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I'd never thought of him in this way before but I think I agree with you @DarthDimi! He could definitely do a Bond film.
His music is very predictable. Just reading the titles: Welcome to Cuba and Bolivian Taxi Ride, I knew exactly how they are going to sound like. The action cues? Interchangeable. I mean, come on, throw a curve ball every once in awhile.
Good movie music must be able to stand on their own, and often, Arnold's music cannot stand on their own without the visuals. They are adequate, but will never be considered as classic as the Bond scores pre-Licence To Kill. In fact, there isn't a good Bond score since The Living Daylights MAYBE with the exception of Casino Royale.
I think those three are the people who least understood Bond soundtracks (Conti wouldn't know what a proper Bond soundtrack was if it sat on him, Hamlisch just inserted some strange noises into a generic seventies soundtrack. George Martin wrote a good sountrack, but it wasn't very Bondy. At least Eric Serra conveyed the atmosphere of Goldeneye). The only person who's come close to understanding Bond in music like Barry did is Arnold.
My opinion of course, but not one easy to argue against.
Here here!
[/sarcasm]
The irony is the the song or soundtrack by Conti and Hamlisch won Oscar nominations.
Their Bond soundtrack have stood the test of time while Arnold will probably only known for having replaced John Barry rather than his actual music. Hard to argue against THAT.
"Experience of bleeding ears" is a better title.
I've said it before, but his work on Alias was incredible. The way he works in the main theme tune, and in a variety of different ways, makes it a must!
Check this out for Bondian. I think this is a cracking soundtrack. Plenty of Goldfinger influence throughout.
Why do you feel the need to to announce that your "opinion is better than anyone else's"?
Because it is! :-w
Riiiiiiight...
Just bring back, Thomas Newman. If not Alexandre Desplat would do a great job.
Which is not some scientific prove that Arnold is bad. All you're saying is evidence about the composer's success, but what I want is a good composer (and Arnold is a very good one), not a mediocre one with an oscar nomination. @delticminer is completely right, Conti and Hamlisch did not understand Bond at all. Conti's score is not bad as a stand alone, but doesn't work well in the context of the movie.
Which other composer (other than Barry of course) composed a beautiful love theme such as "City of Lovers" or the second half of "All in a day's work"? Or great action cues like "White Knight" and "African Rundown"? Or suspenseful music such as "Pipeline" or "Dirty Martini"? Or awesome and triumphant Bond theme renditions, like "The Name's Bond, James Bond", second half of "Whiteout", final part of "Antonov"? Or other beautiful pieces like "Night at the Opera", "Field Trip", "Dinner Jacket"?
Norman, Martin, Hamlisch, Conti, Kamen, Serra and Newman never did something as good as Arnold.
Martin, Hamlisch, Conti, Kamen & Serra all gave a movie an identity with their music, and it is from that music you can easily guess the movie. All did a splendid job but there was one better composer that inspired them all and that was John Barry.
Normans claim to fame is a totally rearrenged piece of music by the superior composer Barry, I have heard the original piece and am still surprised any court did grant Norman anything. There have been recent plagerism cases that were clearer and no compensation was given.
Newman did most certainly not bring his A-game to SF, which is a shame.
DA did bring some nice musical pieces over his 5 007 movies, the first three were basicly John Barry drum 'n bass. His album Shaken and stirred was in my humble opinion his nicest work to do with 007, after that he failed to come up with anything remotely original. And he was the "composer" who got the shot to reinvent and reinvigourate the music for the franchise, and we got two incoherent soundtracks that had their moments but failed as a whole. Suddenly the great musical quality of the 007 franchise was reduced to the level of elevator musac.
I want a great name with real skills to bring back the power to the music in the franchise. DA had his shot and did not deliver time for another composer. If EON is real about going somewhere new and exciting. With Adele they showed insight how to recreate a powerfull Bond titlesong now all we need is the rest.
Thank you! Thank you! ^:)^
As I say David Arnold's scores for all his Bond film are mostly interchangeable... especially his action cues. Telling you have to point the SECOND HALF of Whiteout and the FINAL PART of Autonov.
But in general, they are too long, too alike, and you listen to a whole bunch of noise for a little payoff (like the melody to Surrender for All In a Day's Work is near the end instead of throughout the piece).
