Gunbarrel music ranking game

echo

More! We need more cowbell!

I enjoyed this countdown.

ringfire211

mtm wrote: »

GF is a total classic one and totally deserving of course, it's the archetype, so much so that it was sampled for GoldenEye (and I still suspect that it was even sampled again for the car chase cue in Spectre- does anyone know if I'm wrong about that?).

I’m baffled by how GE sampled GF. I don’t hear any similarities at all. In fact they’re polar opposites in their sounds. One is very instrumental and classic while the other is electronic/techno heavy.

morcarvic

do you think ringfire that mtm is talking about the under vocalisation of the name "goldfinger" in the unused track "a pleasant drive in st.petersburg"?

mattjoes

mtm wrote: »

I like to think the punchiness of the music is what inspired Binder to change the graphics for once, the circle not opening up as per usual but just snapping open on the hard beat.

I think I read that was in fact the case, but I can't remember where. I'm going to have to check. I love that visual change, it immediately got my attention the first time I watched the film.

mtm wrote: »

GF is a total classic one and totally deserving of course, it's the archetype, so much so that it was sampled for GoldenEye (and I still suspect that it was even sampled again for the car chase cue in Spectre- does anyone know if I'm wrong about that?).

You mean 1:48 in this track?



If so, I don't think it's sampled, but reminiscent for sure.

R1s1ngs0n wrote: »

Thank you very much @mattjoes for hosting this fun game and also for your thorough breakdown of each gunbarrel. Very informative, especially for someone like me, who has very minimal musical knowledge.

You're welcome.

echo wrote: »

More! We need more cowbell!

I enjoyed this countdown.

ringfire211 wrote: »

mtm wrote: »

GF is a total classic one and totally deserving of course, it's the archetype, so much so that it was sampled for GoldenEye (and I still suspect that it was even sampled again for the car chase cue in Spectre- does anyone know if I'm wrong about that?).

I’m baffled by how GE sampled GF. I don’t hear any similarities at all. In fact they’re polar opposites in their sounds. One is very instrumental and classic while the other is electronic/techno heavy.

morcarvic wrote: »

do you think ringfire that mtm is talking about the under vocalisation of the name "goldfinger" in the unused track "a pleasant drive in st.petersburg"?

He means that Eric Serra literally took the recording of the Goldfinger gunbarrel and put it in his gunbarrel (that's called sampling).

Listen to the following audio for more clarity. First you hear the GoldenEye gunbarrel in its original key of G minor, then the same gunbarrel transposed to E minor (the typical key of the Bond theme, and in fact that of the Goldfinger gunbarrel), and finally the Goldfinger gunbarrel (once again, in E minor). You can tell the GoldenEye gunbarrel features a filtered, transposed version of the Goldfinger gunbarrel recording.



Check the very first post of this thread for more info on this and the GoldenEye gunbarrel.

mtm

mattjoes wrote: »

mtm wrote: »

I like to think the punchiness of the music is what inspired Binder to change the graphics for once, the circle not opening up as per usual but just snapping open on the hard beat.

I think I read that was in fact the case, but I can't remember where. I'm going to have to check. I love that visual change, it immediately got my attention the first time I watched the film.

mtm wrote: »

GF is a total classic one and totally deserving of course, it's the archetype, so much so that it was sampled for GoldenEye (and I still suspect that it was even sampled again for the car chase cue in Spectre- does anyone know if I'm wrong about that?).

You mean 1:48 in this track?



If so, I don't think it's sampled, but reminiscent for sure

Actually I'm thinking of the one at 2.37, but I'm sure you're right.

Fantastic thread! Loved it.

morcarvic

ahh thanks pb im with it now and for myself the gunbarrels definitly purloined i mean sampled

ringfire211

mattjoes wrote: »

He means that Eric Serra literally took the recording of the Goldfinger gunbarrel and put it in his gunbarrel (that's called sampling).

Listen to the following audio for more clarity. First you hear the GoldenEye gunbarrel in its original key of G minor, then the same gunbarrel transposed to E minor (the typical key of the Bond theme, and in fact that of the Goldfinger gunbarrel), and finally the Goldfinger gunbarrel (once again, in E minor). You can tell the GoldenEye gunbarrel features a filtered, transposed version of the Goldfinger gunbarrel recording.



Check the very first post of this thread for more info on this and the GoldenEye gunbarrel.

Hmm. I guess I still don’t hear it. I don’t hear any GF in the GE gunbarrel.

I assume if it was that obvious I would have picked up on it years ago. But even after careful listening I don’t hear it. And I have a pretty good ear for music. Guess I’m missing something.

mtm

To me it's pretty recognisable, and there's a bit at the beginning of the third fanfare where the trumpets seem slightly out of sync for a note, or one is muted or something (it may be intentional but it is recognisable) which makes them seem especially similar.

mattjoes

mtm wrote: »

Fantastic thread! Loved it.

Great!

ringfire211 wrote: »

Hmm. I guess I still don’t hear it. I don’t hear any GF in the GE gunbarrel.

I assume if it was that obvious I would have picked up on it years ago. But even after careful listening I don’t hear it. And I have a pretty good ear for music. Guess I’m missing something.

I think it's easiest to hear in the last part of the gunbarrel intro, that is, the part with the five quick notes. In the audio I posted, if one compares the transposed GoldenEye audio with the Goldfinger audio, one can tell that, in GoldenEye, the sound of the snare and the brass playing F#-E-F#-F#-E is the same as in Goldfinger. Of course, it's obscured by keyboards and distorted, but it's there.

I didn't notice this for years. I think I read it somewhere else, and it was a real surprise.

mtm

I must admit I've always heard it because there's just a unique tone to it I don't know how to express, and I was so pleased when you made your comparison and made it so much clearer. I don't even know what the notation you spelled out in your last post even means, but I'm pleased that it is obviously apparent to you as you know way more about these things than I do!

007ClassicBondFan

For Your Eyes Only came in at number 5 for me. I love the sound of the music for FYEO in general, with Conti bringing in his own style from the Rocky pictures and incorporating that into the sound of 007. Plus you can never have enough cowbell!

Goldfinger was number 3 in my rankings. My absolute favorite of the Gunbarrels that feature the “guitar twang”, it just has the best sound of those early 60’s Gunbarrels, as well as the perfect tempo; not to fast like FRWL, and not to slow like TB.

Great thread by the way @mattjoes, this was a lot of fun to do!

mattjoes

Regarding the FYEO octave change in the riff, I forgot to say that, despite the fact John Barry never did that in his gunbarrels, that's such a John Barry thing to do. His scores are full of melodies that begin in an octave, then move up, or down.

007ClassicBondFan wrote: »

For Your Eyes Only came in at number 5 for me. I love the sound of the music for FYEO in general, with Conti bringing in his own style from the Rocky pictures and incorporating that into the sound of 007. Plus you can never have enough cowbell!

Haha, everyone loves cowbell. It does sound great.

007ClassicBondFan wrote: »

Great thread by the way @mattjoes, this was a lot of fun to do!

Great to hear, thanks for participating!

echo

Of all the non-Barry composers, Conti understood the assignment of the gunbarrel best:

Make it exciting, and make it your own.

It's a great one.

GoldenGun

GF and FYEO are both excellent. Deservedly in the top 2, the both of them.