You can now sample three tracks (totaling nearly seven minutes) from Thomas Newman's eagerly anticipated score to Skyfall. Newman's effort marks the first James Bond score by anyone other than David Arnold in 15 years, and the series newcomer has some large shoes to fill. It will take more than three tracks for me to form an opinion, but if you've formed one already, please share it! Listen here:
With Adele's main title song and these three pieces of Newman's score, I think the music to Skyfall is on the right track.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I always appreciated Barry weaving in instrumental variations to the main title within the film. Listen to Barry's slow romantic renderings of AVTAK and you feel you are listening to a diiferent composition. Another example is TMWTGG. Removing Lulu out of the equation is quite an improvement.
I don't know if Newman will incorporate any of Adele's song into the film.
A major disappointment. I predict this is the only Bond film he'll be scoring. It sounds like it was all produced on one synthesizer for a direct-to-video movie. Generic in the extreme.
ReplyDeleteThe clips dont exactly have me leaping up to pre-order the soundtrack. But I quite like the sound and style that Newman is employing, even if it's not terribly original now in film scoring.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it'll work very well in the film. And a change of style - however slight - will be welcome. I doubt, from the samples that are on Amazon though, that there are going to be many memorable or hummable tunes here.
Apparently, a track from one of David Arnold's scores (ie 'The Name's Bond...James Bond')has been licensed for use at more than one point in the SKYFALL score.
ReplyDeleteIt's basically the a rip roaring brassy and traditional arrangement of the 'Monty Norman' Bond theme for those unfamiliar).
Arnold himself has revealed this on Twitter. Sounds possibly as if those at Eon have heard Newman's score in the film and thought "Hmmmmm....it could do with a bit of a Bondian lift here...."
Presumably Newman was already working on other things by this time hence the use of music already used in previous films.
I know that it wouldn't be the first time this has happened in a Bond film, but I'm not sure it bodes well for Newman's score. As I said, I quite liked some of the snippets I heard, but Newman isn't what I'd call an action film composer....
Anyway, we'll see.