A few years back, as some of you may know, I put together a Web site dedicated to the music of the James Bond movies. (Yes, I am indeed still a big ol' 007 freak.) Over the years, I've collected the soundtrack albums to all the films, so on the Web site, I have set up a page for each album/movie, which features a synopsis of the film, a review of the score, cast and credit listings, and song lyrics. Since I created the site—in 2003, I believe—it's mostly sat idle, though it regularly gets dozens to hundreds of daily hits. In fact, the last time I think I even visited the place was last year, when I added a review page for Casino Royale. This week, since I've been ill and mostly homebound, I decided to give the old thing a bit of a face-lift. Nothing too extravagant, just something to bring it a little more in line with the character of my personal Web site. If you're at all a Bond fan, you might enjoy checking it out. Drop in at The James Bond 007 Soundtrack Revue.
The photo above is of John Barry, 007-composer extraordinaire.
2 comments:
As a fellow James Bond fanatic (I tend to leap to my feet and shout with joy when a trailer for a new film appears at a theater), I have always enjoyed the music in Bond. Of course, I'm kind of a nut about other film scores, such as the work of Barnard Herrmann, Korngold, Williams, etc. I even had a chance to interview Henry Mancini some time ago and discuss how he taught scoring film and the evolution of music in cinema.
But Bond is special. The Monty Norman strain is iconic. I remember seeing "Never Say Never Again" and thinking...this is wrong. This just doesn't feel right.
What was missing was of course the music.
I like the main theme to NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN pretty well, particularly the inclusion of Herb Alpert's brass, but the score itself is as mediocre as mediocre gets. Back when it came out, I gave the movie relatively high marks as a Bond film, but looking back at it now, I don't feel it holds up so well. As a retelling of THUNDERBALL, it's strictly second-rate.
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