pouring on the vitriol

[theladyrose]

The Tomorrow Never Dies soundtrack was definitely not worth the $3 I got it for at that awesome used CD shop on Church Street in Cambridge. All Music Guide, how could you say that "Arnolds score [for Tomorrow Never Dies] has drawn uniform praise?!" While a lot of Bond and film music fans were fans of TND, many others criticized its "wall of sound/techno noise" approach that was further developed (I use that term with irony) in The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Arnold's greatest criticisms in regard to his work on the Bond films is that he rejects John Barry too much or that he slavishly piles on the homages. The latter best applies to Die Another Day with the whole "Let's throw in as many homages to the previous 19 films as possible!" although it's hard for me to confirm how many musical ones are present in the score. As for copying John Barry, if you call blasting out every few seconds in action sequences the James Bond theme which is pretty much written by Barry in all but legal entanglements, then there you go. To be honest, though, the producers have been uber picky about Arnold having creative control over the title song, which generally has a big impact on the audience's mind about how the rest of the score will go. There's no chance for an instrumental opening title theme, especially in the Top-10 soundtrack song frenzy. Unfortunately for the authentic Casino Royale remake, I already have that really cheesy end title song of Burt Bacharach's stuck in my head.

And I find it just the slightest bit suspicious that the only samples provide on MSN Music are Arnold's hits from the mid-90's. Hmmm, what has he produced of note within the last decade or so? Looks like you guys have drawn a blank there. I'll grant you, though, that David Arnold's work on the World is Not Enough, or at least the first half or so, is actually pretty good. Where did he go wrong from there?

Seriously, the Stepford Wives remake is the only film within the past few years where my jaw literally dropped at the "what the hell?" that was the score. Once and again I honestly can't figure out how someone with the right connections and some potential managed to plummet into these murky depths so quickly.

Comments

[madbard.livejournal.com]

Bond film = monstrous canonical film franchise. Arnold = relatively new composer. I suspect micromanagement on the part of the director and/or producers. I can easily imagine the producers saying, "This needs to sound like a Bond film! You'd better play the theme a zillion times!" (Ignoring the fact that the original Bond music was produced by a composer following his own judgement.)

p.s. I know that Church street CD store well. My only complaint was that you had to sit on the floor to look at the lower shelves.

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

Ever since A View To A Kill (1985) the producers have been especially anxious about getting a hit theme song like Duran-Duran's. As far as I can tell they didn't really meddle with the composer's work until after Eric Serra's Goldeneye (1996) because of the disaster that ensued from bad communication. So yes, Arnold had to deal with a very jittery Mick and Babs Broccoli (the producers) who were anxious to end up with something coherent and Bond-ish. Many think that Tomorrow Never Dies was Arnold's best Bond score as the producers increasingly restricted his creative control over the all-crucial theme song. That's how we ended up with the horror that is Madonna's "Die Another Day."

Yes, it would be nice for the shelves to be a little higher off the ground, especially the soundtrack section. The lighting was a little dim when I was in there, too, but the range of material and prices are well worth it.