AJB live commentary on Die Another Day

Higgins

Time for another group-viewing, this time, it‘s

DIE ANOTHER DAY






London Summertime: 20:00
Paris Summertime: 21:00
New York local time 15:00
LA local time 12:00

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT WE ARE ALL STARTING 10 MINUTES LATER !


PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT WE ARE ALL STARTING 10 MINUTES LATER !

The 19:00 deadline is set so that everybody has enough time to find their DVDs/Blu Rays, boot their players and get done with the menus and pause right before the gunbarrel sequence.

WE ARE STARTING PRECISELY AT 19:10


- Please make sure that everybody has their BluRay/DVD/VCR ready and start the player latest 19:00 GMT to get done with all the dodgy menus.
- PAUSE YOUR PLAYER RIGHT BEFORE THE GUNBARREL SEQUENCE STARTS AND
- HIT PLAY PRECISELY AT 19:10.
I‘ll post some timecodes during the thread just in case that somebody has messed it up

Barbel

Arguably Arnold's weakest Bond score, less arguably one of the worst title songs. Though there are worse....

Higgins

The worst is soon to come

Higgins

You know that we 007 bond fans are regarded as geeks - so the main question from „normal people“ would be what our favorite 007 movie or actor is.

You must be known as a real geek within geeks when people are asking you about your (less) favorite score or song

Barbel

You say that as if it were a bad thing!

Shady Tree

Haha! Watching DAD again is going to be an experience!

Barbel wrote:

Arguably Arnold's weakest Bond score, less arguably one of the worst title songs. Though there are worse....

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the producers had asked Arnold to reference as many previous Bond scores in this one as he could, as a way of marking Bond's 40th anniversary in the cinema. If so, I don't recall much evidence of that going on...

Barbel, I'm intrigued as to which of the title songs you consider the worst...

Higgins

Do you really have to ask?

Shady Tree

Higgins wrote:

Do you really have to ask?

Most of the 'Marmite' title songs I've either always liked, or grown to like, including 'Die Another Day', 'Another Way To Die' and 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. I was forgetting (literally forgetting) the song which I really do find it hard to listen to... despite it being an Academy Award-winning, Golden Globe winning, UK No. 1 hit. Maybe that's the one in question here?

Gymkata wrote:

worst title song for me is easy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwm1H0dxAKY

And yes, this is pretty awful, too!

Higgins

We know that nothing grows on AWTD for Barbel except the desire to smash the song with a big hammer

Barbel

Shady Tree wrote:

Higgins wrote:

Do you really have to ask?

Most of the 'Marmite' title songs I've either always liked, or grown to like, including 'Die Another Day', 'Another Way To Die' and 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. I was forgetting (literally forgetting) the song which I really do find it hard to listen to... despite it being an Academy Award-winning, Golden Globe winning, UK No. 1 hit. Maybe that's the one in question here?

Oh no, I like that one. Higgins has mentioned the song, and I have been known to express my dislike of it on occasion. About twice a week for the last twelve years, I'd say.

Shady Tree

Higgins wrote:

We know that nothing grows on AWTD for Barbel except the desire to smash the song with a big hammer

Haha, so that's the one! I hated it at first, but over time it's really grown on me. At some point, I'll try to explain my subjective turnaround on it...

Napoleon Plural

No way am I forking out on the DVD for you Higgins. You watch it, and tell me about it afterwards.

Spy⁰⁰⁷

I think the first few seconds of Madonna's Die Another Day sounds Bondian, before it delves into an electro dance fest. I think with the opening seconds of the song, Madonna knew what Bond sounds like....she just wanted to do something different, but I guess Chris Cornell is the only Bond Artist to try something new that still has a Bondian appeal....coz even with his Rock song, one could still hear hints of Bond.

Barbel

I'd credit David Arnold with those.

Spy⁰⁰⁷

Barbel wrote:

I'd credit David Arnold with those.

Yeah, true....because the Album Version isn't as Bondian as the Orchestral one....Arnold really knows how to Bondify Bond songs.

Shady Tree

Shady Tree wrote:

Higgins wrote:

We know that nothing grows on AWTD for Barbel except the desire to smash the song with a big hammer

Haha, so that's the one! I hated it at first, but over time it's really grown on me. At some point, I'll try to explain my subjective turnaround on it...

