Serra....?

Lazenby4life

Is it wrong that I want Eric Serra back for one more go? Goldeneye was not that bad...

i expect u2 die

Yes.

Golrush007

I find Serra's music quite intriguing, but I don't wish that he had come back for another go. It works for some scenes, it works against others. And it is John Altman's rescoring of the tank chase which adds so much to that particular scene. I shudder to imagine the tank chase with Serra's original score.

IcePak

Serra's score isn't all that bad: it had a cohesive feel to it. It doesn't really sound like a Bond film score should though. Altman's additions to the film, although necessary compared to the cue Serra wrote for the tank chase scene, are not great, and, more importantly, really jar against Serra's overall score, severely affecting the films' tone.

Is Serra's work interesting outside the film? Yes. Does it suit the film? In parts. Should Serra score another Bond film? No.

Bond_James_Bond

Serra's involvement was the single biggest mistake in Bond music history.

James Suzuki

No, Madonna is the biggest mistake.

Bond_James_Bond

James Suzuki wrote:

No, Madonna is the biggest mistake.

Disagree, Madonna was one song, the soundtrack to DAD was passable although by far one of David Arnold's weaker ones.

With Serra we had that sound through the WHOLE film.

Silhouette Man

His 'The Experience of Love' is an awful end song, and his GoldenEye soundtrack was very experimental and odd-sounding electromnica, which didn't really fit in with 1990s James Bond!

Barbel

Silhouette Man wrote:

His 'The Experience of Love' is an awful end song, and his GoldenEye soundtrack was very experimental and odd-sounding electronica, which didn't really fit in with 1990s James Bond!

Oh, that's so true! It was a big relief when David Arnold took over with TLD; after GE's score it was such a pleasure to find REAL Bond music again.

NeverSayDie

Goldeneye is brilliant score! It fits the mood of the film brilliantly.
I love it

Thunderpussy

I too didn't like his score for Goldeneye. Although I agree with
NeverSayDie as it IMHO fits the mood of the film.

James Suzuki

The best are the Goldeneye overture and the track run, shoot jump

Silhouette Man

Yes, but it sounded dated even in 1995 - it was dodgy early 1990s/late 1980s stuff. David Arnold should have done it. look at the scene with the performer giving the flower - the music is really strange there.

bondjames

I'm one of John Barry's biggest fans. He was an absolute genius in my mind - so I tend to like traditional Bond orchestral scores - to set context.

However, I'm a big fan of Serra's Goldeneye score, despite the lack of orchestra. It was different and brave, and was a welcome change from Michael Kamen's generic score for License to Kill, and far superior to most of Arnold's Barry-lite nonsense (he has shown flourishes of brilliance, but for the most part his stuff lacks thematic consistency and just appears pedestrian).

In particular, I like that bit when the 'performer gives the flower' in Monaco. It fit the scene. I also love the 'Goldeneye Overture' and 'A Little Surprise for You'.

I also think that every replacement composer they've had (George Martin on Live and Let Die, Bill Conti on For Your Eyes Only, Marvin Hamlisch on The Spy Who Loved Me, Serra on the aforementioned Goldeneye) have been far superior to 90% of Arnold's tripe. The scores for The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day in particular were absolute disgraces and he should have been fired after either of them. Having said that, he did improve dramatically on Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace - but most of his action scoring is still very banal - something you cannot say of Serra's work on Goldeneye.

Silhouette Man

bondjames wrote:

I'm one of John Barry's biggest fans. He was an absolute genius in my mind - so I tend to like traditional Bond orchestral scores - to set context.

However, I'm a big fan of Serra's Goldeneye score, despite the lack of orchestra. It was different and brave, and was a welcome change from Michael Kamen's generic score for License to Kill, and far superior to most of Arnold's Barry-lite nonsense (he has shown flourishes of brilliance, but for the most part his stuff lacks thematic consistency and just appears pedestrian).

In particular, I like that bit when the 'performer gives the flower' in Monaco. It fit the scene. I also love the 'Goldeneye Overture' and 'A Little Surprise for You'.

I also think that every replacement composer they've had (George Martin on Live and Let Die, Bill Conti on For Your Eyes Only, Marvin Hamlisch on The Spy Who Loved Me, Serra on the aforementioned Goldeneye) have been far superior to 90% of Arnold's tripe. The scores for The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day in particular were absolute disgraces and he should have been fired after either of them. Having said that, he did improve dramatically on Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace - but most of his action scoring is still very banal - something you cannot say of Serra's work on Goldeneye.

Now, you see that scene and the music is something I HATE! Precisely why Serra was so poor!

Napoleon Plural

Well, when it's awful it's awful, the Aston Martin chase and some of it got rewritten: tank chase and the finale on the satellite dish. But it does in other places conjur up an atmosphere and eerie quality that Arnold never managed.

If we had a wintery Craig film, he might fit... of course, Craig was in a thing called Archangel.