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Article - The
James Bond music
Geoff
Leonard & Pete Walker
Tomorrow
Never Dies, the eighteenth official James Bond film, opens around
the world in December. David Arnold has written a marvellous score,
his first of the series, which is already receiving rapturous reviews.
Arnold is just the latest in a long line of talented composers who
have left their mark on the series, but the overall musical style
and format of a James Bond score was developed by John Barry. To
date he has been responsible for eleven complete scores, and he
had a significant hand in the theme for the very first, Dr. No,
which was scored by Monty Norman.
Barry’s
involvement in the series began in July of 1962. In those days,
he was still mainly involved in the pop music world as musical director
for EMI Records in London, despite having already scored a few relatively
low budget films. Monty Norman, a noted songwriter, had been commissioned
to write the score for Dr. No, but with time running out had been
unable to develop an exciting and dynamic theme. Barry and his band,
The John Barry Seven, had, by that time, acquired a reputation in
the UK, which probably explained why Barry’s name had entered a
discussion over the problem with the music at a hastily convened
meeting. He was contacted by Noel Rogers, the head of United Artists
music publishing division, then invited to a Saturday morning meeting
with Rogers and Monty Norman. From this point onwards, opinions
differ on exactly what part Barry played in the composing of what
is now universally known as ‘The James Bond Theme’.
Whereas
both Norman & Barry remain equally convinced they wrote it without
any help from the other, music editor Peter Hunt (who was arguably
closest to the situation) believes that it was a joint effort, with
Barry moulding Norman’s basic melody line into the classic arrangement
we know today. What is certain is that after accepting the assignment,
Barry had to work very fast. He recalls now that he was so keen
to further his film career, he would ‘score anything that moved
on celluloid’! In fact, he completed the theme without seeing even
a rough-cut of the film, basing it on the style of Mancini's Peter
Gunn and Nelson Riddle's Untouchables.
Whatever
one makes of the writing controversy, one can’t deny that The James
Bond Theme remains a classic record. When it was recorded at Abbey
Road Studios, producer John Burgess remembers just how fastidious
Barry was in arranging the orchestra prior to recording, giving
special attention to the brass section in order to get the sound
he wanted. This recording was so good that the Bond production team
hastily inserted it, not only over the titles, but also throughout
the movie, unbeknown to Barry, who only found this out after paying
to see the film.
With
Messrs Broccoli and Saltzman so obviously impressed with his rescue
work on Dr No, he immediately came into the reckoning for
the sequel, From Russia With Love. Barry recalls meeting
Lotte Lenya, Ian Fleming and Robert Shaw at Pinewood, and then being
flown out to Istanbul with Broccoli, Saltzman, Sean Connery and
director Terence Young. During a conversation with John Williams,
Mr Young looked back to those early days of the James Bond series.
"John Barry came into our lives when we were making Dr No.
We had someone else doing the music and although the score was all
right, we didn't have anything exciting for the title music. I think
it was someone at Chappell who said you must listen to him.
He had a little band called The John Barry Seven and he came
in and wrote this Bond theme.
Then,
I don't know why, they were awfully wary about him. They thought
he was too young and in-experienced in film music and I had a little
bit to do with his finally doing From Russia with Love. Somebody
wanted Lionel Bart to do the music. Lionel came into my life a few
years earlier when I chose a song of his for a film I was making, Serious Charge. The song was called 'Living Doll' and of
course is still around today. I said that if John Barry was in-experienced,
then so was Lionel, and I think we owe it to John to give him a
chance. Harry Saltzman, I think, was keen on Lionel Bart and I must
say I was too, I liked him very much, but I couldn't see why they
were doing John down because of his in-experience. If they had taken
someone like Williamson who was one of the classical composers,
it would have made more sense. Cubby Broccoli was on my side and
in the end it was two to one - I think Cubby was the decider we
should go with John. In the meantime, I think Harry had committed
himself to Lionel Bart, and that's why Lionel wrote From Russia
with Love, which was a charming song."
Still
without a Bond theme of his own, Barry decided to introduce us to
007 as an alternative action theme, possibly not wishing to continually
use The James Bond Theme, in view of Norman's writing credit.
He also began his long tradition of making orchestral arrangements
from the title song and reworking it into a love theme. The soundtrack
album contained most of the important music from the film and also
included a splendid track entitled The Golden Horn, which
wasn't used in the film. Matt Monro was chosen to sing the theme
and this was first heard briefly a few minutes into the film, as
background radio music. Monro's recording is heard again though,
in almost complete form, as the end credits roll. The highlights
of the album included Girl Trouble, Leila Dances (though
not the version heard in the film), 007 and Gypsy Camp.
