Episode 19: James Bond - Part 2

07/22/18 • -1 min

In Episode 19 we continue our ambitious attempt to analyse every James Bond score ever. Having covered the Connery classics in Episode 18, we’re now onto the 1970s, 1980s, and even the early 1990s, covering Moore, Dalton, and a little bit of Brosnan as James Bond goes from funk to disco to acid jazz and even a little early hip-hop. Join us as we look at some of the kitschiest Bond music out there – and, some of the all-time greats. Episode notes: 3:38 – Roger Moore’s more George (Aston) Martin Bond music 9:11 – The 1970s funk boat chase 12:45 – Nick has a problem with The Man With the Golden Gun’s parallel motion 16:43 – The Spy Who Wrote A Fantastic Opening Song 18:10 – James ‘Disco Stu’ Bond 24:30 – The singing pyramids 28:33 – The Space Who Loved Me 32:45 – Bossa, James Bossa 35:38 – Bill Conti’s For Your Funk Only 43:40 – John Barry’s finale: Octopussy, A View To A Kill, and The Living Daylights 49:12 – Dalton’s daylight drum machine 54:50 – Michael Kamen’s License to Trill 1:01:04 – Bond’s power ballad romance 1:04:50 – Serra’s synth sound for Goldeneye and the sonic reinvention of James Bond 1:13:34 – Acid James 1:17:40 – Escaping the Archives 1:19:04 – Goldeneye’s Tank Chase and John Altman’s replacement music We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

Previous Episode

Episode 18: James Bond - Part 1

In Episode 18 we begin one of our most ambitious musical projects yet – the music of the James Bond franchise. Over the next three episodes, we’ll be looking at the sounds of Bond, James Bond, across 50 years, 24 films, and a great many composers, theme songs, and one-liners. In this first episode, we’re covering everything from the birth of the cinematic Bond to the end of the Sean Connery era, with a particular focus on how John Barry created that classic – and timeless – Bond sound. Episode notes: 4:45 – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass make an unscheduled appearance 6:35 – The evolution of the Bond franchise and its importance in film history 10:23 – “The best Bond film is the next Bond film” 12:40 – The birth of the Bond theme, with Monty Norman’s sitar 15:30 – John Barry’s swinging ‘60s style 22:23 – Monty Norman’s Dr. No score 24:10 – ‘Three Blind Mice’ and Norman’s Jamaican grooves 26:30 – Bond and orchestra swat a bug 31:12 – Lionel Bart’s ‘From Russia With Love’, the first title song 38:15 – John Barry’s 007 theme 42:11 – John Barry’s idiosyncratic action cues and quotations of the main theme 45:47 – James Bond’s travelogue music 51:13 – Goldfinger’s swinging ‘Into Miami’ 55:55 – ‘Alpine Drive’ and ‘The Raid on Fort Knox’ 1:00:34 – Thunderball’s alternate themes 1:07:14 – Barry’s underwater fight scenes 1:10:05 – The brass-fanfared evil lair 1:13:08 – You Only Live Twice’s slow-moving villainous space capsule 1:20:48 – Nancy Sinatra’s ‘You Only Live Twice’ 1:23:05 – The ‘Japanese’ music in You Only Live Twice 1:27:43 – On Her Majesty’s Australian Service 1:31:09 – ‘We Have All The Time In The World’ 1:35:04 – “This never happened to the other synth” 1:41:00 – The horny saxophone 1:43:11 – Diamonds Are Forever 1:46:33 – The creepy saxophone We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.

Next Episode

Episode 20: James Bond - Part 3

In Episode 20 we conclude our three-part retrospective of the music of Bond, James Bond. Having already covered the pioneering Bond sound of John Barry and the funk of the Moore era, in our final episode we make it through the emergence of David Arnold as the Bond musical heir apparent, and Thomas Newman’s recent work. Join us as we finally answer the question to end all questions: which is the greatest Bond score of all time, and which is the greatest song? Episode notes: 3:45 – Arnold, David Arnold 7:04 – Tomorrow Never Plays the Fanfare 11:25 – The fanboy composer? 13:05 – Surrender’s presence in the score 19:23 – Arnold’s neo-Barry romance writing 23:48 – The World Is Sort Of Enough 28:00 – Arnold’s muscular action writing – the submarine escape 33:48 – Score Another Way (electronically) in Die Another Day 40:04 – Bond joins the choir 44:25 – Blond, James Blond 50:18 – Parkour percussion 54:10 – You Know My Chord Progression 59:20 – Vesper’s Theme 1:01:28 – Quantum of Solace 1:05:08 – Watery woodwinds at the opera 1:07:40 – DC3s, tempo, chromaticism, and the peak of Arnold’s action music 1:10:48 – Thomas Newman, Bond’s new man 1:12:35 – M’s retiring brass statements 1:16:50 – Bond on a boat 1:19:47 – Severine and Newman’s romantic strings 1:26:45 – A Spectre haunts 007 1:30:10 – The Writing’s On The Train 1:32:08 – At the end: our favourite score, and our favourite song We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.