Published on Dec 20, 1999
There’s something about Bond (James Bond) that makes every grown
man turn into a fifteen-year old boy. It even happens with my
father — who was around to watch Sean Connery strut his stuff! —
and it amazes me. The gadgets, the girls, the henchmen, all of it
have added up to perhaps the greatest franchise in movie history (
Star Wars or
Star Trek notwithstanding).
Unfortunately, there have been a few missteps along the way
(Roger Moore’s almost 60ish-James Bond in
A View To A Kill foremost, I think) and one of them was Eric
Serra’s score to
Goldeneye. While it gave it that unique edge most Bond films
require, at the end, there wasn’t much music for it to be
liked.
In an attempt to fix that, the producers went out and hired
up-and-coming composer David Arnold. He had scored
Stargate (great fun) and
Independence Day (great themes, but I didn’t like it that
much). In any case, Arnold was tagged to bring back the old feel
and sound of Bond. To put it mildly, he succeeded.
The album starts with the necessary title theme, this time done
by Sheryl Crow. There is a bit of a controversy to go with it, but
I’ll get to it later. Just know that this song isn’t up to par. It
feels like what it is — a cheap attempt by movie producers to
score a hit song with a wider crowd by bringing in a popular
artist. Ah, such a waste.
The score begins with the opening music theme, “White Knight.”
This greatly mixes the classic Bond theme (by John Barry — or is
it Monty Norman?) with the
Tomorrow Never Dies theme and good action music. Lots of fun
and it immediately lets you know that the old James Bond feel is
back.
However, there’s two big surprises to this score. One, there’s a
lower, meaner edge to the villains and their actions. You get that
right away with the third track, “The Sinking Of The Devonshire.”
It is dark and moody and that only changes to allow a choir to come
in for the abandoning of the ship. It swells up again for the final
masacre.
The other big surprise is the softer and melancholic side to the
love theme, “Paris and Bond.” It is perhaps the most tragic the
love theme has been since…well, I can’t remember. Of course, this
is due to the relationship Pierce Brosnan and Teri Hatcher have —
a jilted lover who sees Bond return into her life. Both motifs
reappear on “The Last Goodbye,” as the bad guys learn of Paris’
relationship with Bond while he tries to convince her of leaving
her husband, the bad guy. It also momentarily appears on “Dr.
Kaufman,” where Bond meets Paris’ killer.
That said, there’s also that fun edge to the music. “Company
Car” playfully mixes the James Bond theme to signal Bond’s briefing
from Q on his new BMW. (By the way, am I the only one who wants the
Aston Martin to return? Nothing against BMW, but there’s only one
car for Bond and that’s the AM). Here, Arnold uses a jazzy turn
rather than full orchestral backing to mold the music. Meanwhile,
“Hamburg Break-Out” mixes the Bond theme with the
Tomorrow theme and some electronic drums to create a fun mix
for an action scene.
Of course, the most fun theme in here is “Backseat Driver.” Is
this from the orchestra?? Whether it is or not is irrelevant, it is
great. Only problem is that it ends a few moments before it really
ends in the movie. Oh well. This track can be viewed as a things to
come sign from Arnold for his score for the new movie,
The World Is Not Enough.
On the mean and low side, you have “Hamburg Break-In,” which I
guess is more thematic for a spy breaking into an office. Also,
there’s “*-3 Send,” which does pick up after a moment before
returning to the love theme. In any case, it ends too quickly for
my taste. (Course, it could be argued that it’s short because James
Bond spends little time mourning for anyone). Finally, there’s
“Underwater Discovery,” which also starts quiet and haunting – as
Bond searches the wrecked battleship – before the drums and violins
give it the urgency of an action piece.
Gripes? Just a few. One, “Station Break” is moody, but not
memorable. Two, Moby’s remake of the “James Bond Theme” is
up-for-grabs. If you like it, there’s nothing wrong with it. If
you’re a purist, it is terrible — an attempt to immitate the
success of Mullen and Clayton’s remake of the “Mission: Impossible
Theme.” (I personally enjoy it.) Three, there’s the nonsense
surrounding k.d. lang’s “Surrender.”
OK, let’s take it from the top. David Arnold goes and scores the
movie. Along with that he writes a theme song for the movie. This
theme song is repeated throughout the score — and is referred to
as the “Tomorrow Never Dies” (or “Tomorrow”) Theme. When it comes
time to lay it down, lang is chosen to do it. She does an
incredible job with it — easily recalling the best themes and the
shadow of Shirley Bassey. But the producers want a theme song that
will be a hit with the kids. And so, they go and ask Crow to write
a new theme song. But they can’t — or won’t — get rid of the
other theme song. So they re-title it and use it as the closing
credits theme song. If you’re like me, you know which one is the
true theme song and why it is way better than Ms. Crow’s attempt at
a Bond theme.
The biggest gripe however goes to this incomplete album. As you
may or may not know, this CD only has half of the movie’s score –
from the opening sequence right to Bond and Wai Lin’s escape from
the underwater wreckage. What happened to the rest? Well, either
they didn’t have enough time to put out a whole CD or they wanted
to get more money out of fans. (By the way, the fans clamored
enough to where a complete score — on two CDs, mind you — will be
released later this year). Imagine if Lucas and company had only
released half of the music to
The Phantom Menace — oh wait, they did. Rats!
I can’t give this score an A, as much as I may want, because
it’s not complete. In any case, what’s here is very good. Arnold
has become the permanent replacement to Barry that fans and
producers wanted – he’s gone on to score
The World Is Not Enough. By giving the fans exactly what
they wanted and expected, Arnold scores big. But, take it from me,
wait a few weeks and buy the two-disc release. (If I get it on
time, I’ll provide a review of that before the year is out).