Thomas Newman will score SKYFALL

So did Thomas Newman actually re-record "The Name's Bond, James Bond"? Or are they just playing that over the video?

I really don't know.

Control wrote:

Although there's some variation, the preview for "Breadcrumbs" sounds a lot like this section of Arnold's "The Name's Bond. James Bond" from CASINO ROYALE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qLl1MilV18&t=2m
This is really disappointing, though.

That moment in the video you link to David Arnold making a new track from the music of TMND Astin Martin.
In other words, with Breadcrumbs i must think about that track who also have a bit Dr No feeling.

David Arnold repeat a lot of his TMND/Twine material again in DAD, CR and QOS. The end credits of CR be Twine boat chase over and over again.

Harmsway wrote:

So did Thomas Newman actually re-record "The Name's Bond, James Bond"? Or are they just playing that over the video?

Largo's Shark wrote:

I really don't know.

Weird. So I guess Newman wasn't sure how to conduct the theme himself so he just took Arnold's CR rendition? Maybe the rerecording was necessary to have it fit with the gunbarrel instead of having the gunbarrel fit with the song?

Eh, I guess we'll find out later.

The soundtrack overuses the Bond theme, sadly, there's no trace of the electronic stylised score of the trailers.

I think it's not better or worse than Arnold's soundtracks. It's just blah.

Quote :

Bond theme written by John Barry

John Barry? Half of the theme was composed by Monty Norman. So I'd say:
Bond theme written by Monty Norman and John Barry

Stamper wrote:

The soundtrack overuses the Bond theme, sadly, there's no trace of the electronic stylised score of the trailers.

I think it's not better or worse than Arnold's soundtracks. It's just blah.

I'll be more than happy to hear the theme playing properly within the 'body' of the movie again, rather than relegated to the end credits.

Walecs wrote:

Quote :

Bond theme written by John Barry

John Barry? Half of the theme was composed by Monty Norman.

Norman produced the guitar riff (taken from his song "Good Sign/Bad Sign" from his musical adaptation of V. S. Naipaul's A House For Mr. Biswas) and claimed to have written the melody for the bebop section (spuriously I might add, if you read the transcripts of the court case - he said it came from the B section of "Dr. No's Fantasy" - I don't hear it), but Barry wrote everything else.

Unfortunately due to a jury biased towards Norman and Barry's pneumonia (he couldn't turn for several days of the trial), Norman won £30,000 libel damages from the The Sunday Times, after they published an article claiming he didn't write the theme. He got the royalties.

Good news for fans of Serra's GOLDENEYE and the anti-Arnold gang - Musical reactionary (and Arnold fan) Christian Clemmensen of filmtracks.com (who dislikes many of my favourite scores) is disappointed.

Quote :

Christian Clemmensen - "Skyfall: Initial reaction to full listen"

Some early notes about the Skyfall score album:

1. Very long album that drags in several places. Significant downtime and vaguely exotic atmospherics occupy entire tracks. The score cue "Skyfall" is damn near inaudible for its 2:33. Same with "Modigliani," "Enjoying Death," "Voluntary Retirement," "Close Shave," and "Someone Usually Dies." That's a lot of nearly dead airtime.

2. Bond theme not utilized fully or hinted more than a few token insertions. Only one full statement of the theme in "traditional" form (first minute of "Breadcrumbs"). Pacing in that one performance is hurried. The full fanfare for brass is not heard once on the album.

3. Tom Newman has lost the ambitious jazz and pop elements of the franchise's past and sticks to more linear action structures closer to post-2000's Hollywood norms, including standard ostinatos.

4. Action cues are largely tepid. Too few lines of activity in the orchestra on many occasions. The exception is "She's Mine," which is the Bond theme-infused cue we've heard in the train sequence, I believe.

5. There are serious flow issues with the score. The action stumbles through spurts and does not sustain itself in David Arnold fashion. The electric guitar-laden "Grand Bazaar, Istanbul" tries to emulate the usual kick-[xx]censored[/xx] Arnold opening, but it doesn't feature enough ball-busting force to be effective.

6. The Adele "Skyfall" song melody is heard in masked fragments throughout (though that's possibly attributable to its close adherence to the Bond theme itself, which Newman might instead be hinting at). Only one obvious reference exists; "Komodo Dragon" is this throwback "location cue" to the Barry/Arnold formula and is, not surprisingly, the highlight of the score.

7. The mixture of symphonic, electronic, and exotic elements is very good, an action cue like "The Bloody Shot" balancing them well despite sputtering through its sequences. The lack of fluidity is a bit baffling.

8. A lot of tapped cymbal rhythms... the best alternative to the outward jazz to infuse some ambient coolness. Newman tries to use a solitary, thumping electric bass for the same purpose, but it's too muted to have much effect.

9. The score lacks its own dominant theme, and it does not clearly reference any of Arnold's ideas from the Quantum-related films.

10. Noble horn interludes, possibly for "queen and country," are an almost awkward diversion in "Voluntary Retirement" and "Mother."

11. No narrative development in the score whatsoever. No transitional location cues other than "Komodo Dragon" (and maybe "The Chimera") and no clear momentum swings or satisfying finale. Lots of stuttering crescendos. The album closes with the disappointing exotic rhythms of "Adrenaline," almost something Mychael Danna would write for a lesser drama.

12. The only romance in the score is "Severine," which is extremely underplayed. The violins seem undermixed in many cues, oddly.

