NTTD soundtrack leaked (mild spoilers)
writingsonthewall
SpainPosts: 425MI6 Agent
Not condoning any kind of piracy, and my copy has been ordered months ago and will listen to it eagerly once it's officially released, but for what it's worth, the soundtrack can be found out there should anyone wish to listen to it a couple weeks early. It's great work, certainly Zimmer-esque, but also very bondian. And it has a couple of very powerful callbacks to one of my favourite classic Bond movies, something completely unexpected.
Am in the middle of my first listening, will drop more impressions once I'm done.
"Enjoy it while it lasts."
"The very words I live by."
"The very words I live by."
Comments
Well, after a couple of listenings (and hiding from EoN spies, mind you) here's my first impressions (with potential spoilers as I speculate):
Oh, well, seems I was caught whilst my second listening. The link I was using no longer works, so I'll post my impressions of the remaining 7 tracks once I find an "alternative". So far the breach has been sealed.
"The very words I live by."
Listened to the whole score yesterday and today. Overall I dont think its Zimmer's best work nor is it the best Bond score, but since Zimmer and co had to crank it out between Top Gun:Maverick, Dune and Wonder Woman:1984 I think the score is a solid success. Certainly much better then Spectre which isn't surprising.
I'm not a Zimmer enthusiast (would've rather had Dan Romer here as originally intended, or if at all possible Arnold's return), and I much prefer his earlier works (True Romance was one of his most inspired scores, imho), but I believe this is one of the good ones, especially when compared to those other works you mentioned, which to me lacked the cohesion and diversity (yes, both at the same time) that this one does have. Dune, for instance, sounds more formulaic to me.
I agree that it's certainly not the best Bond, but I am confident that it will work well both in context (i.e., in the movie) and outside thereof (as a soundtrack).
"The very words I live by."
Here is my review of Hans Zimmer’s Soundtrack to No Time To Die. Spoilers galore if you don't want to listen to the score before seeing the film.
Just note, I am not a musician at all, I can barely figure out what instruments are what.
Gunbarrel- As released a while ago, I found this disappointing. I think it sounds better within the context of the rest of the album, and it is nice to have the gunbarrel as its own separate track, although it seems much more workmanlike than Arnold's fantastic gunbarrel contributions. It is however nice to get some consistiency with Spectre's similiar gunbarrel music.
Matera- Lush and powerful, this is clearly an ode to Barry's high strings, and we even get a nice bit of harp to our spirits. Highlight being the "We have all the time in the world" return, and the low flute which reminds me of Barry's main theme for The Deep. Definitely a favourite on the album. Billie Eillish's theme tune comes in near the end on strings. Delightful.
Message from an old friend- A low and sinister opening, with a whirring circular treatment which sounds like the orchestra are warming up their instruments. Becomes quite an ominious action piece with the zimmer style, my favourite moment being a rather dangerous riff at around the 1:50 mark. The brass picks up near the end, with some nice little Bond theme moments and some heavy drumming reminiscent of Newman's scores. Marr's guitar really nice here.
Square Escape- This short piece starts with a bit of brass, followed by an introduction to a delightfully deep and thunderous Bond Riff (Which returns elsewhere including the Cuba Chase piece). The action stops, and we get the Barry strings in a painfully tearful moment. A secondary love theme for Madielene and Bond appears at 1:27 and its soaringly beautiful.
Someone was here- Atmospheric opening, followed by a very Arnoldesque scene change sort of music with the strings, and Marr's guitar. Drums kick in nicely with a bit of Bond theme, and we get a slow-down version of an action riff from message from an old friend I think. Nice bit of Marr guitar near the end as it picks up pace, with the Bond theme brass bursting above the guitar.
Not What I Expected- Starts off with low flute, I think, in a soft almost romantic piece. Strings come in and it starts sounding creepy. Ominious guitar strumming near the end. Short and Sweet.
What Have You Done- Kind of forgettable opening, but then it sounds like a choir joins in around the minute mark to make a very sinister, mildly duel of the fates piece. Bond theme kicks in 1:40 to give the piece some levity, and then the action piece from Message returns a little, with the Bond theme popping its head in and out. Solid track.
Shouldn’t we get to Know Each Other First- Arnoldesque opening, with a return of what sounds like an acoustic guitar. Stirring moments of Bond theme and quite playful, then a pause before we get a sudden scene change sort of Bond theme, mellow but heroic.
