Thomas Newman will score SKYFALL

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

I can't be the only person who is curious as to why j7 thinks Newman is a sell-out. There is nothing in that brief interview that suggests he is. Sure, we all know that I think very little of j7, but I'm ignoring the fact that it is j7 asking this question. If it had been Sharky or Hilly or PK or anyone else accusing Newman of selling out for no reason as far as I can see, I'd still be asking why they felt that way.

Still, good luck in trying to get a comprehensive, understandable answer and explanation from j7

They should had picked Lalo Schifrin!!

He will bring life and soul back to the James Bond film scores - something that's been missing since the Dalton era.

Serra's had soul.

Lord help the minority who feel otherwise.

So will Newman's score be criticized for not reusing a John Barry score or being a reused John Barry score?

Triviachamp wrote:

So will Newman's score be criticized for not reusing a John Barry score or being a John Barry pastiche?

Somewhere in the middle.

By some no doubt, but not this crowd. Lots of fans of Serra's GE score round here.

Yeah, the Bond fans shitting up a storm over Serra's music is what pressured EON into getting a guy like Arnold to ape John Barry. If Newman does his own thing there will certainly be "traditional" fans upset that it doesn't sound like a Barry knock-off.

I hope it'll be different, we really need a new refreshing Bond score after 17 years.

That's the pitfall for a long running series like Bond. Trying to be "traditional" leads to criticism of being too formulaic, irrelevant and a poor imitation of what was done before while being changing things up leads to criticism of throwing out the essence what Bond is.

Triviachamp wrote:

So will Newman's score be criticized for not reusing a John Barry score or being a reused John Barry score?

I don't think so. And that's not why people complained about Arnold's music, either.

Control wrote:

Triviachamp wrote:

So will Newman's score be criticized for not reusing a John Barry score or being a reused John Barry score?

I don't think so. And that's not why people complained about Arnold's music, either.

What was the complaint about Arnold then?

His music was awful, electronic trash. I think people complained more about it not matching the quality of Barry's music, rather than it not being a rehash of Barry's music. After a while, I think we all just hoped he'd copy Barry's style, for the sake of our ears.

But, when you're following in the footsteps of one of the world's best film composers, you've got your work cut out for you.

Control wrote:

His music was awful, electronic trash.

Weren't there similar complaints about Serra's GE score? I'm sure plenty of people thought Serra's score was "awful electronic trash" just because it didn't sound like John Barry.

Quote :

I think people complained more about it not matching the quality of Barry's music, rather than it not being a rehash of Barry's music.

Wasn't Arnold hired because he would write a more traditional score? I recall plenty of complaints that he was a poor Barry rehash, such as:

Quote :

Yeah, the Bond fans shitting up a storm over Serra's music is what pressured EON into getting a guy like Arnold to ape John Barry. If Newman does his own thing there will certainly be "traditional" fans upset that it doesn't sound like a Barry knock-off.

Anyway the point is more that there will be a section of the fanbase that will not like it if Newman does his own thing and another section that will complain if he imitates John Barry since he isn't John Barry. Of course there will be a section that will think his score just sucks, which may or may not overlap with the other two groups.

Wanting a more traditional Bond would imply a desire for a Barry style score, wouldn't it?

Triviachamp wrote:

Control wrote:

Triviachamp wrote:

So will Newman's score be criticized for not reusing a John Barry score or being a reused John Barry score?

I don't think so. And that's not why people complained about Arnold's music, either.

What was the complaint about Arnold then?

For me his music was structurally all over the place, and didn't stand up well as a listening experience on its own. Not enough repetition, too many gimmicks and Mickey Mousing. As I said before, Arnold's musical philosophy was the opposite of Barry's. Walk fast and carry a tiny stick.

Makeshift Python wrote:

If Newman does his own thing there will certainly be "traditional" fans upset that it doesn't sound like a Barry knock-off.

The "traditional" fans will be upset with anything other than John Barry.

Since Barry is dead, the "traditional" fans will never get their way.

This means that they will always be upset.

The sheer irrationality of this leads me to believe that the "traditional" fans are only happy when they have something to bitch about.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Since Barry is dead, the "traditional" fans will never get their way.

Bollocks. I don't want John Barry, I just want a quality composer.

You've been saying this since the days of old MI6.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Bollocks. I don't want John Barry, I just want a quality composer.

You've been saying this since the days of old MI6.

*sigh*

Read it again, Sharky. It says:

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Since Barry is dead, the "traditional" fans will never get their way.

It does not say:

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Since Barry is dead, Sharky will never get his way.

There's a subtle, but very important difference between the two. Can you see it?

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Read it again, Sharky. It says:

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Since Barry is dead, the "traditional" fans will never get their way.

It does not say:

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Since Barry is dead, Sharky will never get his way.

There's a subtle, but very important difference between the two. Can you see it?

Since I am their leader, and the one who effectively (along with Lazenby.) turned the tide of opinion against David Arnold), I will see about that.

So you want to be irrational and only ever happy when you have something to bitch about, then?

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

So you want to be irrational and only ever happy when you have something to bitch about, then?

I don't want to be irrational, I AM irrational, international, and a customer of Abbey National.

FFS.

Control wrote:

His music was awful, electronic trash. I think people complained more about it not matching the quality of Barry's music, rather than it not being a rehash of Barry's music. After a while, I think we all just hoped he'd copy Barry's style, for the sake of our ears.

But, when you're following in the footsteps of one of the world's best film composers, you've got your work cut out for you.

Agreed.

All I want from Newman is a score with real musical integrity. A score that doesn't detract from what's on screen, and hopefully adds a little something. And I want a score that is identifiably Bondian. It should not beat us over the head with the Bond theme, a la DN, but neither should the Bond theme be conspicuously absent.

PS--Triviachamp, stating that fans will complain regardless of what Newman produces is hardly a revelation. Bond fans will complain about everything, regardless of how good it may or may not be. Sometimes their gripes are justified; many times they are not.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

The "traditional" fans will be upset with anything other than John Barry.

I don't think so. "Traditional" fans will be upset if the score doesn't match the quality of John Barry's work.

Is asking for a great score so much to ask for?

For the record, I think Newman's capable. I hope the producers let him do what he wants.

Satorious wrote:

Glad to see it's being shaken up a bit. Have Good German, class score. Could be argued that his under-rated brother David is an even better fit! But this sounds like very good news right now on paper. Let's hope he brings something fresh which people (and EON) respond too.

Because David's an orchestra junkie? ^^

I'm curious about the score, too. I'm sure it won't be a traditional Bond score, but Thomas Newman can vary his sound, so maybe the score will be Bond enough in the end.

I'm not deluded into thinking we'll ever get anything anywhere near John Barry's standards again, but the change in composer was direly needed for quite some time, if only for a change in ambience and atmosphere. Every Bond film has sounded the same for far too long now under the current regime, ever since Arnold took over. The last two scores are unlistenable outside of the films and provide very few worthwhile moments within the films. That's unacceptable for Bond, regardless of who's composing. Daniel Craig is moving to Pierce Brosnan's leftovers and it's not a comfortable fit. Hopefully at the very least Newman can remedy that, even if he can't produce a masterpiece. But it's still the only thing about SkyFall I'm looking forward to.

What about Deakins and Bardem, Laz? The film already looks pretty incredible and I've got high hopes for Silva (despite the daft name).