Though admittedly it's hard to forgive 'Another Way To Die' for being preferred over Arnold's contender (as it possibly was) for the QOS title song, a ballad performed by Shirley Bassey called 'No Good About Goodbye'. (Its lyrics, by Don Black, include the word 'solace' and it has a recurring musical theme adapted from Arnold's scores for both CR and QOS.) There's a worthwhile attempt n YouTube to set this alternative track against the QOS title sequence. It should be added that Arnold is reported as having denied it was a track he'd pitched for the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCX4SxhpPwE


Arnold's pitch for the title song of TND, 'Surrender' (which definitely was a pitch for the main theme, in this case) was used but relegated to TND's end titles.

Getting back on topic, does anyone know if Arnold pitched a title track for DAD?

Spy⁰⁰⁷

Shady Tree wrote:

Shady Tree wrote:

Higgins wrote:

We know that nothing grows on AWTD for Barbel except the desire to smash the song with a big hammer

Haha, so that's the one! I hated it at first, but over time it's really grown on me. At some point, I'll try to explain my subjective turnaround on it...

Though admittedly it's hard to forgive it for being preferred over Arnold's contender (as it probably was) for the QOS title song, a ballad performed by Shirley Bassey. (Its lyrics include the word 'quantam' and it has a recurring musical theme adapted to/from Arnold's scores for both CR and QOS.) Somewhere on YouTube there's a worthwhile attempt to set this alternative track against the QOS titles.

Arnold's pitch for the title song of TND, 'Surrender', was used in TND but relegated to its end titles. Does anyone know if he pitched a title track for DAD?

Yeah, Arnold & Don Black Wrote the track 'I Will Return'....I think the song's melody can be heard when the Peacful Fountains of Desire comes to massage Bond & when Bond beds Miranda frost at the Ice Palace Bedroom. The track was unfinished though.

Shady Tree

Spy⁰⁰⁷ wrote:

Yeah, Arnold & Don Black Wrote the track 'I Will Return'....I think the song's melody can be heard when the Peacful Fountains of Desire comes to massage Bond & when Bond beds Miranda frost at the Ice Palace Bedroom. The track was unfinished though.

Cool, thanks!

(I slightly edited the post of mine that you've quoted, within a couple of minutes after your reply but before I'd seen your reply.)

Barbel

Excellent music knowledge guys, there'll be nothing much left for me to say on Monday!

Sir Miles

Barbel wrote:

Shady Tree wrote:

Higgins wrote:

Do you really have to ask?

Most of the 'Marmite' title songs I've either always liked, or grown to like, including 'Die Another Day', 'Another Way To Die' and 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. I was forgetting (literally forgetting) the song which I really do find it hard to listen to... despite it being an Academy Award-winning, Golden Globe winning, UK No. 1 hit. Maybe that's the one in question here?

Oh no, I like that one. Higgins has mentioned the song, and I have been known to express my dislike of it on occasion. About twice a week for the last twelve years, I'd say.

And you are supposed to be the ‘music guy’ here

Although you have now managed to upgrade the song to dislike only - so we are making progress -{

Barbel

That's just shorthand- I may expand on how bad it is when we get to QoS. That's if we can hear it over the sound of David Arnold crying and John Barry rolling in his grave.

Higgins

Sir Miles wrote:

Although you have now managed to upgrade the song to dislike only - so we are making progress -{

Let‘s be frank, the song is utter sh*it and borders being mayhem
And take that from someone who adores Alicia Keys

Spy⁰⁰⁷

Maybe Jack White should have done the song alone, so he can play his guitar more. I do love the song's opening & it's closing....I just find the singing tedious. I discovered I like the song's instrumental more. David Arnold even features the best parts of the song in the opening car chase & when Bond chases after Mitchell. I think the song is a failed attempt at re-creating 'You Know My Name'.

Shady Tree

Maybe this is more for a QOS thread, but imho 'Another Way To Die' is a clever deconstruction of the bombast of traditional Bond themes. It has the playful 'out there' gusto of a 'The Man With The Golden Gun' but for a different generation. Alicia Keys's vocals are sublime, even when she's 'deconstructing' the style. And the official music video is pretty awesome, juxtaposing Alicia Keys's image with Jack White's in an angsty but sexy exercise of nouveau Bondian aesthetics.