Cuba Chase- This piece will probably become most people’s favourite on the album, and that includes myself. Starts off rather scratchy with a very uncomfortable and powerful soar of orchestral confusion and energy, like the music equivalent of the dada movement, morphing instantly just after the minute mark into drums chase music in the same category of African Rundown from the Casino Royale track (possibly used as temp score?). Lots of drums, Cuban Trumpets flirt with the piece, coming in and out teasingly, like there’s a latin party happening in the room next door. At around the 2:25, the Brass section sounds positively Barry-Thunderball-The Incredibles Soundtrack, and one of my favourite bits in the whole score. Delicious. Then the Cuban trumpet comes back and we’re back in party mode. And at the 3 min mark we are full on Samba mode with a trumpet solo, and a burdening Bond strings suddenly rising behind it. The slow and filthy Bond Riff makes its second appearance at the 3:54 mark, first seen in the Square Escape. Stellar Stuff all around. Brass returns a little. A Bond score has never been this playful in this track, and at around the 5:10 mark since the Arnold-Brosnan era.
Back to MI6- This piece I recognised as its played a bit in the official podcast. Starts off low and ominious. And then very much James Bond walking down the street music, like they use to play in Doctor No and From Russia With Love. I want to see him striding along, tipping hotel lobbyman with this music please.
Good To Have You Back- A stupendous return of the OHMSS theme, in a slow and threatening fashion like in the Barry piece “Over and Out” from the OHMSS album. Will please any Barry fan, but also stands alone for Zimmer and new fans as a stirring piece of music.
Lovely to See You Again- This piece begins low, with an almost industrial-Goldeneyeish beat like a ticking Grandfather clock. At the 40 second mark the piano notes from Billie Eillish’s theme appears, with a romantic but melancholy rest of the track.
Home- The romance continues as we get the most of Eillish’s theme here. With the strings playing the piano notes in soaring, Barryesque fashion. Low notes being quite ominous. Nice bit of cello during the middle of the track. Eillish’s theme returns with a female vocalising the tune, followed by a lovely low flute picking up the second half of the theme. This is the return of a proper instrumental version of the main theme, which doesn’t merely appear once in the score (like Skyfall and Spectre did copied and pasted for a 40 second scene) but instead feels naturally incorporated as the love theme for the movie. Well done Zimmer!
Norway Chase- Starts off very slow, but with some nice strings. We get a little bit around the 1:0f mark of a rather creepy, fairytale motif which returns in a big way in the poison garden. (Maybe its Safin’s theme?). Action kicks in 2:13. With a great bit of choir work and stabbing Zimmer noises we all know in a very Dark Knight Returns, and the brass is full on blaring firefighter mode at the 3 min mark. Serviceable action theme, but could have been more memorable. Appreciated the incorporation of the Bond theme near the end though.
Gearing Up- Bond theme with a bit of almost Latin sounding guitar. Drums kick in at the 1 minute mark. Appreciated Marr’s guitar at 1:55.
Poison Garden- This is an excellent track, and one that has made me most curious about what the scene accompanying it is about. Sounds torturous, with male vocalising and large anvil like drums which sound like one is working the Mines of Minas Tirith with Saruman watching over. The creepy fairytale motif appears at the 2:08 mark, with its longest appearance. If this is Safin’s theme, it’s a good one as it is very chilling, and overall quite a horror track. Warm strings appear at 3:05, which does a little to increase the tension while also simultaneously adding to the creepiness. Something horrific clearly happens at the 3:40 mark.
The Factory- This is the longest track on the album, coming in at 7:57 and it sometimes feels more atmospheric than action-packed. And we get that circular action riff last seen in Someone was here. There is some sort of resolve for action at 1:25, as the pace increases. Not a big fan of this one.
I’ll Be Right Back- Beautiful opening which is lush, then it drops into action at the 30 second mark with frightening intensity. Much better than the previous track, a reoccurring strings at the 1:32 is very familiar to my ears. Maybe its from a Newman track or something? If someone knows what it is, that would be helpful. It continutes on for quite a while, past the 2 minute mark. The fairytale motif appears around 2:20 (or atleast that’s when I noticied it as its starts quite subtle). Then at 2:50 we get Billie Eillish’s theme, with the return of the female vocalising, and its stirring, and heroic and romantic. This is what Bond is all about!!! Lot of drumming happens after this and the brass at 4:50 which is reminiscent of the opening QOS track by David Arnold concluding to a breathless finish. Superb.
Opening The Doors- Ominious Bond theme opening. (There’s a decent amount here for once). And then, lo and behold, at the 35 second mark we get another welcomed return of that filthy Bond riff which appeared in the opening of Square Escape and latter half of the Cuba Chase (3:54 timestamp of that track). It sounds its best here, as its time to breathe. At 1:45 we get a full emergency alarm very similar to the 30 second mark of the previous track.