Many of these including excellent guitar work from Vic Flick, who
was fast becoming a sought-after session player, following his decision
to leave the John Barry Seven.
Goldfinger is without doubt Barry's favourite of all the Bond scores, and he
has often stated how he believes he caught the mood just right.
It contained the most internationally successful title song so far,
sung by Shirley Bassey, despite only reaching number 21 during a
nine-week stay on the UK best seller lists. It did, however, make
the coveted number one position in Japan in June of 1965. Interestingly,
Bassey's single featured a slightly different vocal to the soundtrack
album version. Subtle differences can easily be detected in her
phrasing of the words and also on the playout where she holds the
note on "gold" far longer than on the album take.
Having
been given the responsibility of writing the theme song for the
first time, Barry invited Tony Newley and Leslie Bricusse to compose
the lyrics. According to Bricusse, he and Newley had known Barry
on a personal basis for some time, though they hadn't worked together
professionally. Barry also frequented Bricusse's restaurant, The
Pickwick Club, where along with his friends Michael Caine and
Terence Stamp, he lunched every Friday. Moreover, he also shared
the same divorce lawyer as Newley. According to Barry "Goldfinger was the craziest song ever. I went to Tony Newley to ask him
to write the lyric. He said, "What the hell do I do with it?" I
said "It's Mack The Knife - a song about a villain.
The end result worked just perfectly." In fact, Newley and co-writer
Leslie Bricusse initially dumbfounded Barry after he played them
the opening bars of Goldfinger, by singing the next line as "Wider
than a mile" - a line from Mancini's Moon River!
Although
sales of the soundtrack album were steady in the UK, they were absolutely
sensational in America. There, Goldfinger succeeded in knocking
the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night from the top of the album
charts, and in winning John Barry his first gold disc for over a
million dollars in sales. It sold over $2m worth in six months,
was number one for three weeks and stayed high in the US charts
for seventy weeks. The score also won a Grammy nomination.
The US album contained less music than the UK release, omitting Golden Girl, Death of Tilley, The Laser Beam, and Pussy
Galore's Flying Circus. However, unlike the UK release, it did
contain the instrumental version of the main theme, which had been
released as a single both in Britain and America. The CD re-issue
disappointingly stuck to the original American format, but completists
were able to pick up the missing tracks by purchasing the double
CD: The Best Of James Bond - 30th Anniversary.
For Thunderball, the fourth film in the Bond series, the producers
realised from the outset that Goldfinger would be a difficult
act to follow. They had already started introducing more and more
gimmicks into the films and for this outing they felt it a good
idea to drop the normal title song, (Thunderball was thought to
be lyrically difficult in any case). They therefore decided to use
the name by which Bond had become known in Italy and Japan - Mr
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Accordingly, Barry based the entire score
around this title song which had lyrics written solely by Leslie
Bricusse (Newley was working in America at the time). The Bond team
had even chosen Dionne Warwick as singer, after Shirley Bassey's
original version had failed to impress. Barry takes up the story:
"Dionne's was a marvellous song and she did a great arrangement
for it. It was a really strange song. I had about twelve cowbells
on it with different rhythms, along with a large orchestra, and
thought it a very original piece. Then, at the last minute they
got cold feet and decided to have a song called 'Thunderball'."
The official reason for this sudden change of mind revolved around
the possible controversy surrounding the sexually risqué
song title in conservative America. More pertinent, possibly, was
an alleged court action from Miss Bassey herself following her replacement
by Warwick. Obviously if the song wasn't used at all, there could
be no case to answer!
Whatever
the reason, it led to Barry's long partnership with Don Black, who
took over as lyricist as a result of Bricusse’s inaccessibility
through working in America. When director Terence Young heard Thunderball for the first time, he said it sounded like 'Thunderfinger'.
Barry's laughing rejoinder was to the effect that "I gave them
what they wanted." Incidentally, both unused vocals are on
the double CD: The Best Of James Bond - 30th Anniversary, along
with a lengthy suite of music also excluded from the soundtrack
album.