He has moments like Backseat Driver, the BEGINNING of African Rundown and the BEGINNING of Miami International, Field Trip and Dinner Jacket but they are few and far between.
As for Norman. Martin and Hamlisch never did something as good as Arnold?
At least Martin incorporate the song in his score, and wrote a theme for Solitaire which is instantly recognizable.
Hamlisch? Nobody Does It Better. Nuff say.
Conti? For Your Eyes Only. Oscar nominated and even the casual movie goer can hum its opening bars.
Serra? Ladies First, We Share the Same Passion and the theme he wrote for Severnaya.
Arnold? Again, he is known for replacing John Barry...other than that, just hardcore fans know his music.
As I say David Arnold's scores for all his Bond film are mostly interchangeable... especially his action cues. Telling you have to point the SECOND HALF of Whiteout and the FINAL PART of Autonov.
The similarity there comes from those sections being based around the Bond theme.
But in general, they are too long, too alike, and you listen to a whole bunch of noise for a little payoff (like the melody to Surrender for All In a Day's Work is near the end instead of throughout the piece).
He has moments like Backseat Driver, the BEGINNING of African Rundown and the BEGINNING of Miami International, Field Trip and Dinner Jacket but they are few and far between.
City of Lovers, Welcome to Baku, No Interest In Dominic Greene, Night at the Opera, The Seduction, HaLongBay/Boarding the Stealth...etc.
As for Norman. Martin and Hamlisch never did something as good as Arnold?
At least Martin incorporate the song in his score, and wrote a theme for Solitaire which is instantly recognizable.
Arnold did this on multiple occasions too. 3 out of 5, in fact - and the other two (DAD with its techno wavey crap and ANWT for just being awful) were hardly capable of being implemented.
Hamlisch? Nobody Does It Better. Nuff say.
Granted, one of the best, if not THE best Bond songs. However, YKMN and Surrender are up there too.
Conti? For Your Eyes Only. Oscar nominated and even the casual movie goer can hum its opening bars.
I've never met anyone who couldn't hum You Know My Name.
Serra? Ladies First, We Share the Same Passion and the theme he wrote for Severnaya.
Now there's a soundtrack that fits your description of "has its moments but they're few and far between."
Arnold? Again, he is known for replacing John Barry...other than that, just hardcore fans know his music.
He's also known for Stargate, ID4, Godzilla..etc.
Yet in QoB & CR he did no variations at all and did deliver no coherent theme throughout both soundtracks, he did write the odd good track but overal they were forgetable elevatormusic.
The main critism is that DA got a shot at leaving his mark on the franchise with original ideas and he did fail spectacular. A conti, Martin & Hamlish did deliver better products. imho :D
Repeated no cohesion between the whole of the soundtrack, a few nice tunes do not make a great soundtrack.
DAD was at least recognisable Bondmusic, with QoB & CR DA delivered nothing special or outstanding that will be remembered in a decade. Everybody will know Martins work for LALD.
Really time to expand your circle of friends ;) But you really want to compare an oscar nominee and worldwide nr.1 hit from from FYEO with a fairly unknown rockballad outside of Bond fandom?? A touch of realism whould be added here. Your taste is different from the factual difference, which is huge.
Serra's soundtrack is an aquired taste I agree, but bloody recognisable and different in the Bond franchise. That said I do prefer Serra's soundtracks of teh Besson films, with Le Grande Blue being magical.
Mr David had a carte blanche with the mentioned titles, but have you listened to them completely? The main themes are fairly decent but the variations on the main soundtrack leave a lot to be desired.
For me personally DA had 5 movies with three he came with his Drum 'n Bass John Barry soundtracks and admittently they are easy to listen to and have some catchy tunes, but even they lack some cohesion for me over the total album and stand alone. With CR & QoB he came up with some nice tunes but there was nothing that showed the greatness and originality that I want in a 007 soundtrack. After Barry it seems that EON never took any risks with a new original composer, and played it save with a homely one and a composer that came with the director but did not bring his A-game.
There is so much talent out there they should have a reality show in which the various composer so re-score QoB & CR and call it: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SCORE A 007 MOVIE. And pick the winner. ;) :D