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Bond expanded soundtracks


pixie_twinkle

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So I'm listening through all the Bond scores in anticipation of the new film and soundtrack, and it got me wondering why only a handful of the scores were released in expanded editions. I really wish scores like The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Octopussy etc had received the same expanded treatment as On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Thunderball (two excellent CD releases). Does anyone know the deal with this? Also, does anyone know why Licence to Kill wasn't reissued with the other pre-Brosnan scores in 2003?

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MCA owns Licence To Kill (the others were EMI or EMI subsidiaries), so that one couldn't be included in the reissue lineup.

EMI's why the other scores didn't get expanded - they had limited funds, and the decision was made to expand the classic Bonds (and Live And Let Die, but that was an accident, otherwise Lukas would have done Golden Gun). I hold out hope that the others get expanded, but if it didn't happen for the 50th anniversary it probably won't happen period.

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So I'm listening through all the Bond scores in anticipation of the new film and soundtrack, and it got me wondering why only a handful of the scores were released in expanded editions. I really wish scores like The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Octopussy etc had received the same expanded treatment as On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Thunderball (two excellent CD releases). Does anyone know the deal with this? Also, does anyone know why Licence to Kill wasn't reissued with the other pre-Brosnan scores in 2003?

those are really good scores, maybe even great scores. Okay, great scores.

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I hold out hope that the others get expanded, but if it didn't happen for the 50th anniversary it probably won't happen period.

It will happen, and probably unexpectedly. Hell, who would have expected this many expanded Trek scores a couple of years ago?

I'm just waiting for my expanded Moonraker and The Living Daylights.

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There has been talk that the masters for at least two of the scores -- Dr. No and Moonraker -- are lost. What a shame that would be, especially in the case of the latter.

I'll happily buy them all when and if they come out, because I'm a Bond nut, but even I have to confess that it won't break my heart for some of them to never see the light of day. Do I really need more music from The Spy Who Loved Me? Not really, no; what's there is pretty lame, and there's nothing they could add -- unless it's alternates which are not in the film -- that would be any less lame. And as for Licence to Kill, that music is as boring as cold oatmeal; if I'm never given the option to spend more money owning it, that'd be fine by me.

What I REALLY wish would happen, though, is a reissue of Never Say Never Again. It's abysmal music (except for the title song, which I kinda like for no good reason); but I don't own a copy, and my collection feels mildly incomplete without it. No way am I paying some asshole $50 for a used copy, though, so it's reissue or nothing.

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Yea an expanded Living Daylights came out in 1998 and I too thought it was complete. Its 65 minutes long at least.

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TLD is 98% complete. No need to redo that one.

However, TSWLM is almost completely unreleased, it NEEDS to be done properly, being probably the most unique score in the canon.

I can wait some longer for LtK though.

License To Kill always felt like a big-budget TV movie to me.

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Absolutely. The Spy Who Loved Me is a phenomenal score. Kudos to Marvin Hamlisch for coming up with something so different from any other Bond score, and yet is so perfect for the film. I'd give pretty much anything to get an expanded release of that score. Even the cues on the existing CD are remixed. I was especially disappointed that the bassy synth notes are missing (or buried in the mix) on the Pyramids scene.

The Bond CDs that are expanded are:

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

Thunderball (AMAZING score and great CD release)

You Only Liive Twice

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Also amazing score and release)

Diamonds Are Forever

Live And Let Die

For Your Eyes Only

The Living Daylights

It's really too bad that the score cues from Dr No are no longer in existance. It may not be the best score in the Bond cannon, but there are a couple of great cues (the tarrantula scene for one), and I still think this score like the movie has a really cool vibe all its own.

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The Bond CDs that are expanded are:

From Russia With Love

Goldfinger

Thunderball (AMAZING score and great CD release)

You Only Liive Twice

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Also amazing score and release)

Diamonds Are Forever

Live And Let Die

For Your Eyes Only

The Living Daylights

Only YOLT, DAF and LALD are complete.

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I mean, I appreciate the effort to make it down to earth and more in tone with Fleming, but the locations, the sets, the actors ... all of it has that Magnum\Mission Impossible\ Knight Rider feel to it.

And Kamen's score doesn't help. And neither does it help that there are too few Bond elements in there to feel familiar.

Dalton is also so not believable as a charming womanizer. Him taking the girl on the boat after the bar fight and the ending in the pool is completely out of character for him, and out of the tone of the film.

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I mean, I appreciate the effort to make it down to earth and more in tone with Fleming, but the locations, the sets, the actors ... all of it has that Magnum\Mission Impossible\ Knight Rider feel to it.

Partly to blame is director John Glenn's rather flat visual style. His films have nothing of the sumptuousness that films like FRWL, YOLT or TPWLM had.

Dalton is also so not believable as a charming womanizer. Him taking the girl on the boat after the bar fight and the ending in the pool is completely out of character for him, and out of the tone of the film.

Yes, but it's what Bond is supposed to do. Glad they got rid of that in the Craig era

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I only ever saw Dalton in The Rocketeer so I find it hard to accept him as anything but a hammy, scenery-chewing villain, and certainly not the jewel of Britain's spy agency.