On You Only Live Twice, Barry teamed up again with Leslie Bricusse
to produce a beautiful song, sung over the opening credits by Nancy
Sinatra. However, the appearance on the American issued Bond 30th
Anniversary double CD, of a completely different song entitled You
Only Live Twice - demo, raised a few eyebrows. The vocal is
by an unnamed female session singer with Barry and Bricusse credited
as writers. Leslie Bricusse confirmed that this was their first
attempt at the title song, which they eventually discarded.
The
singer turned out to be Julie Rogers, best known for her hit, The
Wedding. Julie was quick to point out that her recording was
not intended for demo purposes. On the contrary, she was actually
chosen to sing the new Bond title theme on the strength of her aforementioned
hit. As she rightly points out, "Successful TV and recording artists
do not record demos!" Her song was recorded at CTS studios, Bayswater
with Barry himself conducting a sixty-piece orchestra. Julie believes
that only late pressure from the producers resulted in Nancy Sinatra
eventually taking over as vocalist. Although Sinatra did indeed
get the job, she was by no means second choice either. According
to Bricusse, Barry had already lined up Aretha Franklin on the eve
of her signing for Atlantic Records. However, the producers were
insistent on using Nancy Sinatra who had just topped the charts
with 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. Barry recently revealed
that it took twenty takes before he was completely satisfied with
Sinatra’s performance, due apparently to her nervousness in front
of the microphone.
Unusually,
Barry composed an instrumental to open On Her Majesty's Secret
Service, probably as a means of resolving the problem of fitting
a suitable lyric around what is a rather cumbersome film title.
Although Barry's most recent ‘Bond Theme’ collaborator, Leslie Bricusse,
was convinced of his ability to write a suitable lyric, the decision
to opt for an instrumental proved the right one.
The
film's screenplay was closely based on Ian Fleming's original story
relating Bond's romantic entanglement and eventual marriage. To
compliment the courtship scenes Barry wrote a beautifully haunting
melody with the working title, We Have All The Time In The World,
directly lifted from one of Fleming's own lines from the book. This
combination of music and title provided Hal David with the skeletal
framework around which a lyric could be constructed. Although he
had only just left hospital after a long illness, Louis Armstrong
was considered the ideal person to sing the finished song, on John
Barry's own suggestion. "There was a line in the script, almost
the last line – ‘We have all the time in the world’, as his wife
gets killed, which was also in Fleming's original novel, and I liked
that as a title very much. Now I'd always liked Walter Huston singing
'September Song' in the film September Affair, where as an
older character he sang about his life in a kind of reflective vein.
So, I suggested to Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman that Louis
Armstrong would be ideal to sing our song in this fashion." Tragically,
it was to be his last recording before his untimely death. "He
was the sweetest man alive but having been laid up for over a year,
he had no energy left. He couldn't even play his trumpet and still
he summoned the energy to sing our song – if only a verse at a time.
Afterwards, we were able to edit everything together to produce
the marvellous recording you hear today. At the end of the recording
session in New York City he came up to me and said ‘thank you for
this job’. I couldn’t believe it, he was my hero and he was thanking me!"
The
Armstrong song was a huge hit in Italy, thanks fortuitously, according
to Barry, to a DJ based in Rome, who played the record virtually
non-stop for an entire evening. Such saturation coverage sent it
hurtling to number one, where it remained for nine months!!! Barry
commented: "Italy was the only country where we had any success
with the song. It was a very heavy song so we couldn't use it as
the title track. It was buried inside the film and that probably
hurt its chances of success. The song itself was written for a very
emotional moment. I had pictured Sean Connery in the role of Bond
when Hal and I first wrote the lyrics. If it had been Sean who married
Diana Rigg and then lost her to Blofeld, then the song would have
been beautiful and highly appropriate. Having Sean Connery and Diana
Rigg together in the last scene would have really created a bombshell
of a moment. With all due respect to the inexperience of George
Lazenby, he couldn't have created a boiled egg in that last scene!
He turned up for one of the recording sessions and seemed surprised
that my music worked for a particular scene. He congratulated me
as though he was doing me the biggest favour I had ever had – it
was as though he hadn’t realised I wrote film music for a living!"
Lazenby’s other ‘contribution’ towards the music was to suggest
‘Blood Sweat & Tears’ to perform ‘We Have All The Time In The
World’, though he later admitted he was wrong.
The
failure of Armstrong's song to dent any chart outside Italy, was
remedied in England almost 25 years later after it was used for
a Guinness television commercial. EMI saw fit to issue the song,
as a result of public demand, at which point it climbed to number
three in the charts.
