SPECTRE: Thomas Newman is Back! (appreciation topic)

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  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,223
    Love this track

    That's more like it Mr. Newman.

    Listening to the full thing now on Spotify, so far the above track is the highlight! 8 tracks in.
  • Posts: 92
    mcdonbb wrote: »
    I'm really liking the samples I've if Newman's score.

    It's funny posters gripe that Smith's song isn't in the score (how do they know?) but then just as many gripe about the song.

    It's like "that song sucks but umm it better be featured throughout in the score :D).

    Perhaps you are quoting different people.
    Perhaps you are quoting people who might like the melody but do not like the voice.

    There are a few Bond themes that I much prefer the melody and use of it in the soundtrack to the song itself (good example Goldfinger, dislike the vocals on that).

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,193
    I kind of like "All Time High", but the way Barry uses it in the score is superior. I could take or leave "Writing's on the Wall", song or instrumental. It doesn't make as good a foundation as something like "All Time High" did.
  • Posts: 92
    But how do you know until a genius works with it?
  • Posts: 250
    I kind of like "All Time High", but the way Barry uses it in the score is superior. I could take or leave "Writing's on the Wall", song or instrumental. It doesn't make as good a foundation as something like "All Time High" did.

    True, but I do miss the days of the song really feeling like it's a part of the overall movie, like it's genuinely the "theme" of the film itself - even the way Barry uses a tune as obnoxious as TMWTGG is fun and propulsive.

  • mcdonbbmcdonbb deep in the Heart of Texas
    Posts: 4,116
    dandan wrote: »
    mcdonbb wrote: »
    I'm really liking the samples I've if Newman's score.

    It's funny posters gripe that Smith's song isn't in the score (how do they know?) but then just as many gripe about the song.

    It's like "that song sucks but umm it better be featured throughout in the score :D).

    Perhaps you are quoting different people.
    Perhaps you are quoting people who might like the melody but do not like the voice.

    There are a few Bond themes that I much prefer the melody and use of it in the soundtrack to the song itself (good example Goldfinger, dislike the vocals on that).

    I'm not quoting anybody specific. Just saying.

  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    @mcdonbb

    I was wondering that myself, some people just want to have it both ways I guess :))

    I liked the song from the first listen. It gave me goosebumps when I heard it on the bus to work in the morning that day. The first impression was really good.

    And I'm still aghast how some people here went below the belt quite a bit in bashing Sam Smith. The same people that will complain if their favourite is criticised. Oh well...

    I just purchased the score in iTunes so I will listen carefully to it in the morning (it's past midnight here now). It would be nice if the melody found its way into the score.

    I'm curious about it, but I really have to go to sleep now :))
  • Posts: 92
    Well if you are talking about generally different people (as seems to be the case), you can't say that indivudual people want it 'both ways' can you really?
  • mcdonbbmcdonbb deep in the Heart of Texas
    edited October 2015 Posts: 4,116
    dandan wrote: »
    Well if you are talking about generally different people (as seems to be the case), you can't say that indivudual people want it 'both ways' can you really?

    I didn't say that or at least I didn't mean that. Just meant you can't please anybody or everybody.

    Was being sarcastic about the demands made by this forum sometimes.

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited October 2015 Posts: 8,193
    FourDot wrote: »
    I kind of like "All Time High", but the way Barry uses it in the score is superior. I could take or leave "Writing's on the Wall", song or instrumental. It doesn't make as good a foundation as something like "All Time High" did.

    True, but I do miss the days of the song really feeling like it's a part of the overall movie, like it's genuinely the "theme" of the film itself - even the way Barry uses a tune as obnoxious as TMWTGG is fun and propulsive.

    I've come to think of the song being used in a score more as a bonus than a requirement. A lack of a song being used as the theme throughout the film isn't as damning to me anymore because nobody after Barry's wonderful TLD score (which carried three songs used as the basis for themes!) has managed to integrate a song into a score as well as those in the past. Maybe it's because Cubby isn't around anymore that nobody in EON management is as adamant about having their hired composers and singers work together, especially when it's singers that prefer to work on the songs with their own producers instead of collaborating with the composer as we saw with Madonna and Jack White & Alicia Keys. David Arnold would try to carry on that tradition as much as possible, whether he succeeded or not.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    It's called sarcasm mate.
  • edited October 2015 Posts: 3,333
    Correct me if I'm wrong @MakeshiftPython but wasn't LTK the first Bond movie to not feature the title song within the score, which was then followed on by GE, which again didn't use Bono & The Edge's song within Serra's score?

