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Now that you mention it, it's especially interesting to hear that electronic music today, considering it was cutting edge stuff back in the day. And it has aged well.
Trivia time. Do you know where the beeps appear in another Bond film?
As a side note, my favorite gunbarrel will always be the Bob Simmons version; it’s perfection imo.
It's not DAF, though you're not a million miles away. It is a "more recent" Bond film.
You hear them on the track 'Kiss Of Life' from the Die Another Day soundtrack. I always thought that was a nice little tip of the hat to the 40th anniversary of the franchise by David Arnold :)
I guess, to be fair, it's kind of the only one where the score is appropriate, or rather the visuals are appropriate to the score, because we hear computer noises and we see some abstract computer dots moving across the screen. You could argue that a big orchestral fanfare for two white dots doesn't really make as much sense! :)
If you refer to the gunbarrel design then I wholeheartedly agree. I love the smaller sized barrel where Bond appears as a mysterious, shadowy figure. I suspect it was done this way so the audience wouldn't notice it's not Connery but it works wonders and for some reason, I love that Simmons doesn't land exactly in the center but closer to the edge of the circle.
As for the pose itself, it's my second favorite behind Laz's fantastic knee drop, with Brosnan coming third.
I honestly don't know what is the source of this (if anybody knows, please tell, or correct me if I'm wrong), but my understanding is that the trail of dots left by the moving circle is supposed to represent gunshots. The DN electronic beeps don't sound like they're scoring that concept, but it's possible they just thought the beeps worked well against the images. But my point is that if the dots are gunshots, then big, dramatic orchestral hits are in some way suited to accompany them.
I was referring to both the design of the gunbarrel itself and the pose of the actor. My favorite “poses” would be;
1. Bob Simmons - For exactly the reasons you’ve mentioned
2. Pierce Brosnan - He has the best walk, and the best pose of all the actors who’ve filmed the sequence.
3. Roger Moore’s 1st Sequence - Love how fast he turns and fires the gun in his first sequence as opposed to the one he shot for TSWLM.
I agree, it was nice and simple to start off with those electronic noises. That orchestral fanfare started at the perfect moment after Simmons fires the gun. A wonderful introduction to the film series imo.
I always thought Dalton's was the best "performance" in the gun barrel. he looks very tall and imposing, and I love his gait and stability in his firing stance...
Dalton’s at #4 for me, I love when he’s walking onto the screen just before he turns. The walk itself isn’t really “swaggering”, but the way in which he carried himself doing that walk came across as he was somebody of very high importance, almost “royalty” if you will.
I’ll also add too that if you zoom in on Timothy’s face during his firing stance, he’s got that intense glare in his eyes, even looking kind of angry which elevates the stance even more for me, and when you add the LTK music to the background, that’s just the chef’s kiss for me right there.
Pierce is too stiff and barrel-chested for me (bend the knees!), Sean’s too wobbly, and Lazenby’s doesn’t really work for my money.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Original film mix, with reverb:
New film mix, without reverb:
and
GOLDENEYE
The highest ranking achieved by TMWTGG was 3rd place, and the lowest was 18th place. There were 3 votes in the ones and 7 in the tens.
The highest ranking achieved by GE was 3rd place, and the lowest was 25th place. There were 5 votes in the ones, 2 votes in the tens and 3 in the twenties.
Both gunbarrel cues scored a total of 139 points.
I ranked TMWTGG in 4th place. I love this gunbarrel, with its fast pace, sense of elegant drama (as conveyed through the reverb-heavy strings and woodwinds playing the riff) and subtle Eastern sound. I also love the fact the music goes on for two more bars than usual. And any gunbarrel that uses the xylophone automatically gains points with me.
I ranked GE in 12th place. This one is fairly traditional in its structure, but the orchestration is, of course, not too traditional. But very cool nonetheless: the change in key is refreshing —in fact, I love the dark, mysterious sound achieved by the violas when playing the vamp in this key— and the idea of using timpani for the riff is very ingenious and creates an oppressive feel. The fact the opening chords sample the Goldfinger gunbarrel is clever, but most importantly, effective without calling too much attention to itself. It's a good and highly memorable arrangement that screams "this is James Bond, but updated for the nineties". The only reason I don't rank it higher is because the more traditional kind of orchestration is closer to my heart.
What do you think? Once again, you're welcome to compare and contrast these two gunbarrels. Also, while it's probably safe to say the TMWTGG gunbarrel was intended by Barry to have a lot of reverb (check the first video in this post), I would love to know if any of you prefer it in its newer, drier mix (which you can hear in the second video). Personally, I prefer the original, reverb-heavy mix.