Actor
Charles Gray met an early death in You Only Live Twice in
the guise of Dikko Henderson, Bond's initial contact in Japan, but
was reincarnated in the form of Ernst Stavro Blofeld for Diamonds
Are Forever, the seventh film of the series! Sean Connery was
persuaded back for a final appearance as James Bond, after United
Artists promised to back two of his own future film projects,
plus the payment of an enormous fee for his services. John Barry
needed no such encouragement to work on his own seventh Bond score,
although afterwards he was reportedly furious with co-producer Harry
Saltzman's low opinion of his theme song, performed by Shirley Bassey
in her own inimitable style. According to Don Black, Saltzman thought
that the lyric "hold one up and then caress it, touch it, stroke
it and undress it" was "dirty". Apparently, after
questioning Saltzman's competence to make a critical analysis of
the song, Barry virtually threw him out of his Cadogan Square apartment.
His anger with Saltzman even influenced his decision not to score Live & Let Die, the next film in the series, but fortunately
few shared the producer’s opinion, since the song went on to win
an Ivor Novello Award for Barry and Black. As usual, Barry
produced some memorable action cues, yet they failed to find their
way onto the soundtrack album, dominated as it was by those cues
that reflected Las Vegas mood music.
By
1973, Barry was heavily involved with Don Black in the writing of
the musical, ‘Billy’. He had agreed to give this project priority
over any film music assignments and his disagreement with Saltzman
hardly helped matters. Filming of Live And Let Die (Roger
Moore’s debut in the title role) began in the Bahamas with no decision
made as to who would score the film; that was until Saltzman received
an unsolicited title theme song tape demo from Paul McCartney -
and they weren't going to turn THAT down! After embarrassingly suggesting
a female singer to perform the song, the producers eventually agreed
to McCartney tackling it himself, with friend and mentor George
Martin commissioned to write the score.
After
turning down many other film-scoring opportunities due to his involvement
with 'Billy', Barry was now faced with a particularly heavy schedule,
and may not have been able to devote sufficient time to Man With
The Golden Gun (1974). Apparently, he wrote the complete score
in just three weeks, and was, according to Don Black, dissatisfied
with the title song they wrote together. Vocalist Lulu was not at
her best on the recording session, either, due to a sore throat.
Not surprisingly, the resultant single sold very poorly - one of
the few Bond theme vocals to miss the charts completely. Even though
the soundtrack was a reasonable representation of the film score,
Barry appeared to be signalling a certain boredom with the JB formula.
In
fact, soon afterwards, Barry left England to initially live in Majorca,
before moving permanently to America. He was badly missed on 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, although his replacement, Marvin Hamlisch
did write an excellent theme song - Nobody Does It Better (with lyricist Carol Bayer Sager). Sung by Carly Simon, it was deservedly
nominated for an Oscar. However the rest of his score didn't really
match the requirements of a 1970s Bond film, in spite of receiving
an Oscar nomination - something even the classic Barry scores failed
to achieve. The score has its good moments, but ‘Bond 77’ and ‘Ride
to Atlantis’ both have a very dated 70s sound.
A
dispute with the Inland Revenue almost deprived the Bond camp of
Barry’s services for Moonraker (1979), until it was
decided to partially shoot in France. As a consequence, recording
at the Davout Studios, Paris became a practical necessity, enabling
Barry to avoid entering the UK. Now resident in America, Barry was
reunited with lyricist Hal David to write a title song with Johnny
Mathis in mind. Unfortunately, his vocal failed to work in the way
it was envisaged. Barry was reflecting on this dilemma one day in
a Beverly Hills hotel, when Shirley Bassey happened to walk in.
Eureka! Problem solved. Moonraker became another excellent,
haunting song, performed admirably by Bassey in her most sensual
fashion, and it was a major surprise when the single failed to register
in the charts. A much faster, almost disco-oriented rendition accompanied
the end credits. Both versions made up the aforementioned single,
although in Britain, the label credits were reversed - doubtless
causing considerable initial confusion to radio presenters!
It
was John Barry himself who persuaded the producers to appoint Bill
Conti as his replacement for 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, when
he found himself unavailable because of the aforementioned tax problems.
Conti’s main worry centred around the theme song. After scrapping
his original version on the advice of a friend, he combined with
lyricist Michael Leeson to create an Oscar-nominated title song,
performed during the opening credits in vision by Sheena Easton
– the only occasion on which this has happened during the series.