    On a seperate note, I always felt the Gladys Knight song was a huge misstep from the more contemporary performers - Duran Duran and aHa - that had brought a freshness back to the series. I still can't understand why they didn't continue the trend with a George Michael or Tears For Fears song rather than the "Empress of Soul" who had had her last hit way back in 1973?

    PS. Love Newman's PTS track Los Muertos Vivos Estan
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited October 2015 Posts: 8,193
    bondsum wrote: »
    Correct me if I'm wrong @MakeshiftPython but wasn't LTK the first Bond movie to not feature the title song within the score, which was then followed on by GE, which again didn't use Bono & The Edge's song within Serra's score?

    No, you're correct on LTK. Kamen was supposed to collaborate with Eric Clapton on a song, possibly even have him do guitar work for the actual score. It didn't pan out.
    On a seperate note, I always felt the Gladys Knight song was a huge misstep from the more contemporary performers - Duran Duran and aHa - that had brought a freshness back to the series. I still can't understand why they didn't continue the trend with a George Michael or Tears For Fears song rather than the "Empress of Soul" who had had her last hit way back in 1973?

    PS. Love Newman's PTS track for Spectre

    In the mid-to-late 80s there was a resurgence of R&B music with contemporary artists like Bobby Brown, Janet Jackson and Whitney Huston topping the charts, while veterans like Tina Turner, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle were making comebacks with the resurgence. EON wanted to tap into that which is why Knight and LaBelle both got the gigs. From a commercial standpoint, it made more sense to go with those acts (though their music clearly did not fit in with the film's tone and story). Plus, Gladys had just had her 1987 album All Our Love reach #1 on the R&B chart, and that the song "Love Overboard" won a Grammy.

    I also think the reason we didn't get a third new wave/pop-rock act is simply because the genre was already declining by 1989, so EON wanted to go with a genre that was very popular by that time.
  • edited October 2015 Posts: 2,015
    mcdonbb wrote: »
    I didn't say that or at least I didn't mean that. Just meant you can't please anybody or everybody.

    But IMO there's a little more snobbery in the "Mendes knows better" attitude than in the "Eh those who actually invented the cinematographic Bond knew a thing or two didn't they ?" attitude.

    Imagine that a few days ago one said "It would be nice if they would play the Bond theme on traditional instruments, Octopussy-style". I think the answer would not have been positive. Now, Thomas Newman has done it. I think it'll be judged "cool" or even "genius" :)
  • WalecsWalecs On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Posts: 3,157
    And "Another Way to Die" did not appear in the two tracks you mention. What is heard is a melody that Arnold would use a year later in "No Good About Goodbye", not the Jack White/Alicia Keys song.

    Time To Get Out: 01:20
    Pursuit at Port Au Prince: 02:54

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,193
    I must be deaf, I'm not hearing AWTD on either of those marks. The one cue most have thought had a faint reference to the song was in "Field Trip" at six second mark. It's not note for note, but it seems similar enough to have gotten attention.
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    edited October 2015 Posts: 1,731
    Why there is an 'appreciation' thread for someone who clearly doesn't understand nor care about James Bond or his musical legacy is beyond me. It's a bit like having a 'Madonna DAD appreciation thread'...

    Newman is not fit to score Bond, sorry. He had the chance to show what he could really do with SP, and he once again showed his contempt for the series.

    Stick to evocative, minimalist fare such as (Revolutionary) Road to Perdition, thanks ever so much Thomas.

    Yes - I'm annoyed.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,193
    "Contempt"? Bull. He's has as much "contempt" for the series as Bill Conti or Eric Serra.
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,731
    Agreed on Serra. But at least Conti managed to offer us something alive - he actually TRIED.