Spy⁰⁰⁷

Shady Tree wrote:

Maybe this is more for a QOS thread, but imho 'Another Way To Die' is a clever deconstruction of the bombast of traditional Bond themes. It has the playful 'out there' gusto of a 'The Man With The Golden Gun' but for a different generation. Alicia Keys's vocals are sublime, even when she's 'deconstructing' the style. And the official music video is pretty awesome, juxtaposing Alicia Keys's image with Jack White's in a sexy exercise of nouveau Bondian aesthetics.

Yeah, the song had potential....I just think it needed a stronger chorus to standout, like YKMN before it.

Shady Tree

Spy⁰⁰⁷ wrote:

Shady Tree wrote:

Maybe this is more for a QOS thread, but imho 'Another Way To Die' is a clever deconstruction of the bombast of traditional Bond themes. It has the playful 'out there' gusto of a 'The Man With The Golden Gun' but for a different generation. Alicia Keys's vocals are sublime, even when she's 'deconstructing' the style. And the official music video is pretty awesome, juxtaposing Alicia Keys's image with Jack White's in a sexy exercise of nouveau Bondian aesthetics.

Yeah, the song had potential....I just think it needed a stronger chorus to standout, like YKMN before it.

Listening to these back to back is instructive, in terms of understanding what AWTD is trying to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icrNkmf9uyQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSbj2Mx2By8

You're right about the need for a stronger chorus in AWTD. Stiil, AWTD is a lot more exciting than several of the techno-generation Barry tributes which Arnold put together for his calling-card album, 'Shaken and Stirred' (an album about which Barry himself went out of the way to be kind).

Madonna's track for DAD, if it needed to justify its techno approach to Bond, might cite 'Shaken and Stirred' as a pretext for attempting to break some moulds (with Arnold's involvement of Propellerheads, e.g.)

Spy⁰⁰⁷

Shady Tree wrote:

Spy⁰⁰⁷ wrote:

Shady Tree wrote:

Maybe this is more for a QOS thread, but imho 'Another Way To Die' is a clever deconstruction of the bombast of traditional Bond themes. It has the playful 'out there' gusto of a 'The Man With The Golden Gun' but for a different generation. Alicia Keys's vocals are sublime, even when she's 'deconstructing' the style. And the official music video is pretty awesome, juxtaposing Alicia Keys's image with Jack White's in a sexy exercise of nouveau Bondian aesthetics.

Yeah, the song had potential....I just think it needed a stronger chorus to standout, like YKMN before it.

Listening to these back to back is instructive, in terms of understanding what AWTD is trying to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icrNkmf9uyQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSbj2Mx2By8

You're right about the need for a stronger chorus in AWTD. Stiil, AWTD is a lot more exciting than several of the techno-generation Barry tributes which Arnold put together for his calling-card album, 'Shaken and Stirred' (an album about which Barry himself went out of the way to be kind).

Madonna's track for DAD, if it needed to justify its techno approach to Bond, might cite 'Shaken annd Stirred' as a pretext for attempting to break some moulds (with its involvement of Propellerheads, e.g.)

Yeah, AWTD was trying to be maybe minimalistic in a way, it just lacked that BIG sounding Bond sound...somewhere in the middle of the song.

Yeah, I think Arnold's Shaken & Stirred album, still kept the Barry sound....even with Propellerheads doing it. Maybe if Madonna added some Horns & Strings to her already Dance-Techno song, it might have sounded close to Bond. It's a nice song on it's own though. But it doesn't seem to sound dangerous enough for Bond.

Shady Tree

Barbel wrote:

Excellent music knowledge guys, there'll be nothing much left for me to say on Monday!

Thanks, Barbel :-) Speaking for myself, I know what I like as a fan of Bond music, and what I like less, but I'm not a musician, so I'm always going to value your insights!

Barbel

Don't forget my pathetic love of melody.

Shady Tree

If reports prove true that Kim Jong-un has died, watching together the Bond franchise's 'North Korea' instalment this week is going to seem apt (though of course DAD was made during his father's rule of Noth Korea - the film making use of the idea of this last, and remaining, Iron Curtain.)

Higgins

Barbel wrote:

Don't forget my pathetic love of melody.

Speaking about dinosaurs....