Unfortunately, the rest of Conti’s score was dominated by the then
very fashionable disco beat, which has since dated the score rather
badly.
In
1983, Barry decided the time was right to work again England. In
order to do so, he not only chose to settle an outstanding tax bill,
but also bought a property to use as a London base. He returned
to the same Cadogan Square in which he resided during the sixties,
and where he had written so many of his successful scores. John
Glen had started his long run as Bond director with For Your
Eyes Only, but Octopussy was the first time he and Barry
had worked together as director and composer. However, as he recently
told John Williams, he had known Barry from many years
prior to this: "In the fifties when I was a national serviceman
stationed on the East Coast of England, playing at the local town
hall was the John Barry Seven. Later our paths were to cross
again. As a film editor I was associated with John on several movies.
I remember On Her Majesty's Secret Service particularly well,
as this was my introduction to the 'big time'. John wrote a particularly
memorable score for the ski chase sequence using a moog synthesiser,
at that time a novel instrument. He was always searching for that
unique sound, sometimes new and sometimes from an ethnic source.
Of course, the search for the broken guitar, which gave the James
Bond Theme in Dr No such a great quality, is legendary in
Bond circles. Never to be repeated as Vic Flick apparently threw
it away. What else would a great guitarist do with a cracked guitar?
John was lost to the Bond films for a number of years and I was
fortunate that he was able to return for three of the films I directed: Octopussy, A View to A Kill and the Living Daylights. As a director what can one say to John Barry about the music for
a Bond film? His contribution to the success of the series has been
enormous. His needs were always very simple. A piano, a Moviola
and not very much time. Six weeks was about as long as he got. Bond
films always had a pressing release date and then there was always
the title song."
On
the subject of the Bond title song, the majority have eponymous
themes, but there are occasions when this is not possible - Octopussy,
an obvious example. When Barry and his new lyricist Tim Rice
began working on the theme, Barry set Rice an unusual task. In order
to satisfy the producers, he asked Rice to write half a dozen lyrics,
on the basis that they would like at least one of them! Rita Coolidge
was the surprise choice to perform All Time High in view
of her low profile at the time. However, the producers were convinced
that here was a potential ‘standard’, requiring someone of the class
and easy-listening singing style of Coolidge to perform it. In the
event, their conviction proved accurate. After reaching only number
75 in the UK charts it has since become something of an evergreen.
The original soundtrack CD was issued on A & M but quickly
withdrawn due to a printing error. Bond collectors have been known
to pay hundreds of pounds for a copy. Thankfully, Rykodisc have recently re-issued it, complete with detailed booklet notes
and photographs from the film.
John
Taylor, of Duran Duran, a keen Bond / Barry fan, had cheekily
suggested to Cubby Broccoli that the group would be ideal to write
and sing the theme song for A View To A Kill. However, when
they got the job, their initial reaction was one of fear! Of course,
this was one offer they simply couldn't refuse, particularly with
Barry apparently keen on working with them. Lead singer Simon Le
Bon: "He didn't really come up with any of the basic musical
ideas. He heard what we came up with and he put them into an order.
And that's why it happened so quickly because he was able to separate
the good ideas from the bad ones, and he arranged them. He has a
great way of working brilliant chord arrangements. He was working
with us as virtually a sixth member of the group, but not really
getting on our backs at all."
Barry
was amused by John Taylor's knowledge of his work: "He knows
more about stuff I've done than I know myself. He'd pick out a scene
from an old movie, and I mean old, and talk about it like I'm supposed
to remember it as if it were yesterday!" Following the departure
of CTS's resident engineer John Richards to America, A View To
A Kill was the first occasion on which Dick Lewzey had been
entirely responsible for the mixing. He was also responsible for
recommending the orchestrator Nicholas Raine to Barry. The two have
worked together on many occasions since. ‘A View to a Kill’ remains
the only Bond title song ever to make number one in America (it
reached no. 2 in Britain).
A
View To A Kill marked the end of Roger Moore’s long run in the
title role and his successor, Timothy Dalton, made his debut in The Living Daylights. For the first time in the series, Barry
wrote a separate theme for the end titles sequence. He commented:
"I thought it would be lovely at the end of the movie, instead
of going back to the main title song, to have a love ballad which
is the love theme that I used throughout the four or five love scenes
in the picture." This theme was sung by Chrissie Hynde of The
Pretenders, who also wrote the words. Another Barry / Hynde
song was included within the body of the film, and both of them
were recorded with synthesised backing at Paradise Studios in Chiswick,
London.