Final Ascent- Second longest track on the album, and another piece which will probably be long-remembered and will probably appear in future Zimmer compliation albums. The strings at the start are melancholy, and unlike most final ending tracks in Bond Scores, this piece is not triumphant at all, but rather filled with regret and loss. At 3:53 we get a very slowed piano opening to Billie Eillish’s theme, followed up by more heartaching strings. I never thought they would actually kill of Bond, but oh my word, this piece of music sounds like he is dying right on the screen in front of us. There’s a secondary love theme, appears at 6:10, (its present in Square Escape and Home) and its like an axe to the heart and soul. This is Madeliene and Bond’s love theme right here and it rises up to the end of the track.
No Time To Die- It is great to have Billie Eillish’s full theme on the album, which the previously recent albums have not been able to do due to rights reasons. Nice conclusion to the album.
Favourite Tracks: Matera, Square Escape, Cuba Chase, Good to Have You Back, Home, Poison Garden, I’ll be Right Back, Final Ascent.
Worth a Mention: Message from an old Friend, Back to MI6, Lovely to See you Again.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
I'd love to hear the score if anyone can help please :)
I can't wait for my CD to arrive
Many thanks
Something to remember is alot of these tracks will probably be chopped and edited differently within the film. For instance the music in the released clip of the bridge jump had added stems not heard on the score version. It happens frequently with Zimmer's scores where his tracks are beefed up in the final mix.
Just finished listening to the score. It is a nice change from Newman's repetitive and unimaginative scores.
Overall, It sounds great and the pieces from John Barry's themes were a nice surprise. However, i would prefer the 007 theme to be used more.
Something that got me worried was the tone of the 'Final Ascent' track which i presume is what ends the film. I begin to suspect that i will not like the ending of NTTD. 🙄
@Agent Eternal I'm having the same misgivings about the ending. I truly hope we turn out being wrong.
Incidentally, the Billie Eilish theme at the end of the CD is a different arrangement than the one released as a single. I like it better that way.
"The very words I live by."
Well, today "Matera" and "Shouldn't We Get to Know Each Other First" have been officially released as early tracks (just as Gunbarrel was at the beginning of the year) in anticipation of next week's complete official release. You can now stream them in your preferred music service.
"The very words I live by."
Thanks writingsonthewall.
I enjoyed both tracks. Zimmer does a nice John Barry impression in ‘Matera’. I look forward to seeing how All The Time in the World feels when seen in the context of the film.
Also a nice surprise was the acoustic guitar on ‘Shouldn’t We Get to Know Each Other First’ which actually reminded me a bit of the LTK score for a few moments.
So you have to pay for it through Telegram? Screw that, will wait for the movie. I think the 'final ascent' is likely to be Madeline passing away and not Bond. Although maybe Blofeld will cause both Madeline and Bond a car crash as they're driving off for their honeymoon and we won't know Bond's fate.
7. LALD 8. TWINE 9. Skyfall 10. AVTAK 11. CR 12. TLD 13. YOLT
14. TMWTGG 15. Moonraker 16. TSWLM 17. Thunderball 18. FRWL
19. Dr. No 20. DAF 21. LTK 22. DAD 23. QoS 24. Spectre 25. NTTD
Finally managed to get my hands on this. I thought it was okay - honestly felt like a bit of a slog to get through. There were a few attempts to be clever and inventive (e.g., Cuba Chase) but mostly felt like it fell short of the kind of work Arnold and Barry were known for.
I agree with those that commented the final track doesn't inspire much confidence in how the ending will play out and that some of us may not enjoy how it ends. Not so much because of anticipating what happens at the end of the movie and to whom, but rather just that we've all watched movies that have ended with that kind of music... and I honestly don't think that type of emotion and drama is how I'd like any Bond movie to finish (and certainly not for 7 long minutes lol).
I waited until the film was released to hear the score. I think it was the most disappointing part of the film. The action music is paint-by-numbers Zimmer. It doesn't feel like Bond music and it weighs the film down, similar to how Newman's action music did. It doesn't feel like Bond, but now with three films of generic monotonous action music, maybe that's what Bond is now.
Would you place it as the worst Bond score of all time?
I think I might prefer it over Spectre, since it uses the title song more. But the good parts of Spectre are much better. Difficult call.
At first I thought Zimmer was going to be more reliable than Dan Romer, who hadn't done anything that gave me faith he could do Bond. But then I saw Luca and was immediately disappointed he didn't do Bond. His Luca score proved he was capable of doing a classic film score,could do it with some originality and could copy a specific style. I was hoping Zimmer would surprise me. The best parts are what he took from other composers (Barry, Arnold, Eilish/O'Connell). I also don't like that he used Barry themes, though that was most likely not his decision. I wish he used Barry's style outside of the Barry themes, but there was none of that.
While I don't see Zimmer's work as negatively as Matt (even if I do agree he's way past his prime and much prefer his earlier efforts, such as True Romance or Lion King), I agree Romer would have been a much better choice, and a welcome change in style who could have brought something new to the series.
