James Bond is better than everything

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Could almost have been an official teaser poster.  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Agreed, Sweep.

It's quite reminiscent of the Golden Gate Bridge poster, from AVTAK.

[Jay 37,369]

Here's an updated list of which Bond scores have been expanded now.

 

Year	Title	Composer	Film	Music	Expansion
1962	Dr. No	Monty Norman	MGM/UA	UMG
1963	From Russia With Love	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG
1964	Goldfinger	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG
1965	Thunderball	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG	2003 EMI
1967	You Only Live Twice	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG	2003 EMI
1969	On Her Majesty's Secret Service	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG	2003 EMI
1971	Diamonds Are Forever	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG	2003 EMI
1973	Live and Let Die	George Martin	MGM/UA	UMG	2023 La-La Land (50th)
1974	The Man With The Golden Gun	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG
1977	The Spy Who Loved Me	Marvin Hamlisch	MGM/UA	UMG
1979	Moonraker	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG
1981	For Your Eyes Only	Bill Conti	MGM/UA	UMG	2003 EMI
1983	Octopussy	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG	2023 La-La Land (40th)
1985	A View To A Kill	John Barry	MGM/UA	UMG
1987	The Living Daylights	John Barry	MGM/UA	WMG	1998 Rykodisc
1989	License To Kill	Michael Kamen	MGM/UA	UMG
1995	GoldenEye	Éric Serra	MGM/UA	WMG
1997	Tomorrow Never Dies	David Arnold	MGM/UA	UMG	2022 La-La Land (25th)
1999	The World Is Not Enough	David Arnold	MGM/UA	UMG	2018 La-La Land
2002	Die Another Day	David Arnold	MGM/UA	WMG	2017 La-La Land (15th)
2006	Casino Royale	David Arnold	Sony	SME	2006 Sony
2008	Quantum of Solace	David Arnold	Sony	SME
2012	Skyfall	Thomas Newman	Sony	SME
2015	Spectre	Thomas Newman	Sony	UMG
2021	No Time To Die	Hans Zimmer	MGM/UA	UMG

 

 

Here are the next 5 years worth of quinquennial anniversaries for the ones that LLL hasn't done yet, in case that factors in to when they'll be tackled:

 

2024:

1. Goldfinger (60th)
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (55th)
3. The Man With The Golden Gun (50th)
4. Moonraker (45th)
5. License To Kill (35th)

2025:

1. Thunderball (60th)
2. A View To A Kill (40th)
3. GoldenEye (30th)
4. Spectre (10th)

2026:

1. Diamonds Are Forever (55th)
2. For Your Eyes Only (45th)
3. Casino Royale (20th)
4. No Time To Die (5th)

2027:

1. Dr. No (65th)
2. You Only Live Twice (60th)
3. The Spy Who Loved Me (50th)
4. The Living Daylights (40th)
5. Skyfall (15th)

2028:

1. From Russia With Love (65th)
2. Quantum of Solace (20th)

 

It's so cool that La-La Land has now expanded 5 of the 25 Eon Bond scores!

[jacksparrow900 32]

So far we have complete scores for You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, Octopussy, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day. 

 

Ones that have been said could not be expanded Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. Because the tapes were missing I haven't heard that they have been found. 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Goldfinger wasn’t really “expanded”. The 2003 EMI edition simply included some cues previously released in the UK but not the US.

 

Yavar

[Jay 37,369]

Fixed!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

DR. NO has been expanded (I think). It's on the Soundtrack Factory label.

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

That’s a total bootleg and not a real expansion.

 

Yavar

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Wha'?! It's a boot?! Someone needs to tell that to HMV, because that's where I bought it! 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

I’m sorry, you were taken. 😢 

 

Yavar

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Well, whatever it is, I like it, so..  HMV was taken 

As boots go, it's not bad.

For the record, I prefer my Polish (?) boot of BLADE RUNNER over what was released in 1994/2007.

[Quppa 117]

Does the bad blood between Éric Serra and EON mean a Goldeneye expansion is unlikely to ever happen? John Altman said in 2016 that he was on speaking terms with Serra again, and it would be good to see his tank chase cue released officially one day.

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

On 28/12/2023 at 9:09 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

Wha'?! It's a boot?! Someone needs to tell that to HMV, because that's where I bought it! 

 

Did you buy it used?

[OneBuckFilms 323]

Based on these La-La Land releases, it seems they have a good level of trust from EON and the studios.

 

I have a hope that we'll see more definitive Bond score expanded / complete releases, and I'm absolutely keeping my eyes on these.

 

Do we have any idea on the probability of expansions for Dr. No, From Russia and Goldsmith? Has it been established how much extra material may exist?

[Smeltington 1,440]

21 minutes ago, OneBuckFilms said:

Goldsmith

 

Don't you mean the Man with the Golden Smith?

[Faleel 5,353]

GoldenSmith

[OneBuckFilms 323]

SmithFinger? Damn my speed typing.

 

Goldfinger.

[Andy 4,138]

If I try to text the word "hornet" predictive text makes it "Horner".

Such is the live of a film music fan.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

Excited by the Octopussy and Live and Let Die expanded editions and got me thinking which of Barry’s other Bond scores have essentially decent, broadly complete releases*. As far as I know, Diamonds Are Forever, The Living Daylights, OHMSS, You Only Live Twice are largely complete and can be rearranged into film order and have pretty good sound. Thunderball has most of the music but the lengthy suites mean lots of it can’t be rearranged into film order. The others are incomplete. Comments and corrections welcome!
 

*this is kinda based on the premise of how good the existing versions are if no further expansions were forthcoming rather than to nitpick over those expansions, few of which are ideal due to the weird requirement to start with the original Lp programme and put the new material at the end. Lucky many of us have digital music libraries that make putting the tracks in the right order relatively trivial. 

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

The complete scores for Thunderball and OHMSS are so long (and Lukas Kendall was limited to single disc expansions at the time) that the expanded 2003 editions are not complete. The expanded release of The Living Daylights was I think originally produced before the LK 2003 editions and he just reprised that program, but it actually wasn’t complete either (missing seven cues or so, I heard?)

 

Diamonds Are Forever and You Only Live Twice were indeed essentially complete in 2003 just like Live and Let Die. (Wasn’t the Conti score also expanded at that time?) I’m sure there are still some alternate films versions and other odds and ends that could be premiered on a new 2CD release like LALD received though.

 

Yavar

[Tallguy 3,398]

Yes, I thought For Your Eyes Only was expanded about the same time as Living Daylights. Before 2003 anyway. It's all a bit of a blur now. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was originally expanded in 1998.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

2 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was originally expanded in 1998.

"An elegant [soundtrack] for a more civilized time".😔

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

A fine farewell to the series for Barry, and I'm glad it was for a bloody good Bond film. 

[Andy 4,138]

They should just reissue all of them and expand as needed for consistency and preservation.  I hope they do.  I only have a few of them. 

[thestat 348]

The only Bond, outside of Arnold's awesomeness, that mattered was this, the disco beat, of a cool guy, in his olden times:

 

 

[Mr Keith Hicks 14]

Below is a list of all the Bond Scores & the roughly what is missing time wise.

 

I really hope we see more expanded scores this year from LLL records because if they release via anniversary dates they might follow the below schedule, if not would be grate if they just released all of the Bond scores like they did in 2003 but obviously fully expanded with all the missing music ques.

 

Top of my list are all of the John Barry Bond scores but most wanted expansions are Moonraker , Thunderball & OHMSS

 

2024:

1. Goldfinger (60th)
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (55th)
3. The Man With The Golden Gun (50th)
4. Moonraker (45th)
5. License To Kill (35th)

2025:

1. Thunderball (60th)
2. A View To A Kill (40th)
3. GoldenEye (30th)
4. Spectre (10th)

2026:

1. Diamonds Are Forever (55th)
2. For Your Eyes Only (45th)
3. Casino Royale (20th)
4. No Time To Die (5th)

2027:

1. Dr. No (65th)
2. You Only Live Twice (60th)
3. The Spy Who Loved Me (50th)
4. The Living Daylights (40th)
5. Skyfall (15th)

2028:

1. From Russia With Love (65th)
2. Quantum of Solace (20th)

DR NO - tecnhically none of the orchestral score is released, around 15-20 minutes

 

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - around 15 minutes

 

GOLDFINGER - around 15 minutes

 

THUNDERBALL -20-25 minutes, including some album only recordings and unfinished music

 

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - if you don't count re-edited cues, this one is mostly complete

 

ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE - around 10 minutes 

 

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - 5 seconds

 

LIVE AND LET DIE - complete as per La La Land Records Release Jan 2024

 

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - around 25 minutes

 

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - the whole score is missing, around 40 minutes

 

MOONRAKER - around 8-10 minutes

 

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - around 10 minutes

 

OCTOPUSSY - complete as per La La Land Records Release Jan 2024 

 

A VIEW TO A KILL - around 16 minutes 

 

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS - around 8-10 minutes

 

LICENSE TO KILL - around 40 minutes

 

GOLDENEYE - about 20 mins, plus 5:52 for the John Altman tank chase cue

 

TOMORROW NEVER DIES - complete as per La La Land Records Release 2022

 

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH - complete as per La La Land Records Release 2018

 

DIE ANOTHER DAY - complete as per La La Land Records Release 2017

 

CASINO ROYALE - around 10 minutes still to be released on CD 

 

QUANTUM OF SOLACE- about 20 Minutes of music to still to be released on CD ?

 

SKYFALL - about 30 to 40 Minutes of music to still to be released on CD ?

 

SPECTRE - about 30 to 40 Minutes of music to still to be released on CD ?

 

NO TIME TO DIE - about 69 minutes 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

How much of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME was a rerecording (I'm guessing most of it, with the possible exception of "The Trip To Atlantis", and "The Tanker")?

 

I really, really, really want an official release of "Crawl, End Crawl" 

[Quppa 117]

On 16/01/2024 at 9:27 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

I really, really, really want an official release of "Crawl, End Crawl" 

 

Isn't https://www.qobuz.com/album/crawl-end-crawl-from-the-motion-picture-quantum-of-solace-four-tet/y0ot60f0tfngb official?

[Groovygoth666 670]

Didn't see this mentioned but summer last year Rich Douglas uploaded an alternate score to Never Say Never Again that features the Bond theme to his Soundcloud - 

 

[TolkienSS 407]

Sounds pretty dismal. Who's that?

[Groovygoth666 670]

23 hours ago, TolkienSS said:

Sounds pretty dismal. Who's that?

.... I assumed it was the original composer 😅. Looking him up on Google seems like he's mainly a video game composer 

[Gabriel Bezerra 302]

This might be public knowledge, but I only realised very recently that his main theme/motif for Quantum of Solace was teased in Cassino Royale...

It's the last piece of music before the James Bond Theme kicks in, so I belive it was intencional.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Call me 'a sexist misogynist dinosaur' if you must, but I was quite chuffed with that particular Fleming line making it into CR. It was quite a surprise.  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

8 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Call me 'a sexist misogynist dinosaur' if you must, but I was quite chuffed with that particular Fleming line making it into in CR. It was quite a surprise.  

 

It was a bold move, that EON just couldn't sustain.

Look where Craig's Bond started from... and look where he ended up...

[Tallguy 3,398]

10 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Call me 'a sexist misogynist dinosaur' if you must, but I was quite chuffed with that particular Fleming line making it into in CR. It was quite a surprise.  

 

It's like Lord of the Rings' "Well, I'm Back". Or Dune's "History will call us wives." Er, wait...

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

I reckon few of us expected to hear Bond be so ruthlessly cold about a woman (and one he was ready to resign from the Service for, to boot) in the mid-Noughties. 

[Tallguy 3,398]

2 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

I reckon few of us expected to hear Bond be so ruthlessly cold about a woman (and one he was ready to resign from the Service for, to boot) in the mid-Noughties. 

 

True. Unless this was finally the Bond from the books that you'd been waiting for for... Well, I only read the books in the late 90's so not THAT long.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

17 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

It's like Lord of the Rings' "Well, I'm Back". Or Dune's "History will call us wives." Er, wait...

 

"History will call us 'wives'", was in Lynch's version, but was cut.

It's in DUNE REDUX.

[Tallguy 3,398]

28 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

"History will call us 'wives'", was in Lynch's version, but was cut.

It's in DUNE REDUX.

