Yeah, I’ve always suspected that wasn’t Newman’s choice to reuse so much. It feels like a pressure thing, or something decided by higher up the chain. Might be wrong.
And is that a Goldfinger sample in the chase? I’ve always sort of thought it is.
That’s where I think Newman got it so right. He kept the feel of Bond: rich and lush and deep and often big orchestrally, but he did that in his way. He interpreted how a good Bond score makes you feel, but didn’t actually directly copy the techniques (aside perhaps from his love themes which I think had an intentional Barry slant to them); and that’s why I think they work excellently in the film: they make you feel like you’re watching something really expensive and rich, if you know what I mean. But he also adds in some real mood pieces: I still love the haunting and sinister stuff for the arrival at the bleak Skyfall lodge- I don’t think we’d have got that from anyone else.
Newman’s ‘soundscape’ pieces for the Scottish highland drive in SF and the funeral in SP are among my favourite in the entire canon.
And whomever can take the credit for using Vivaldi’s “ Nisi Dominus: IV. Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum. Largo ” to score the attempted assassination of Lucia in SP is a certified genius imho…
As the camera pans onto Bond @1min 35 of the video above and his silhouette walks into focus the fitting scale of the vocal gives me chills, as though it were written for Bond.
Newman brought an immense amount of class and hopefully, surely, indubitably Romer will follow his lead in that respect.
Class is entirely the right word, yes. For all of the fun and hummable melodies that Arnold brought, he couldn’t quite bring the class and sophistication that Newman did.
I am also a fan of the Newman scores. I think they were perfect for both films. There isn’t a score I don’t like really, but I guess Dr No and GE are my bottom two.
Not so fast - if one defines class as highbrow culture, then obviously it was not part of Arnold´s assignment to use classical music. Nor was it Newman´s, by the way - it probably was Mendes´ idea.
As for the rest of Newman´s scores (which I like a lot, even love): they have all the idiosyncrasies of Newman´s other work; he has a very distinctive style, and sometimes, for my taste, his bag of tricks is not as big as I would prefer it to be.
In contrast, Arnold actually has - shock! - much bigger range. Listen to his scores and you will find so many different styles that you will have to agree: Arnold is a huge talent. The fact that he is not as revered as Newman only comes down to the kind of films Newman had the good luck to get involved with, after his string of small, independently made movies (and of course due to the family name and fame).
Sometimes, great artists by coincidence get the right opportunities, sometimes they just stay locked in a certain box.
I agree. I like the score okay as a stand-alone, but I find it doesn’t really work for the film. The cue that works best in my opinion is Run, Shoot, Jump.
The top two are neck and neck for me. Both Conti and Martin did an excellent job. Hamlisch and Kamen had very solid efforts. I’m not as wild about Newman as some others. He had some good stuff but he wasn’t as good as those I rank above him and SPECTRE was repetitive. Norman was okay, but nothing special–other than coming up with the greatest movie theme in history (with some assistance from Barry). Serra tried something different, but it didn’t work on screen. And Legrand was terrible – I bet a different score/composer would help that film immensely.
As for Dan Romer, I know nothing about him other than what has been said on this forum. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I would have preferred a return to David Arnold as composer.
It’s nothing to do with the classical stuff, no. I’m talking about his music.
Arnold is good; I’ve enjoyed a lot of his scores. But he has a sort of thin quality to his stuff. I don’t want to be insulting about him, but he hasn’t got the sort of depth I feel from Newman’s stuff. Yes, he employs a hummable tune more often and they are fun, but to be honest I wouldn’t say he has a bigger range- his stuff sounds like David Arnold, which is fine. I didn’t know he’d scored Good Omens, for example, until I was watching it and recognised him.
I have been coming to love FYEO a bit more recently. It’s utterly cheesy and disco, but it’s also bloody exciting and really effective. Barry would never scored a gunbarrel sequence as exciting as that one!
Actually, that’s probably something you could say for LTK’s gunbarrel as well: it’s very effective at building the anticipation and feels big.
Yes, Barry’s gunbarrels tended to be cool rather than splashy–until he started making the guitar riff a violin riff, at which point they tended to be blah rather than cool, IMO.
Arnold makes great bond tracks for the times, whereas Newman, I think, makes something that ages a little better.
Though, Arnold’s ‘Bond, James Bond’ cue from the final moments of CR will always be the dog’s you know whats! And his main theme for Amazon’s Good Omens is fantastic (as is the titles animation it accompanies; Pity the show itself doesn’t quite live up to them).
