{"id":5780,"date":"2012-11-24T15:27:37","date_gmt":"2012-11-24T20:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5780"},"modified":"2012-11-24T15:27:37","modified_gmt":"2012-11-24T20:27:37","slug":"cd-skyfall-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5780","title":{"rendered":"CD: Skyfall (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>S<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: Sony Classical\/ Released:\u00a0November 6, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 30 tracks \/ (77:33)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Thomas Newman<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

The producers of the Bond franchise have periodically experimented with a new composer, but with the exception of David Arnold (who scored the prior 5 films between 1997-2008), every other attempt non-Barry yielded a straight one-off.<\/p>\n

George Martin\u2019s Live and Let Die<\/strong> (1973) was an appropriate orchestral rock sound for the franchise\u2019s lone (and frankly bizarre) foray into blaxploitation; Bill Conti\u2019s For Your Eyes Only<\/strong> (1981) also yielded a hit song, but was perhaps too disco in style to feel fully part of the franchise\u2019s sleek orchestral sound devised by John Barry; Michael Kamen\u2019s License to Kill<\/strong> (1989) was largely successful except in the title song department; and Eric Serra\u2019s orchestral-synth fusion for GoldenEye<\/strong> (1995) may have suited the all-out effort to restart the franchise after a 6-year dead period with a new Bond (Pierce Brosnan), a new director, and a new sound (which included one of the most aggressive audio mixes around).<\/p>\n

Arnold was the next tryout after Serra, and with new director Sam Mendes involved with Skyfall<\/strong>, the director brought along his longtime collaborator, Thomas Newman, who\u2019s written some of his best (and most iconic) work for Mendes, including American Beauty<\/strong> (1999), and Road to Perdition<\/strong> (2002).<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s versatility in any genre is unquestionable, and as he demonstrated with Perdition<\/strong> \u2013 a film adaptation of a graphic novel \u2013 he could bring gravitas to material whose emphasis was on the visual, if not a specific mood. The Bond films, in their current reboot, mandate a grasp of action, tragedy, and slight humour, since Daniel Craig\u2019s interpretation is much tougher, and his character affected by some grievous emotional damage; even musically, both Arnold’s Casino Royale <\/strong>(2006) and Newman\u2019s approach for Skyfall <\/strong>declare Bond\u2019s still a pro, but he\u2019s likely to become a little mentally brittle in his senior years.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s score basically hits all the right marks, melding orchestral with pulsing electronic elements, a little exotica for the opening teaser, and the occasional quotation of Monty Norman\u2019s signature theme during the CD\u2019s first two-thirds, but there\u2019s one major obstacle within Sony\u2019s CD (which is either a lengthy yet distilled version of the score, or wholly representative of its filmic design): with the exception of a brief cue making use of the title theme, there is no title song<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Within the Bond catalogue, this marks the first time \u2013 including the non-Bond Casino Royale<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1967) scored by Burt Bacharach, and the \u2018unofficial\u2019 Bond Never Say Never Again<\/strong> (itself a remake of Thunderball<\/strong>, with an orchestral-jazz score by Michel Legrand) \u2013 when a Bond soundtrack album completely lacks any theme song.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkyfall,\u201d as sung and co-written by Adele and Paul Epworth (with orchestrations by J.A.C. Redford), is a perfectly fine ode to the franchise with lush orchestrations that evoke more of Arnold\u2019s own Barryesque theme tributes rather than Barry\u2019s original work. The chords deliberately echo Norman\u2019s theme, and Adele\u2019s own vocals maintain a cohesion with the Arnold scores (themselves reliant on both material by Barry, Norman, the non-Arnold themes, plus Arnold\u2019s own themes, which themselves hark back to Barry\u2019s sleek strings and the franchise\u2019s early orchestral-jazz sound).<\/p>\n

Either Mendes felt Skyfall<\/strong> deserved a score more directly attached to action and subtext, or there was a conscious decision to strip away perceived thematic clich\u00e9s to keep the score and film fresh, if not distinct from Arnold\u2019s approach (which admittedly lost its potency as the franchise, during the Brosnan years, became dreadful).<\/p>\n

\u201cKomodo Dragon\u201d excepted, references to Adele\u2019s song is absent from the album, making it either a lean action score stripped down to its core Bondian mechanics, or a bit of a blunder. Adele\u2019s song is available as a digital download and single release, but its omission from the official soundtrack album is just plain bizarre, and perhaps the only assumption is rights issues, or a peculiar contractual agreement (which frankly seems inane, given the franchise has been personally handled by the same key figures for decades).<\/p>\n

The other possibility may be a forethought to release an eventual 2-disc edition which re-marries Newman\u2019s score with both the film song and all its quotations within the score. It\u2019s been a good 12 years since the Bond music catalogue was given an expanded release by Ryko, and as Lukas Kendall wrote of his experiences, his team was given a tight time-frame to mine the EMI archives, sort out the cues, remaster the albums with bonus content, and get masters delivered in time for the latest Bond release. A lot of albums were expanded, while for others, there simply wasn\u2019t enough time.<\/p>\n

Additionally, when Arnold\u2019s 007 debut, Tomorrow Never Dies<\/strong> (1997) was released on disc, it was a rush job, leaving indie label Chapter III to bring out a second disc in 2000 featuring much of the climax music left off because of time constraints. (Arnold\u2019s Bond scores also went through some revisions, as when he had to make room for the meh Sheryl Crow vocal after writing his own theme, \u201cSurrender,\u201d featuring K.D. Lang; and when the Scott Walker vocal \u201cOnly Myself to Blame\u201d was largely unused.)<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s score stands fine on its own and provides a fresh sound after Barry and Arnold\u2019s lengthy tenures, and his penchant for metallic vibes & bass lines (as in the opening of \u201cEnjoying Death\u201d) and percussion textures works well in several cues. There\u2019s also a sold driving force which ensures the cues don\u2019t feel like perfunctory mickey-mouse music whenever Bond leaps, punches, or scurries through insanely dangerous situations.<\/p>\n

When Norman\u2019s theme returns, it pops up first in a neo-classic Barry mold for brass orchestra, after which Newman does a few really clever variations, since the finale is where the Bond theme becomes (finally) dominant. In \u201cKill Them First\u201d Newman focuses on grinding out the theme\u2019s main chords in their most rudimentary design; and in \u201cWelcome to Scotland\u201d he applies churning strings and some counterpoint rhythms oddly reminiscent of Neal Hefti\u2019s action writing (er, namely Batman<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Skyfall<\/strong>\u2019s a great feather in Newman\u2019s cap, and he\u2019s now well-positioned to tackle another Bond after proving he\u2019s capable of giving the genre sonic scope and emotional depth, if not a taut yet dramatically engaging action CD.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0S<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ S . Rating: Very Good Label: Sony Classical\/ Released:\u00a0November 6, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 30 tracks \/ (77:33) . Special Notes: 16-page colour booklet. . Composer: Thomas Newman . . Review: The producers of the Bond franchise have periodically experimented with a new composer, but with the exception of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1646,1142,100,283,1645,1620,1334],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1ve","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5783,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions\/5783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}