13. Obviously no title song on the score-only album. This is simply unacceptable.

Overall, the score is sufficient. Parts are quite enjoyable. Newman has made an attempt to incorporate the franchise's sound with his own, but without anywhere near the same success as Arnold. Newman doesn't capture the established tone of his predecessors and really misses the mark in the romance department. There's none of the expressed turmoil and tragedy associated with the character, and the score is mostly devoid of truly gripping suspense. The action is not as snazzy as Arnold's (don't expect much wailing brass), but it suffices.

More interestingly, Newman doesn't really show any enthusiasm for the concept in this work. Much of his music here is procedural. He doesn't try particularly hard to leave his comfort zone, and that zone isn't exactly similar to the Bond sound to begin with. Arnold, on the other hand, slipped into the franchise without much alteration to his style necessary, and you could tell in each of his scores, even the poorer ones, that he loved what he was doing. He's a fan. Conversely, there is no passion from Newman. The lack of passion is devastating.

The title song easily out-classes the score. Don't be surprised if you find yourself enjoying about 10-15 minutes of Newman's action material and being bored by most of the rest. While Newman shouldn't be flogged for this entry (in fact, it might earn 3 stars from me), I suspect there will be significant fan demand for Arnold to return to the franchise.

I'm not sure when I'll get to a formal review of Skyfall... That's why I wanted to post these initial notes. Things are hectic here, and judging from the screaming in the attic at the moment, I do believe that one of my sons just pissed on the carpet. As Mitt Romney suggested in his rather humorous loss at last night's debate, I clearly need a binder full of women to help out around this place!

Christian

Largo's Shark wrote:

Walecs wrote:

Quote :

Bond theme written by John Barry

John Barry? Half of the theme was composed by Monty Norman.

Long debate about James Bond theme

I knew all of these infos (except I had never listened to Dr No's fantasy). On YouTube there's the original Monty Norman version of Bond theme.

And then Norman, forever, walked with his partition in hand, like it was stuck in his palms. That's the main reason I think this guy is a fake. Plus is "got ya!" evil smile. What else did he write again, that had the same impact? Hello?

RE Skyfall score, the trailer's score are much better than this Titanic like crash that is heard on the film, with the goddamn Bond theme playing everything Bond get into action, like we don't get it yes?

EPIC FAIL

I won't believe it till I heard it.

It's released on iTunes Italy tomorrow. PM me then if you want it.

"It's not like Arnold" I hate that site. The review for Eric Serra's score is an eye roller.

KONYALI
Written and Performed by ENSEMBLE HÜSEYIN TÜRKMENIER
Taken from the album “Turkish Bellydance”
Courtesy of ARC Music Productions International Ltd.

CNN BREAKING NEWS THEME #2
Written by HERB AVERY
Courtesy of CNN

MOONLIGHT
Performed by JUN CHEN
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

BOUM!
Written and Performed by CHARLES TRENET
Courtesy of Capitol Music,

BOOM BOOM
Written by JOHN LEE HOOKER
Performed by THE ANIMALS
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd. and ABKCO Records

THE NAME’S BOND… JAMES BOND
Written by MONTY NORMAN
Arranged by DAVID ARNOLD

THE JAMES BOND THEME
Written by MONTY NORMAN

Largo's Shark wrote:

KONYALI
Written and Performed by ENSEMBLE HÜSEYIN TÜRKMENIER
Taken from the album “Turkish Bellydance”
Courtesy of ARC Music Productions International Ltd.

CNN BREAKING NEWS THEME #2
Written by HERB AVERY
Courtesy of CNN

MOONLIGHT
Performed by JUN CHEN
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

BOUM!
Written and Performed by CHARLES TRENET
Courtesy of Capitol Music,

BOOM BOOM
Written by JOHN LEE HOOKER
Performed by THE ANIMALS
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd. and ABKCO Records

THE NAME’S BOND… JAMES BOND
Written by MONTY NORMAN
Arranged by DAVID ARNOLD

THE JAMES BOND THEME
Written by MONTY NORMAN

Wow.

https://itunes.apple.com/ch/album/skyfall/id568922164?l=en&v0=WWW-EUCH-ITUHOME-TOPMUSIC&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

"Old Dog, New Tricks" sounds like it could be promising.

Reminds me of Portishead, which is never a bad thing.

Largo's Shark wrote:

KONYALI
Written and Performed by ENSEMBLE HÜSEYIN TÜRKMENIER
Taken from the album “Turkish Bellydance”
Courtesy of ARC Music Productions International Ltd.

CNN BREAKING NEWS THEME #2
Written by HERB AVERY
Courtesy of CNN

MOONLIGHT
Performed by JUN CHEN
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

BOUM!
Written and Performed by CHARLES TRENET
Courtesy of Capitol Music,

BOOM BOOM
Written by JOHN LEE HOOKER
Performed by THE ANIMALS
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd. and ABKCO Records

THE NAME’S BOND… JAMES BOND
Written by MONTY NORMAN
Arranged by DAVID ARNOLD

THE JAMES BOND THEME
Written by MONTY NORMAN

What is this? A list of the songs in SKYFALL?

Everything not composed by Newman.

Other artists that must be paid royalty fees.

Sharky, check your PM.

Some Newman tracks can be heard here: http://www.cinematicsound.net/skyfall-and-50-years-of-james-bond/

Well, I just started it, and I like what I'm hearing so far.

His arrangement of "The Name's Bond... James Bond" is around 30 minutes in the first installment.

I like it better than Arnold's version. Sounds more Barry-esque.

I was afraid they were simply going to use the same old recording from CR, but I guess Newman just took the most recent arrangement of the Bond theme and worked it into his own score. I like the use of the guitar better than CR's.