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Oh, but you are missing the genius of Licence to Kill. It is such an incredibly clever story (as far as Bonds go) in that Bond attacks the villain not directly with guns and bombs, but by framing all the villain's so-called loyal henchmen, thus undermining his confidence in his own people. It's an inspired film. I agree that it feels very different from all the other Bond films, but I think it's a good thing. Licence to Kill is definitely in my top five Bond films. (In case anyone's wondering: 1) On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 2) From Russia With Love, 3) The Spy Who Loved Me, 4) Casino Royale, 5) Licence to Kill. Honourable mention to 6) Goldeneye. Yes, my top six Bond films feature all six Bond actors!)

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I mean, I appreciate the effort to make it down to earth and more in tone with Fleming, but the locations, the sets, the actors ... all of it has that Magnum\Mission Impossible\ Knight Rider feel to it.

And Kamen's score doesn't help. And neither does it help that there are too few Bond elements in there to feel familiar.

Dalton is also so not believable as a charming womanizer. Him taking the girl on the boat after the bar fight and the ending in the pool is completely out of character for him, and out of the tone of the film.

It's a really bad movie, one of the worst in the series. It feels cheap as hell, is poorly thought-out, and is just dull on top of that. The truck scenes at the end are cool, and it's nice to have Q involved in the plot a bit more than normal, but that's about all it has going for it. A shame, too; I liked Dalton as Bond (not so much in this movie, though, sadly).

The score has its fans, I guess, but I'm not one of them. Kamen was a poor choice for a Bond movie. Good composer; bad fit. Sadly, it looks as if a similar mistake has been made with Newman, although if a good movie is the result, then I can live with that.

It's an inspired film.

Any film with an actress as lousy as the one playing Lupe in such a major role can hardly be called "inspired."

Partly to blame is director John Glenn's rather flat visual style. His films have nothing of the sumptuousness that films like FRWL, YOLT or TPWLM had.

That's a fair statement, although it's also worth pointing out that post-Moonraker, there was a concerted effort to keep the budgets on the movies down. So even if Glen had a serious visual flair, he'd have been less able to indulge it than past directors. But yes, in Licence to Kill, his lack of a visual sense -- combined with a budget so slashed that filming mostly took place in Mexico -- was disastrous.

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From what I understand, Kamen's experience wasn't exactly a happy one. Who knows, maybe the circumstances prevented him from giving us a knockout Bond score.

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I mean, I appreciate the effort to make it down to earth and more in tone with Fleming, but the locations, the sets, the actors ... all of it has that Magnum\Mission Impossible\ Knight Rider feel to it.

Partly to blame is director John Glenn's rather flat visual style. His films have nothing of the sumptuousness that films like FRWL, YOLT or TPWLM had.

"The Pie Who Loved Me"?

Yes, but it's what Bond is supposed to do. Glad they got rid of that in the Craig era

Get rid of what? Banging women for fun? What do you mean?

I just think they should have played Dalton's strengths, as showcased in The Living Daylights, and not have him try to be charming.

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Get rid of what? Banging women for fun? What do you mean?

Actually the Craig era isn't handling this very well. Casino Royale was ok. But in QoS he doesn't bang the main Bond girl at all, and while he does bang the secondary one, we never even see the seduction scene.

Craig's Bond quite thuggishly tells her were the bedroom is....that's it.

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Telling a woman "Please come to the kitchen, I can't seem to find the, uhm, sink" inevitably leads to wild, uninhibited sex on the kitchen table, everyone knows that.

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Kamen's score is excellent.

The only Bond score that is a misfire is Goldeneye. I find it hard to believe anyone would find that score appealing. I guess I should have smoked marijuana in high school and college so it would have dulled my senses so I could appreciate more junk.

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I think that's the connection most people have to GoldenEye. They tend to view the film more positively because of the fun of the game. Though the music in the game is quite different than the movie, though some of the same ideas definitely are there.

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Not at all.

I think the game score is very good and recently listened to a remixed album done for GoldenEye Source. I think the game took the general sound of Serra, the "coh" if you would and used it much more effectively. I've actually thought about doing an edit of GoldenEye replacing it with the game music but the idea of replacing all the SFX made it seem far too daunting.

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I have all three Goldeneye scores in my itunes (Serra's, N64, and the Remake), and all are great. Also, I'd like to pop my head in to admit, I'd love for expanded treatments of Arnold's work to become available (fuck paying like $120 to someone on ebay for TND expanded), along with all of Barry's, and Serra's.

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Is it bad that I have the game score in my iTunes and listen to it once in awhile? The connection to Serra's score is valid because it uses one of his signature sounds. I refer to it as the "coh."

That's a sample from the Emu Proteus 2 called "Infinite One" - pitched down quite a bit and with a lot of reverb.

[media=]http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/294509d1338511424-recreating-crashing-iron-synth-early-90s-house-music-sample.mp3

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I think that's the connection most people have to GoldenEye. They tend to view the film more positively because of the fun of the game. Though the music in the game is quite different than the movie, though some of the same ideas definitely are there.

I would take the video game score on shitty MIDI over Serra's score any day of the week and twice on sundays.

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All this hate for the Goldeneye score! Listening to the scores in sequence I was surprised how good that score is. I much preferred it to the previous Kamen score to Licence to Kill, which just doesn't really have much to say. On a purely musical level I'd even go so far as to say I prefer the Goldeneye score to several of the David Arnold scores, particularly The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day, which rely a little too much on by-the-numbers Bond action music. The Serra score is fun, bouncy, and quite beautiful in places, like a good Bond score should be. It also works extremely well in context of the film IMO.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the Arnold scores, they just seem a little uninspired at times. Very effective in the movie, very Bond-like, but not hugely original. Having said that, Tomorrow Never Dies is a pretty awesome score.

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