 

Is it really? The end of Lynch's Dune was such a mess I don't really remember it one way or the other.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

The novel runs to almost 900 pages, so no wonder the Villeneuve adaps are lengthy movies (fully expecting the 3rd to be a 3 hour job at least). Lynch's original cut apparently ran to almost 4 hours, the studio balked and cut it back to 2 hours 15.  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

3 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Is it really? The end of Lynch's Dune was such a mess I don't really remember it one way or the other.

 

It's only in DUNE REDUX, which is a (very good) online fan edit.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The novel runs to almost 900 pages, so no wonder the Villeneuve adaps are lengthy movies (fully expecting the 3rd to be a 3 hour job at least). Lynch's original cut apparently ran to almost 4 hours, the studio balked and cut it back to 2 hours 15.  

 

DUNE 3 will be an adaptation of DUNE MESSIAH.

It's a testament to both Lynch, and to Tony Gibbs, that, even at 2hrs. 15mins, DUNE is still a good film.

[Holko 9,526]

So, Bond scores. When Tomorrow Never Dies came out, I listened and rewatched the movie and happily bought it. When TWINE and DAD were selling out, I rewatched all the Brosnans and decided TND is enough.

 

So now when LaLD and O came out, I listened to the samples and liked LaLD... but is this the right score to jump down the rabbithole with? I certainly knew don't want every single Bond score on by shelf, is this really one to buy? Sure I liked it but what if it's for example just copypastes of Barry cues from better scores and would be redundant if I get those too in the future? The simplest solution of course was... to watch every movie again from No to License, I haven't seen most of them in 12 or more years anyway!

 

And the overall impression is that it's a wildly mixed series of movies. The practical stunts in most of them are insanely impressive, even if many of them had overlong superfluous chase scenes shoved in just to have them. The gadgets are always fun, Q is the best character (was positively surprised to see him in bigger "field work" roles in some of them!), it was sad to see Bernard Lee and eventually Lois Maxwell go. It was also funny to see how little of an effort they put into Felix Leiter, I assume eventually they just decided it's a core element of the Bond formula that he cannot be played by the same actor in any two movies, and they have to have nothing to do with each other!

 

The formula of random side adventures all over the world leading to megalomaniacs wanting to control the world was getting old fast, but when it was dealing with random smaller fish underworld figures, that got dull and kind of small stakes too.

 

Connery's era is endearingly classic, all of them are pretty good, even if Thunderball gets really bloated and YOLT pretty silly. I thought OHMSS was good but a bit bland, and DAF was a pretty weak attempt to go back to the previous feel. Moore was... well it ranged from good but bland (SwLM, FYEO) to stupid but in a kind of fun way (MWTGG, Moonraker) to just plain old embarrassingly stupid (LALD, Octopussy) to whatever AVTAK was, I didn't even finish that one, just had enough by that point. Dalton was a really refreshing revitalisation attempt, I loved his take on the character and loved TLD... but then LTK was kind of a mess.

 

So, why did I do this again? Oh right, scores! Barry was having a lot of fun with the early ones but after a while it felt like he started resenting them? He used the main theme less and less, and most often just in its Gunbarrel arrangement, he was writing good themes but just reused the same settings of them again and again, some of the later scores, maybe due to their spottings, are just not really all that fun at all, most that's left is just murky investigation tension and some love themes with the song melodies. There are of course standout favourites that I'd like to get when they're expanded properly: From Russia with Love is a good varied thriller score, Goldfinger starts off meh but has some really good stuff near the end, You Only Live Twice has some gorgeous writing, Golden Gun was really fun after he took a little break, Moonraker starts off meh but has some really good stuff near the end, Living Daylights' 80s sampled percussion loops put me off a bit but even with that I really got into it. That's still a really good amount even though I was picky.

