Bond Mania Part II: The Sound of Bond

One week until QUANTUM OF SOLACE shakes and stirs North American theatres and the Bond merchandise machine is rolling on all cylinders! Last week I got to watch and review the much anticipated, brand-spankin'-new CASINO ROYALE Collector's Edition release on Blu-Ray. This week it's David Arnold's QUANTUM OF SOLACE Official Motion Picture Soundtrack and the new Bond theme compilation CD The Best of Bond... James Bond.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Official Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2008; Audio CD)

David Arnold catches plenty of slack from Bond fans - and for good reason - as his Bond scores have the consistency of a month-old carton of rotten milk. He busted onto the Bond scene with a rousing tribute to the music of James Bond with TOMORROW NEVER DIES before digressing into soulless, techno-heavy compositions for THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH and the aural vomit of DIE ANOTHER DAY. With the unveiling of Daniel Craig as the sixth James Bond in 2006's CASINO ROYALE came the opportunity for Arnold to take a step back and go back to a back-to-basics approach with the score, shying away from the synth in favor of a darker and more classical approach (minus the famous James Bond fanfare, of course). Now comes QUANTUM OF SOLACE which is an entirely different animal and one of Arnold's boldest, most admirable Bond works yet.

Fans looking for the James Bond Theme in heavy use will again be disappointed, but fear not... it's there in varying manifestations. Its spare use heightens its effectiveness, especially in a riveting, pulsing string version of the theme at the end of the track "Perla De Las Dunas." Interestingly enough (SPOILER AHEAD!), similarly to CASINO ROYALE, the James Bond Theme isn't heard in its jazzy entirety until the very end of the film (and it's again being used as metaphor for Bond's incomplete character arc) (END OF SPOILER), and curiously, it's completely absent from the album. Not exactly sure why this is but hey, Chris Cornell's You Know My Name was devoid from the CASINO ROYALE album, so the long-running history of score albums missing tracks you'd think would be on it continues. Whatever.

There are quite a few snazzy location-oriented pieces here, such as "Talamone," a quick and stirring cue that is high on Italian flavor, and "Bond in Haiti" which features local percussion (reminiscent of "African Rundown" from CASINO ROYALE) and woodwinds. Also apparent is some rather heavy use of Arnold's Vesper motif from CASINO ROYALE (see: "What's Keeping You Awake"). Having not seen the film yet I can't fairly deduct how effective this is but for continuity's sake (and the fact that this film is a direct sequel playing off of the death of Vesper) it's a great decision by Arnold that emphasizes the weight Vesper has left on Bond's mind as one of the driving forces behind what he's after in this film.

One of Arnold's big gambles here was featuring some heavy electric guitar in some of the action cues, notably "Pursuit at Port Au Prince." QUANTUM OF SOLACE is billed as being as dark and gritty as Bond gets and the scratchy guitar and powerful drum lines mirror the desired tone that director Marc Forster has taken for the film, certainly more than any jazzy fanfare or synth-driven track would. Unfortunately some of Arnold's compositions for the action scenes do tend to fall back into his old tendencies where his tracks are basically one big blaring wall-of-sound that will blow the skin off of your face (parts of "The Palio," "Target Terminated," and "Perla De Las Dunas" fall victim to this), but if anything, it's forgiven as the rest of Arnold's score has enough soul and heart to distract from any one of three or so boring, generic action cues. Heck, even Arnold's use of synth here is entirely forgiveable as it never becomes entirely overbearing or distracting, instead serving as the complement to the orchestra playing over it. In fact, Arnold gives us one of his coolest cues on a Bond score, "Inside Man," which features highly noticeable electronics before giving way to the familiar notes of the James Bond Theme. It might not be what the purists are looking for but it works as an effective blend of classic Bond style with a slightly modern twist.

And yes, the film's title song appears on the album, although oddly last on the list. Jack White and Alicia Keys' Another Way To Die has generated a fair amount of controversy over the interwebs, sharply dividing Bond fans and the general public alike, but all-in-all, it's an entirely passable Bond theme that's decidingly modern but yet contains the classic elements that make it a Bond theme that works. There aren't many instances where it appears in the score in any form of major motif, but then again, the song wasn't a David Arnold product. There are hints of it in "Pursuit at Port Au Prince" if anyone is looking.

David Arnold's QUANTUM OF SOLACE score is fresh - it's got balls which has something Arnold has seemed to be without since penning his first Bond score in 1997. It's dark and haunting yet contemporary and resolute. It's the first time since LICENSE TO KILL that a Bond soundtrack has any form of life or substance and that's why this score works - because this Bond has substance. It's not enough to throw synth techno-beats and two-note brass motifs at Bond scores anymore (at least with Craig's Bond). The Bond films need introspection via music and Arnold's QUANTUM score takes a pretty big leap toward that.

The Best of Bond... James Bond
(2008; Audio CD)

Are you lazy? Do you love things that are exceptionally convenient? Heck, are you a Bond fan? If you meet all three of these very specific requirements, The Best of Bond... James Bond will surely tickle your fancy. An update on 2002's version under the same title, The Best of Bond... James Bond contains all of the theme songs from the first 21 films, plus Surrender by k.d. lang (why does she spell her name in all lower-case letters?) for TOMORROW NEVER DIES and Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time In The World penned for ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.

Also added is a mix of the James Bond Theme by DJ John Arnold. Arnold's product here is utter crap so this one track alone far from makes the album worth the price of admission.

Omitted from this release that featured on the 2002 version are Parodi/Fair and Moby's renditions of the James Bond Theme. Neither of those two tracks actually appear in a Bond film (nor as the theme, no less) - both have served as the score for seemingly every Bond trailer and commercial between 1995 and 2002 - so it's really no big deal. Some have found this to be a bigger loss than others though, likely because they sacrificed those two for an infinitely crappier take on the Bond theme (why they chose to do that in favor of John Arnold's trash is beyond me). In their places though, Madonna's Die Another Day and Cornell's You Know My Name appear making the album as updated as possible, sans Alica Keys and Jack White's QUANTUM OF SOLACE theme Another Way To Die.

You can also pick up a bonus version, if you will, of this album that comes with a DVD containing several music videos and a documentary on the music of James Bond. Anyone with an extensive Bond DVD collection will find this unnecessary though as most of these appear in one way or another on the DVD releases of the films.

Why pick this up? For those of you who preferred the film mix of Chris Cornell's You Know My Name, you'll find it here for the first time ever in non-bootleg (as in ripped straight from the titles of the DVD) form. In case you're wondering (or hadn't noticed), the film mix boosts the sound of the orchestra, taking away some of the rock edge that the track on Cornell's album had. It's a classy yet jagged listen that really captured Craig's Bond in CASINO ROYALE to a tee.

Like I said, if you want all of the Bond tunes in one place, you'll find this album to be fabulously convenient. Just avoid John Arnold's track unless you have a soft spot for unoriginal remixes that sound like cruddy made-at-home MIDI compositions.



One week until QUANTUM! Woohoo!