GE I’d rate much higher: I think it’s fantastic. Something about the way the fanfare transitions into the heavy thump of the vamp, it just works. And the riff being purely rhythm- it’s a great idea and you barely even notice. Love it.
GE is dead last for me and remains the only gunbarrel I outright dislike. The whole arrangement is just grating to my ears.
My two favorite gunbarrels make wonderful use of electronic sounds but this one is the complete opposite.
The opening chords sound like a cheaply made video game and the rest isn't much better.
Very surprised this ended in the top 10.
In timpani, the riff is quite subtle indeed. For years, I didn't even know it was there. It's fun to see composers play with these elements. Reminds me of the James Bond Theme as arranged by Hans Zimmer for his live concerts— he took the riff and turned it into the bass line, and took the chromatic vamp, which is typically the basis for the bass line, and turned it into the main melody, in fact going as far as playing it in guitar.
Can you elaborate on this? I don't mean to put you on the spot or anything, just very curious to hear different viewpoints.
For Goldeneye, my ranking was #007. I absolutely love the music of this gunbarrel, it immediately sets the sound of the movie apart from the likes of John Barry, or even some of the other one-off composers. This was a new beginning for the series, Bond was in an entirely new world, and the music reflected the dark undertones of the film in general. I’ve mentioned in a different thread that Sierra’s score was the perfect sound to bring Bond into the 90’s, and I stand by that statement. Plus I’ll have to agree with @mtm, having the riff being purely rhythm is an added bonus for me. Those drums indeed sound epic
I have made it no secret that I absolutely adore the GE sound, Éric Serra is my favourite film composer, predominantly for his Besson work of course, but I just love that he does his own thing with the Bond sound. The GE gunbarrel is also one of my favourites, I ranked it 3rd.
Are you talking about the "brass" sound in a general sense, or in any specific elements of the cue, like the opening chords or the low brass accents heard throughout? Because now that I think about it, in LALD, George Martin did include brass in his arrangement, but it sounds softer.
I didn't know that! This is one of my favorite tracks from him.
The brass sound in a general sense. It seemed to me that Barry’s future Bond scores would cut back on the amount of “brass” into each score, instead sounding a bit more “symphonic” if that’s the right word, than what he did before.
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The Number 9 gunbarrel music is...
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
Ranked between 3rd and 22nd place, The Living Daylights received 4 votes in the ones, 5 votes in the tens and 1 vote in the twenties. This gunbarrel scored a total of 147 points.
I ranked it in 13th place. Another solid late Barry arrangement, but I give a slight edge to the similar-sounding Octopussy, which I ranked in 11th place. The horns are louder in The Living Daylights, so in that sense, I guess it sounds a bit edgier and "cooler" than Octopussy, but I slightly prefer the latter's march-like feel. And then Moonraker and A View to a Kill I rank much higher because they are more energetic and have more individualistic orchestration, within the same general template which Barry stuck to after a certain point.
How do you feel about the TLD gunbarrel music?
It’s by far my favorite of the late Barry renditions. Very lush.
As I mentioned, I think the loud horns (especially at 0:17 in the video) and the more aggressive sound of the percussion in the opening chords (in contrast with, say, Moonraker or Octopussy) go a long way towards enhancing the feeling of danger. Even the trumpets in the opening chords have a jazzy flamboyance that a gunbarrel like Octopussy eschews in favor of more muted, "nasal" sounding trumpets. (For reference, in both gunbarrels, the trumpets are playing G, and are more clearly heard in the right channel— that is, the right ear!)
This one definitely sounds "larger" than others of the late Barry period.
GE is okay but the timpani riff in the middle gets totally lost and muddled...
TLD is a classic, and I wish it were higher. It just feels more majestic than the previous two films.
GE is unique also - I love the timpani, works brilliantly in the film - but in isolation the sound-mixing is bloody awful and sounds way too washy/undefined - if this was a bit tighter it would be way up there - but I award points to Serra for giving us something more original.
TLD is where Barry perfected his symphonic take on the Octopussy/A View To A Kill orchestration - classy and elegant - but dare I say - at this point - somewhat uninspired (doesn't pack anywhere near the same punch as TMWTGG did - which for the time ushered in a new take on the theme for Roger's Bond). If this had some of the 80's synth-bass used in Ice Chase - I'd probably rate this one higher, as it is it lacks a distinct personality.