    Eh I think Die Another Day’s was pretty ludicrous because of that bullet.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    I'm not all that keen on Arnold messing with the format to be honest.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    edited November 2023 Posts: 7,021
    Right, let's do this. We'll carry out the gunbarrel ranking game in this very same thread, for simplicity's sake. (The thread has been renamed accordingly.)

    I have updated the OP with some better links, and replaced a dead one. I've also improved certain descriptions of the gunbarrels. You can use that post as a reference guide to create a list that contains a ranking of the gunbarrel music of the 25 James Bond films produced by EON Productions. Use the criteria of your choice. Here's a few suggestions:

    -Quality of arrangement
    -Originality of arrangement
    -Consistency of the gunbarrel music with the rest of the respective film score
    -Suitability of the gunbarrel music to the onscreen footage
    -Suitability of the gunbarrel music for the style and tone of the film
    -"Timelessness" of the gunbarrel music
    -Quality of composition (for gunbarrels that don't use the James Bond Theme)
    -Simple musical enjoyment

    Please send the list via private message to me within the next two weeks (just click on my username, and in the top right, click the message button). Deadline is November 25, 2023.

    (Please avoid posting the list here in order to preserve the surprises until after the game is concluded.)

    After November 25, I'll take your lists (and mine), create the unified ranking and reveal each gunbarrel from lowest ranked to highest ranked. Hopefully, that'll create an interesting discussion.

    Have fun and leave any questions you might have below this post!
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,582
    November 25?! That's ages away! Bond 26 will be out before then.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited November 2023 Posts: 7,134
    So we're just rating the music, right? Not the actual gunbarrel images itself (design, walk, stance, iris opening, etc) ?

    For instance I like the TLD gunbarrel in its totality, but musicwise it isn't the most notable one...
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    So we're just rating the music, right? Not the actual gunbarrel images itself (design, walk, stance, iris opening, etc) ?

    For instance I like the TLD gunbarrel in its totality, but musicwise it isn't the most notable one...
    Correct, this is about rating the music, not the images.

    QBranch wrote: »
    November 25?! That's ages away! Bond 26 will be out before then.
    Yes, we're playing the long game here!
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Thank you! Do you want simple rankings without comments?

    It's a tough task because the gunbarrel music, to me, is the most hopeful, anticipatory moment of any Bond film, even those that don't deliver...
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    echo wrote: »
    Thank you! Do you want simple rankings without comments?
    While you just need to send me the list, I encourage you to prepare the comments anyway, for the inevitable conversation that will happen in this thread after the game is concluded.

    echo wrote: »
    It's a tough task because the gunbarrel music, to me, is the most hopeful, anticipatory moment of any Bond film, even those that don't deliver...
    I had a hard time ranking them myself.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    goldenswissroyale wrote: »
    I' ve never seen this thread before. I mainly read your endnotes to each film and listened to some of your links. I don't know enough about music to understand alk the details but it is obvious that you made a fascinating, splendid job here @mattjoes . Thanks a lot for this study.

    You're welcome @goldenswissroyale!
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,167
    mtm wrote: »
    I'm not all that keen on Arnold messing with the format to be honest.

    Same. TBH, I really don't care for the music cutting to the concluding chords of the Bond theme after the gun is fired. I prefer the guitar/strings melody played for 4 bars as Barry usually had it.
    John Barry's traditional format works better, IMO than any other arrangement.
    This gunbarrel music ranking should prove ridiculously easy for me.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Status update:

    I have received five lists so far. With my own, we have six. Four more people on this thread have manifested their interest in submitting lists.

    Deadline is November 25, so one week to go. Remember to send me your list if you haven't done so! And if you're just reading this for the first time, we could also use your list!

    H3C47LQLEFFQXJ6XGRPEASQP74.png
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Deadline for the gunbarrel music ranking game is November 25.

    Three people who expressed interest in participating have yet to send their lists!
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,167
    Just sent my ranking. :D
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Thank you!
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    edited November 2023 Posts: 16,167
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Thank you!

    Anyime.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    We have reached the expected 10 votes! If anyone else wants to join in on the fun, PM me your gunbarrel music ranking list until Saturday, November 25!
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Ladies and gentlemen, we now enter the final phase of the gunbarrel music ranking game, which means the results will start to be revealed shortly. Stay tuned!
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Sorry for the delay in presenting the results! I've actually had the spreadsheet ready for a while, but I wanted to double check everything was in order before posting, and before I could do that, this rather busy, but very productive and exciting week, got in the way, leaving me little mental energy to dedicate to this game.

    Anyway, time to begin revealing the ranking. You'll find that, since 10 votes isn't that much, we have run into a few ties.

    Our lowest-ranked gunbarrel music is Number 21...

    SKYFALL



    The highest ranking it achieved was 6th place, and the lowest ranking was 25th place. In fact, apart from that 6th place, all the other participants ranked this gunbarrel music between the 22nd and 25th place. Not a lot of love for this one!

    Converting the ranking to a score, Skyfall scored a total of 39 points.

    I ranked it 23rd. It's a very cool arrangement of the Bond theme, but I don't like the fact it's the B-section we hear, instead of the typical guitar part. The fact the music is tracked from Casino Royale, instead of being a new recording, is another negative.

    What do you think? Time to share your thoughts!
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited December 2023 Posts: 16,413
    It’s a nice piece arrangement of the music, but I think I ranked it low just because it’s not really a gunbarrel piece of music as such; it’s more of a bit of the Bond theme which happens to be playing whilst the gunbarrel is shown!
  • 007ClassicBondFan007ClassicBondFan
    Posts: 2,270
    Agreed. The music isn’t the problem, I just wish there had been a new arrangement.
  • R1s1ngs0nR1s1ngs0n France
    Posts: 2,148
    #23 for me as well. The more upbeat cue was most likely chosen to celebrate the franchise's 50th anniversary, but I'm neither a fan of the arrangement, nor do I find the cue fitting as gunbarrel music.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,134
    Exactly my thoughts. It's just the end title music slapped on the gunbarrel sequence. I ranked it dead last.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    I ranked SF last as well.

    I blame Mendes.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    Aw, as I say, I don't think it's bad, I was more just judging them on being gunbarrels in the more standard sense, so I'm afraid I may have ranked Dr No similarly low, even though it's not its fault!
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