"Nobody Does It Better" - 1998 documentary on Bond music & Arnold's cover album

Includes interviews with Barry, Norman, Arnold, Martin, and others.

Very interesting. When they were mentioning studio heads being more cautious about big budget films I thought they were gonna bring up k.d. Lang's song being rejected and how that hurt Arnold, as its said he wanted the music to be his own and such.

I always felt Arnold should have gone more the path he took with Shaken & Stirred where that was primarily focused on taking something old and bringing it new life in a contemporary sense. Instead when he got TND he backpedaled, or as he said "one foot in the 90s and the other in the 60s". Favorite cues of his would be "Hamburg Break In" where it felt fresh and contemporary, but then "White Knight" riffing the John Barry sound more than doing its own thing. Keep the Bond sound, but don't appear to be standing still. That's why I think QOS is his best score and the only one he did that I felt completely satisfied with, while everything before was sort of scattershot. Some good cues here and there but mostly filler.

Looking at this doc it's pretty easy to see why EON stuck with Arnold for so long and probably will bring him back if Newman doesn't return. The compliments given by John Barry and Don Black (who worked with Arnold several times) kind of made EON feel they got the guy they wanna stick with.

The only decent tracks on that Godforsaken record are Jarvis Cocker's ATH, Propellerheads' OHMSS, LTJ Bukem's Bond Theme and Lelftfield's Space March. Everything else is either tedious, embarrassing, or far too reverent and faithful to the originals. Even I find the Propellerheads remix of OHMSS a bit dull nowadays, to be honest. Nice fuzz bass groove and breakbeat, but nothing else to write home about.

I'm no fan of dance music, but I did like the single release edit (album version goes on far too bloody long, IMHO) of the Propellerheads/Arnold version of OHMSS. And also Backseat Driver, their collaboration from the TND soundtrack.

I think I prefer Backseat Driver.

Python wrote:

Looking at this doc it's pretty easy to see why EON stuck with Arnold for so long and probably will bring him back if Newman doesn't return. The compliments given by John Barry and Don Black (who worked with Arnold several times) kind of made EON feel they got the guy they wanna stick with.

Yep. As annoying as his music may be at times, it's clear that he's passionate about Bond music. After viewing this, I gained a tad bit more respect for Arnold. It's nice knowing that he's not some careless shithead just waiting for his next check.

Control wrote:

Python wrote:

Looking at this doc it's pretty easy to see why EON stuck with Arnold for so long and probably will bring him back if Newman doesn't return. The compliments given by John Barry and Don Black (who worked with Arnold several times) kind of made EON feel they got the guy they wanna stick with.

Yep. As annoying as his music may be at times, it's clear that he's passionate about Bond music. After viewing this, I gained a tad bit more respect for Arnold. It's nice knowing that he's not some careless shithead just waiting for his next check.

When it comes to scoring Bond, David Arnold is living proof that being a glorified fanboy isn't enough.