Battle of the Bonds- Martin, Hamlisch and Conti

I am cheekily messing up with the formula (initially I was going to put this in the Music Section such is my knowledge of where the polls on this forum go!) and based on recent posts in the aforementioned section, putting it to you (if we haven't years ago before) the best of the non-Barry Roger Moore film scores. Of all the Bond's, his is the most diverse musically by virtue of course of 7 films (Dalton is right down the middle, Lazenby is obviously restrained...maybe we could do Dalton/Brosnan/Craig anyway) with four composers. Anyway.

Gents (and ladies).

Hope you enjoyed the show...

I'm going to have to think on this one. It's a toss up between LALD and FYEO. 70s funk is just as great as Conti's 80s bombastic sound. I reach for one soundtrack just as often as the other. If anything, I might be inclined to vote FYEO's score out of pure association to a much tighter, more enjoyable film.

Spy's score has always been one of the lesser ones in my opinion, despite the exceptional Bond 77 track.

EDIT: As per the chat in Hilly's 'Last Soundtrack...' thread, I voted for FYEO.

FYEO without doubt.

Bombastic is a good way of putting it.

Funky, energetic and distinctive. Shades of TJ Hooker on steroids.

Good to see, so far. After starting the poll I went wandering to see if anyone had ever done a version of Runaway -Barry's stuff is of course well covered by various concerts, etc but Conti et al not so.

Found these. The first has a brilliant rendition of Submarine that segues nicely into Runaway, which isn't too bad. Kicks on a bit more at 6.45.



the other is this which kind of loops a bit

Goosebumps watching that first one. Thanks for sharing. I believe Q the Music Show will be at Piz Gloria for the anniversary celebrations. Time's ticking on that... Must book before end of March if you want to go.

I'll need to build up the stamina before tackling the "discofantasy" mix.

LALD.

FYEO is supremely underrated and if you can look past the dated synth effects its such a rousing score that is one of the best non JB ones of the series-AND is full of both quiet moments and great action cues. For me best overall is "Goodbye Countess".

TSWLM has never been appreciated fully since it has the disco vibe and has never been officially released in its original film version. It's really a damn good score and fits the film perfectly.

All three are great scores that suit their respective films and times of production perfectly.


But it's LALD. It has the drive, the dramatics, the panache and the grandiose with even an element of mysticism. Also it can be boiled down to a single short cue with the final shot of Baron Samedi on the front of the train for the EON title card. AND it made a new rendition of the Bond theme that not only became a classic standard but has been used in several official trailers.

Sounds points, Booty. I do like LALD a fair bit but as I say FYEO edges it.

Fields, if you have a chance, check out Q the Music's Backseat Driver or even Bond '77. They do some fine renditions which I checked out after posting the above vid. I then re-listened to the FYEO suite, really do like the transition from Submarine to Runaway. The disco track is, er, best left alone. They just looped it and looped it again. Seems Q the Music is the only people I can find that have tackled FYEO's score beyond the song.

You're not a Bond fan until you blare Rage's "Last All Night" out of your car or a party. Then you do your best Rog impression and skulk around like the ultra cool badass you will never be and look for Gonzales.

FYEO's action cues are probably the best Bond tracks to drive to ever composed.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Sounds points, Booty. I do like LALD a fair bit but as I say FYEO edges it.

Fields, if you have a chance, check out Q the Music's Backseat Driver or even Bond '77. They do some fine renditions which I checked out after posting the above vid. I then re-listened to the FYEO suite, really do like the transition from Submarine to Runaway. The disco track is, er, best left alone. They just looped it and looped it again. Seems Q the Music is the only people I can find that have tackled FYEO's score beyond the song.

Will do! I think I have already heard Backseat Driver by Q, but won't hurt to have a listen again.

And yes I agree with your first statement there too: I also like LALD a good deal but FYEO edges it for me too.

HGTB wrote:

FYEO's action cues are probably the best Bond tracks to drive to ever composed.

Backseat Driver and Come In 007... are certainly up there with Runaway as great 'drive to' tracks.

Determined one day to come down the Thames listening to Come in 007 -I've been up where he turns off past Tower Bridge (it's a dead end in reality) but yes...good music to drive to.

Conti's is the one I go back to most. Never was gravitated towards Martin's or Hamlisch's. I probably listened to Kamen's score more often than those two.

hegottheboot wrote:

FYEO's action cues are probably the best Bond tracks to drive to ever composed.

I just did that for the nth time. I feel like I've had 6 cups of espresso.

Hilly wrote:

Determined one day to come down the Thames listening to Come in 007 -I've been up where he turns off past Tower Bridge (it's a dead end in reality) but yes...

There's an idea. I've only really done Backseat Driver in a car park. Little underwhelming driving at 5km/h.

Hilly, check your pms...

It just occurred to me that, out of Roger's films, the best of his are usually considered to be Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only - each film composed by a one-off composer Doubtful it's due to Barry's absence since he's the Bond music God, but an interesting coincidence.

They were also the most distinctly 70's sounding (I know FYEO is '81, but hey same era more or less).

Barry always tried to keep it old school, which I won't fault him for. To some extent IMO he never embraced contemporary sounds in a full-throated way til his last entry, TLD, which sounded distinctly late 80's.

Yeah. There was a little experimenting with synthesisers for OHMSS, but mostly the traditional big band Bond sound. Even YOLT, with all its Oriental influences, retained the familiar brassy goodness.

It's a close call for me, but LALD is still my favorite non-Barry score. FYEO comes in a close second.