 

Non-Barry? Well, mixed again. Funny that the two least bad Moores had the worst scores, though neither quite nearing Goldeneye levels where the score is actively working against a great film to make it as uninteresting as possible, making sure to never enhance anything. License to Kill has fantastic Arnold level playfulness and main theme renditions, great action, but also a lot of dull general Kamen stuff, sorry, half of what he does is just not really for me. That leaves Martin and LALD, the reason for this whole exploration... and hell to the fucking yes I'll buy it! When Barry was going down, Martin kicked the fun and groove up to 11, incorporated the song's many melodies well and played with the main theme a lot, and delivered what I think's easily my favourite non-Barry non-Arnold Bond score! It was so good that even Barry had to get himself back together for MWTGG right after.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

McCartney saying that Wings doing the LALD song meant that he'd forgiven Bond for the 'earmuffs' line from Goldfinger still makes me smile. 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

What I love so much about the Bond scores, is that each one has something to offer that the others don't. Be it a positive thing or not.

 

Dr. No: Not really a score, but still a fun album for it's time

From Russia With Love: Oustanding thriller score with a beautiful theme.

Goldfinger: Some fantastic action music towards the end and Goldfinger will always be iconic.

Thunderball: Maybe a bit chaotic at points, but the action here is quite ferocious.

You Only Live Twice: Beautiful theme and oriental touches.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Maybe the most streamlined and best constructed Barry Bond. Love the synth touches.

Diamonds Are Forever: love all the big band and jazz in this score!

 

Live And Let Die: Very different from Barry, but this always was one of my favourites because of the way it incorporates the song in the score.

The Man With The Golden Gun: A more quieter score, but the two action cues are great (exept the whistle hahaha). Lovely softer moments.

The Spy Who Loved Me: I love the disco varient of the Bond theme, but the rest of the score is very hit or miss for me. It feels like multiple scores on 1 album and doesn't always work.

Moonraker: The Flight Into Space cue is almost enough to forgive that this film exists. That's Barry writing at his utmost grand!

For Your Eyes Only: One of my personal favourites. Love all the disco and funk in the action moments. And the title song is beautiful.

Octopussy: This is very basic imo. It has some really nice moments, but this felt like Barry wasn't too inspired.

A View To A Kill: Love the added guitar in the action scenes. The instrumental statements of the title song are beautiful.

 

The Living Daylights: Love love this one. Feels like Barry went out on a high note. Love the added drums, really feels like Bond is coming into a different era.

Licence To Kill: I love Kamen, so I love this score. Yes, there is some downtime, but when it works, it's some of my favourite music in the series.

 

GoldenEye: Awful. Hate it. But it's unique. Haha

Tomorrow Never Dies: Best Arnold score. Perfection to me. White Knight alone assures it's at the top of the list 

The World Is Not Enough: Still really love this. The electronics aren't to overbearing yet and the emotional cues are gorgeous.

Die Another Day: I still like this, but the drum loops etc get a bit much at points.

 

Casino Royale: Arnold back on track. Score works slightly better in the film than on album, because of the quieter cues during the poker games. Action cues here are fantastic and all have something unique and fun to offer + Vesper's theme still breaks my heart.

Quantum Of Solace: Short and sweet. Action is extremely powerful, but the score misses a central theme to build from.

Skyfall: There are some who don't like this, but I love it. It's Newman through and through, his action music is sublime and I'll never tire of his orchestrations.

Spectre: Same as Skyfall. This one is a bit darker, the final action cues are powerful and the madeleine material is beautiful.

No Time To Die: Love it. I like Zimmer and I like Bond, so this is a great mix for me personally. The cue Cuba Chase is one of the most fun action cues in the whole series.

 

Love me or hate me, but this is just my opinion. Can't wait to see who scores the next film.

[Holko 9,526]

Oh yeah, and near the end of Moore I was thinking about how Indy with its partial Bond inspirations had already far surpassed the series by this point... then TLD vindicated me with its Indy callback with the plane engines

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

2 hours ago, Holko said:

TLD vindicated me with its Indy callback with the plane engines

 

I love the way that Bond motions to Kira to drive the Jeep into the Hercules... then rolls his eyes when she doesn't understand.

[Tallguy 3,398]

Quantum of Solace is the Bond movie Arnold wrote when he'd finally gotten Barry out of his system. It's so good. If only the movie was as good as the score. 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Indeed! Fantastic score.

The Palio & Target Terminated are some of his very best writing. So exhilarating!

[Faleel 5,353]

1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

Quantum of Solace is the Bond movie Arnold wrote when he'd finally gotten Barry out of his system. It's so good. If only the movie was as good as the score. 

Didn't know David Arnold was a screenwriter.