Rank David Arnold's Scores
Prince Kamal Khan
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Ranking David Arnold's scores from best to worst-
1) TND-Arnold's debut. A wonderful return to a more traditional sounding Bond score after Eric Serra's disappointing work for GE. Arnold said he went all out for this score in case he never got a chance to score Bond again. Love "White Knight" with it's brief allusion to FRWL. "Backseat Driver" is classic action fun while "Paris and Bond" is probably Arnold's best romantic theme.
2) CR-Arnold's best since TND. Love how he uses "You Know My Name" as a replacement Bond theme, reminscent of how Barry used the title theme from OHMSS, and how it shows up in "African Rundown," "Blunt Instrument," and "Dinner Jackets". Esoecially like "Stairwell Fight" and "The End of an Aston Martin".
3) DAD-Love Arnold's big brassy "BOND IS BACK!" take on the opening gunbarrel theme. "Welcome to Cuba"'s my favorite piece on the soundtrack. Fun and lively. Like the OHMSS reference on "Whiteout". I wish the music from the opening surfing sequence and the sword fight was on the CD.
4) TWINE-Weakest link in the Arnold chain. Still better than most of the non-Barry/non-Arnold scores. "Come In 007, Your Time is Up" and "Welcome to Baku" are the best pieces on this one. "Casino" reminds me of "Try" on OHMSS.
1) TND-Arnold's debut. A wonderful return to a more traditional sounding Bond score after Eric Serra's disappointing work for GE. Arnold said he went all out for this score in case he never got a chance to score Bond again. Love "White Knight" with it's brief allusion to FRWL. "Backseat Driver" is classic action fun while "Paris and Bond" is probably Arnold's best romantic theme.
2) CR-Arnold's best since TND. Love how he uses "You Know My Name" as a replacement Bond theme, reminscent of how Barry used the title theme from OHMSS, and how it shows up in "African Rundown," "Blunt Instrument," and "Dinner Jackets". Esoecially like "Stairwell Fight" and "The End of an Aston Martin".
3) DAD-Love Arnold's big brassy "BOND IS BACK!" take on the opening gunbarrel theme. "Welcome to Cuba"'s my favorite piece on the soundtrack. Fun and lively. Like the OHMSS reference on "Whiteout". I wish the music from the opening surfing sequence and the sword fight was on the CD.
4) TWINE-Weakest link in the Arnold chain. Still better than most of the non-Barry/non-Arnold scores. "Come In 007, Your Time is Up" and "Welcome to Baku" are the best pieces on this one. "Casino" reminds me of "Try" on OHMSS.
Comments
TND
TWINE
DAD
By the way Q, Scaramangasgoldenggun) if you are reading this its your fault!
Ahem,
CR,
TWINE
TND
DAD.
Yes
They are.
CR
TWINE
DAD
Iv'e got the QOS sound track but only heard it once. Seems alright, feel its abit lacking though
CR- This film offers Arnold more chance to develop romantic themes- "City Of Lovers" can hold up its head unashamed alongside JB's softer themes such as "If There Was A Man" and "The Wedding".
TWINE- "Casino" aka "Elektra's Theme" aka "Only Myself To Blame" works perfectly. The main theme, with its Franz Waxman-esque tritones, beats DAD and TND (the Crow song) hands down.
DAD- There's some good stuff here- "Welcome To Cuba" is great, the romantic stuff is ok- but the Madonna song leaves a bad taste and too much of the action music is dependent on the synth percussion.
He should do that with every score he works on.
TND - all round, this is the most entertaining score to listen to. Arnold does overuse the Bond theme, but I can handle that.
CR - Very good score which relies on original themes rather than continually using the Bond theme. The theme for Vesper and the other quieter/romantic music on this score is stunning. I'm not a huge fan of Arnold's action music, but African Rundown is good, utilising YKMN as an alternative Bond theme.
TWINE - not bad, but there isn't really much memorable about the score. There are parts that I like a lot, Ice Bandits, Caviar Factory, Welcome to Baku and Elektra's Theme. It's a close call between this and DAD, but I would say that overall the balance between good action music and good romantic and quieter is better here.
DAD - overboard on the techno in parts, but otherwise it is still good. There is little in the way of memorable romantic themes, but the a lot of the action music is quite good, especially Hovercraft Chase and Whiteout. I battle to listen to Iced Inc and Laser Fight though!
I have now listened to QOS, and at first I was not very impressed, but on relistening it has grown on me. I will have to see it with the film in order to form a proper opinion though. Very light on James Bond Theme
On the whole I have enjoyed Arnold's contribution as composer and relisten to his scores quite regularly. I will be perfectly happy if he continues to score Bond films for the next while.
2. TND - Overuse of the Bond theme but that's not David's fault. I believe that being his first score, this is one of his best
3. TWINE/DAD - More blatant overuse of the "Bond Theme" but now updated for the 1990s in a horrible techno renidition AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
QOS
CR
TND
DAD
TWINE
2.CR-fantastic score that has some of the best music tracks such as "african rundown" and "dinner jackets" pretty much every track is amazing, not to mention "the names Bond..james Bond" is the best rendition of the Bond theme since the original.
3.QOS-A great follow up to CR with a much darker twist. as apparent in "time to get out" and "forgive yourself",shows how this is a much more bleak and serious Bond film, and the end credits Bond theme in the same arrangement as the TWINE end credits without the techno is awesome.
4.DAD-Even though theres a load of techno in this one i still love the majority of the score, especially "emergency room escape" and "iceland mission" both have bada** bond themes that sound great with the techno. all in all the complete score is one of the Bond CD's i listen to most frequently in my car or on my ipod.
5.TWINE-although "bilbao bank escape" is one of my all time favorite Bond tracks, this score just seems to lack the energy that the others have.
2. TWINE - I do like this soundtrack, I know not many others do, but I find it rich, although lacking in some places. Especially: Come in 007 your time is up, Elektras Theme, Access Denied, Ms Confession, Submarine and Xmas in turkey. I like these tracks but the rest lacks.
3. CR/DAD - CR: Good soundtrack, although I dont find it that easy to listen to, compared with QoS....DAD: Some great themes in this soundtrack, especially Antanov and I do like driving fast to Hovercraft Chase, Iced Inc and Whiteout. It feels pretty commercial and lacks quality but I think its pretty cool. I love the over the top use of chior in regards to Icarus and the Twine/DAD piano da-da-da-dum-da-da-da-dum.
4. TND - Too experimental, lacks a common theme, although some very cool creative tracks like Saigon, I find the car chase music pretty messy.
Arnold is an excellent composer and I hope he is with the series a lot longer.
"Better make that two."
Tomorrow Never Dies
Quantum Of Solace
Casino Royale - Certain tracks stand out as my favorite. The tracks I play most are Blunt Instrument, I'm the Money, Dinner Jackets, Death of Vesper (it chokes me up sometimes), and The Name's Bond... James Bond. What disappointed me most about this score was the lack of overtly using the Bond theme. I really liked the Bond theme elements in Blunt Instrument and Dinner Jackets.
Quantum of Solace - My favorite tracks are Time to Get Out, Inside Man, Bond in Haiti, Talamone, What's Keeping You Awake, Bolivian Taxi Ride, Field Trip, DC3, Oil Fields, Have You Ever Killed Someone, The Dead Don't Care About Vengeance and I Never Left. I particularly enjoy the tracks where there is any hint of the Bond theme or any of it's elements.
The World Is Not Enough - A little too techno for me.
Die Another Day - Way too techno for me.