Barry
started work on The Living Daylights in May 1987 by making
full use of a 24-track digital technology available at CTS, Wembley.
Both Barry and Lewzey were impressed with this format with Barry
recalling how he recorded the very first digital film soundtrack,
Disney's The Black Hole. "I love digital - it's just
that much better than analogue, everything major I've done has been
onto digital." A majority of the score used synthesised rhythm
tracks and Barry added: "I wanted to put in these tracks and
they really cut through. We've used them on about eight pieces and
when we got them mixed in with the orchestra it sounded really terrific
with a lot of energy and impact - a slight freshness and a more
up-to-date sound."
Barry
wrote some 57 minutes of music for this film in just four weeks!
Band tracks were laid down at Maison Rouge Studios in South London,
overlaid orchestrally at CTS, and finally remixed at the Power Station
in New York. John Barry was reportedly unhappy with A-ha’s approach towards their performance of the main theme, comparing
the experience as "Like playing ping-pong with four balls."
He
was even less pleased with their attitude following completion of
the theme song, when they refused to have anything further to do
with the film. There was undoubtedly a certain amount of creative
friction - "The old meeting the new", said Aha, who had been
recommended to Michael G. Wilson by Ray Still, who had been involved
with the Duran Duran project, and was then director of the
US label, Warner Brothers Records. Pal Waaktaar, leader of
the group, liked the idea of working with Barry but afterwards described
it as "a strange experience - the song is not really a favourite
in its current form!"
Illness
prevented Barry from returning to score Licence To Kill,
in 1989, even though production was delayed in the hope he would
recover in time. Vic Flick did return, however, to play guitar on
Michael Kamen’s sessions. Originally, Flick and Eric Clapton were
to have performed the title theme as an instrumental but the producers
reneged on the idea - hence Gladys Knight, and what was to lead
to a worrying trend in demarcating song and score chores. Kamen,
recruited to write the score following a string of successful action
assignments, provided an interesting blend of traditional elements
and a new approach with Latin guitar. The new tradition of having
a different end-titles song continued via Patti LaBelle with ‘If
You Asked Me To’, but this wasn’t written by Kamen, either.
Legal
wrangles prevented any further James Bond adventures until 1995’s GoldenEye, by which time Timothy Dalton had decided it was
time for him to hang up the tuxedo and revolver. Barry, too, apparently
decided enough was enough, and although courted at length by the
producers, claimed he was too busy on other projects to be able
to give the film the time and attention it deserved. Director Martin
Campbell was keen to use Eric Serra, famous for his electronic,
synthesiser scores for Luc Besson’s films. Barry thought that a
change in direction was certainly one option, especially after a
six-year gap, but warned it might prove difficult to move away from
a long established format. Words that were to prove only too true
when Serra’s score was heard. In truth, it wasn’t a bad score as
such, but didn’t seem appropriate for a Bond film. It is rumoured
that had the producers more time, they would have rejected the score
completely, but as it was they did insist on replacing the music
for a key tank chase sequence with an orchestrally scored version
of the James Bond theme. This was arranged by John Altman, Serra’s
conductor for the sessions, as Serra was of the opinion that what
he had written should be left in the film! Only the title song,
written by Bono and The Edge and sung by Tina Turner can be said
to be satisfactory, but even that is very derivative of the
Barry/Bassey approach. Serra also made an error by electing to sing
his own end-titles song, which was not entirely suitable for that
purpose.
This
leads us back to the current score to Tomorrow Never Dies.
David Arnold has written a traditional Bond score, cleverly utilising
elements of previous Barry scores while simultaneously updating
it and imposing his own personality. He has also composed an excellent
song, ‘Surrender’, sung by k d lang, with lyrics by Don Black, which
is disappointingly relegated to the end titles sequence. Like Barry
before him, Arnold has incorporated parts of his theme into other
cues in the score, but this cannot be said of the main title song
by Sheryl Crow. Fans of techno are rewarded by a version of The
James Bond Theme by Moby, and it is encouraging to note that
the overall length of the album is, like GoldenEye before
it, well over fifty minutes. Now that the musical baton has been
successfully passed onto a self-confessed Barry connoisseur, one
can only hope that the true spirit of Barry’s original blueprint
will live on into the millennium. Tomorrow, as they say, never dies.
Geoff
Leonard & Pete Walker |