    I have no problem with a different take on the music - but it is blatantly obvious when a composer hasn't even really tried.

    If I offered this kind of work on a project my employer would rightfully put me on coffee-making duties.
  • Posts: 59
    OMG...I don't know what to say...I was not convinced at all by the Skyfall OST and well..SPECTRE is basically the same shit ! Sorry but it's not a Bond soundtrack !
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,193
    AceHole wrote: »
    Agreed on Serra. But at least Conti managed to offer us something alive - he actually TRIED.

    I have no problem with a different take on the music - but it is blatantly obvious when a composer hasn't even really tried.

    If I offered this kind of work on a project my employer would rightfully put me on coffee-making duties.
    Every composer tries. I appreciate every one that tries to shake things up by bringing their own sensibilities, even Serra. I can understand not being a fan of one's sound, but to suggest Newman has "contempt" is a pretty big accusation.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    AceHole wrote: »
    Agreed on Serra. But at least Conti managed to offer us something alive - he actually TRIED.

    I have no problem with a different take on the music - but it is blatantly obvious when a composer hasn't even really tried.

    If I offered this kind of work on a project my employer would rightfully put me on coffee-making duties.
    Every composer tries. I appreciate every one that tries to shake things up by bringing their own sensibilities, even Serra. I can understand not being a fan of one's sound, but to suggest Newman has "contempt" is a pretty big accusation.

    Agreed. It's not Barry, but it's certainly not contempt. It will work far better with the film (Newman is a master at this at least) and there are some interesting cues in it.

    Of course it's not what I ideally wanted, but it's not bad (at least what I've heard). I am not hearing a Shanghai Drive or New Digs style track here which is disappointing as I really liked both of those in SF.

    I'll listen to it a couple more times prior to rendering my verdict.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    My soundtrack copy for Spectre comes today......looking forward to listening!
  • edited October 2015 Posts: 11,119
    I love this track. Those opening riffs remind me of the opening riffs of the "From Russia With Love" main titles. I also hear some "OHMSS" in it. Damn, this is very very up-tempo (my feet are moving), tense, brassy, action-heavy. And very different from "Skyfall". I find it admirable if one can make a track sound so 'Bond-ian' WITHOUT the James Bond theme in it:


  • JackBauerJackBauer LONDON
    Posts: 1
    WOW, I have been listening all morning and it is another superb effort from Newman.

    As bondjames mentioned it will work so well in the film. Newman is one of my favourite composers and I love how he has blended his usual mystical sound with Bondian influences.

    I must admit I really was hoping for a full rendition of the James Bond theme in there somewhere, but that first track is brilliant. It could well be in there as Mendes said there is well over 100 minutes of music in the film, and there were a few more Bond elements in Skyfall not included on the soundtrack.

    Bring on Monday!!!!!

  • Big fan of this cue--especially the use of harp and electric bass. SPECTRE's answer to New Digs.



  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    Just finished listening to the OST and i really like it.
    It has a very beautiful and Mysterious quality to it, and i'm sure it will be a perfect fit to such a visually stunning Movie like Spectre.
  • mcdonbbmcdonbb deep in the Heart of Texas
    Posts: 4,116
    I love this track. Those opening riffs remind me of the opening riffs of the "From Russia With Love" main titles. I also hear some "OHMSS" in it. Damn, this is very very up-tempo (my feet are moving), tense, brassy, action-heavy. And very different from "Skyfall". I find it admirable if one can make a track sound so 'Bond-ian' WITHOUT the James Bond theme in it:


    Woo I agree @GG ...very "spider like" ..I'm truly liking Newman's efforts this time from what I've heard.

    For more enjoyable to just listen to outside the film.

    Very bold. ...ghostly sounds to the songs.

  • Posts: 3,164
    Posted on the WOTW thread....apparently the instrumental that's on the album DOES appear in the film.
  • Posts: 11,119
    antovolk wrote: »
    Posted on the WOTW thread....apparently the instrumental that's on the album DOES appear in the film.

    I already thought so, because that instrumental is quite a bit shorter than the actual instrumental from Sam Smith's single CD.

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