BOND GETS A MUSICAL FACELIFT

He will be missed. His scores just kept getting better and better, and his collaborative process of working closely with the PTS artists lead to some of the best BOND SONGS of the series

 

RIP DAVID ARNOLD, it's sad to see EON pass on a sure thing for an unknown at this stage of the game

Edited by Princess Kate - 1/4/12 at 1:38pm

Thomas Newman is "an unknown"?  Really?

I get the feeling our dear Princess has a real problem with change.

Thomas Newman is probably less unknown than David Arnold.  

Definitely not. Sometimes bringing a fresh perspective on board can be just what a series like BOND needs (Vic Armstrong being swapped out for Dan Bradley, for instance). It's just that I have extremely high hopes for SKYFALL, I feel as if all the pieces are in place for BOND greatness, except now what I had considered to be a given - that the film would have a rousing Bond score - has become something of an unknown

 

 

I really liked Arnold, and thought his work on the series had only been getting better, so I feel there is a risk involved in this move that I'd have been comfortable with EON having avoided

Curious to hear what Newman brings to the table.  He's never really done a straight up action score before.

I can't remember a note of the Quantum of Solace score other than Vesper's theme from Casino Royale.

 

Did you read the article, Kate?  Arnold is NOT AVAILABLE because he is scoring the London Olympics.

I just hope we got some of David Arnold's genetic material so he's not the last David Arnold ever.

Think of the kickin' musical cue from when Bond's sea plane lands in the Bahamas

 

Yes I referenced that in my post (in the SKYFALL PRE RELEASE thread)

 

 

Thomas Newman looks alarmingly like Eric Stoltz's dad. No word on how this will affect the Skyfall score as yet.

Though I left it out of the article itself, I am comfortable in predicting that David Arnold will be back on Bond 24.  For better or worse, he is EON's new John Barry.  Had he been available, he'd be scoring Skyfall.  Since he isn't, they allowed Mendes to use his usual composer.

 

Remember, Barry scored 12 Bond films and they weren't all back-to-back.  George Martin, Marvin Hamlisch, and Bill Conti all scored installments when Barry was not available (or wanted to do something different).  Arnold will be back, unless he decides to retire from the franchise.

Don't know if anyone has heard John Barry's interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, but it's worth listening to if you're familiar with his work:

 

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133372739/remembering-james-bond-film-composer-john-barry

 

He spends a great deal of time discussing the score for Goldfinger, and how ridiculous the main theme song was (all major keys).  He admits to Thunderball being a musical retread of Goldfinger, interestingly enough.

 

I think this will be a good change.  I liked Arnold's score for CR fine enough, but QoS was entirely unmemorable, and Another Way To Die wasn't a great theme.  His Brosnan stuff was a bit too faux-electronic for my taste, although I did enjoy the TND score when I was a kid (especially the Bimmer chase in the parking garage).

My understanding was that Arnold's involvement with ANOTHER WAY TO DIE was minimal
 

 

It was.  He was originally working with another artist (Amy Winehouse, I think) but that fell through.  He then went to Shirley Bassey and was crafting a tune with her (which eventually ended up on her recent album in an altered form), but it was nixed in favor of Another Way To Die....................which seems (and likely was) tossed together at the last minute.  On the flipside, he and Chris Cornell were given plenty of time to craft the theme for Casino Royale.

 

Hopefully they can settle on an artist (or group) fairly quickly over the coming months so that Newman and whoever is chosen have time to put together a solid song for us.

Didnt they already settle on Adele some time ago, or did they scrap that already?

 

Either way, Newman's Adjustment Bureau score's a rather big plus in that film's favor, especially during the third act chase. No problems whatsoever with that pick.

Another Way To Die was this close to being on of my favorite Bond themes. You could just feel that beneath that mess was an excellent new-Bond theme ready to burst out. Only if it was given some more time.

 

 

That's pretty much what I thought of too. Plus if he's still working on that Bond 50th anniversary side project then having that and the Olympics to work with makes him rather busy. I look forward to what Newman offers.

Rumors, nothing more.  That said, I'm sure she's a possibility if she is on a Sony label.

 

Agreed.  It is a very half-baked song.

 

 

I still like it, but I wish it had either been a White Stripes song or just a Jack White by himself song. Alicia Keys is such an afterthought in that song, she might as well not even be there.

 

I know we're probably going to get stuck with a big name for the theme song, as per the marketing, but if you ask me, pound for pound this would be their best choice:

 

While a duet is a great idea and one that should be revisited at some point with more effort, that really should have been a Jack White-only piece.

Not even that. It's like the studio got two talented but unrelated artists and got them to make a song together. So they started jamming together to see what they work out. But time run out quicker than anyone though and the studio said 'fuck it' and released their jam session.

 

My choice for the new Bond theme artist.

 

My suspicion is that "he's busy" is PR for "we didn't fire him, honest", as well a tidy way of leaving the door open for him to come back next time without a fuss. Even if Arnold had nothing on his schedule this year beyond a bit of light gardening, I bet Newman would still have ended up scoring this. They're letting Mendes have his way.

*EON MADE THIS OFFICIAL TODAY*

 

 

My immediate reaction? Bully for SKYFALL, and best of luck to the cast and crew of BOND 23 in their collaboration with Mr Newman 

No, I suspect Arnold would have remained intact had he not been otherwise occupied........................and he'll likely be back for Bond 24, unless he decides on his own to leave the series behind.