Hopefully with B26 they'll bring a new sound along with a new perspective on the character.
"The very words I live by."
I actually enjoyed the score…but then you can’t go wrong with the classics used 🍸
I thought the music was more ‘generic action film’ music than ‘Bond’ music as such…but, for me, it definitely worked 👏🏻
I've listened to the whole (released) OST and I'd say that since it relies so heavily on previous Bond music, then Zimmer (and associates) just had to write parts between the various well-known themes (The James Bond Theme itself, We Have All The Time In The World, OHMSS, Vesper, a bit of Skyfall, and the Billie Eilish song) convincingly which still means that it's better than SF or SP. Less original music than normal for a Bond soundtrack.
After giving the score more time, I think it’s much better than Newman’s scores for it’s use of the Bond Theme and NTTD. It’s better than Serra’s score, but I think it’s below the rest. Cuba Chase is much better than anything Newman wrote. There’s a motif I like that’s repeated throughout the score that may have been derived from NTTD, but it’s almost identical to a line former “Bond” composer Burt Bacharach wrote for Promises Promises.
I don’t feel like there’s much else that stands out. It’s very derivative, both of OHMSS and of any other Zimmer action film score. While I think it works better in the film than the Skyfall score, it lacks Skyfall’s substance.
I hate the use of OHMSS music in the film. It’s distracting because of how much it’s used. Once would have been okay, but it shows a lack of originality. A good composer would have written new music developed from the old to give the new film a stronger identity with a more subtle nod to the past. Like Barry and Arnold both wrote new music based on the OHMSS descending scale for later Bond films. The Louis Armstrong recording at the end should at least have been replaced with a new recording of the song to help make us feel for the new story rather than remember an old one. You can’t improve upon Louis, but it just felt lazy and insulting to hear another film’s song in this film.
On the other hand, including Vesper’s theme was perfect. It was meaningful and fitting in the context of the film.
I agree. The Armstrong theme is so associated with OHMSS and Tracy, to not merely reference it but use it so blatantly now connects it with the ideas of THIS film, which I don’t think is an appropriate choice.
Interesting.
Now when I listen to the Louis song its hits me harder than ever before, because I connect it with Bond and his daughter, not just with Madielene and Tracy. It's emblematic of the fact that Bond will die without really enjoying or appreciating a long-term romantic interest or a family member.
I think it really works within the film.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
I've enjoyed reading the comments here, especially the review by @James Suzuki
Here are some of my impressions:
SPOILERS
Overall Hans Zimmer's score has plenty of atmosphere sympathetic with the film's hues and tones - it's certainly a step up from Thomas Newman's work on SP - but, on the other hand, it's hardly a ringing endorsement when I say that, for me, the true highlights are Zimmer's adaptations of John Barry's OHMSS themes and of the piano notes from Billie Eilish's/ Finneas O'Connell's title song.
'Cuba Chase' occupies similar territory to some of David Arnold's extended action pieces but, to my ears, it lacks the thematic hooks and cohesion of, say, 'Backseat Driver' or 'Come In OO7, Your Time Is Up' (which, to be fair, were both for vehicle/vessel-led set pieces).
'Matera' includes a section which overtly delivers 'the full Barry', assimilating the instrumental of 'We Have All The Time In The World'; I like the honesty of going the whole hog with tributing Barry (compared, for example, with Arnold's 'Going Down Together' in DAD, which seems to *want* to break into YOLT's 'Mountains And Sunsets' but stops short of actually doing so. As has been suggested elsewhere, the decision in NTTD to re-use music from OHMSS would, I'm sure, have been made at a higher level than Zimmer.)
'Good To Have You Back' has the sedate pace of OHMSS's 'Over And Out' but it lacks the different layers of that piece; perhaps it was felt that, as an accompaniment to dialogue, the direct OHMSS musical callback would be attention-grabbing enough - without any addition of extra dressing to further distract from the Mallory/ Bond exchange.
On the crucial 'Final Ascent': I'm afraid that those rising strings remind me of a similar effect used comically as hyperbole for a romantic send-up in 'Airplane!'... hardly the intended effect here, I'm sure!
As for signing out with Louis Armstrong, better that, I guess than, going out with the OTT heavenly choir of 'Slumber, Inc.' 🙂
Thanks @Shady Tree
Appreciated hearing your thoughts.
Hearing Slumber Inc at the end would have been something.
I still think hearing the James Bond Theme play instead of Final Ascent would have been humorous!
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Near the end of the score when Bond is in Safin's lair Zimmer really went all out with the 'The Dark Knight' music. With some shades of 'Dunkirk' and 'Inception' thrown in as well.
Oh for sure it does. I realised why that piece at 1:32 from "I'll be right back" was so familiar to me, its from Zimmer's score for Dark Knight Rises
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming