My two CDs, MR and TMWTGG, arrived in the post this morning and I'm beyond thrilled... this excitement for 'new old Bond' makes me feel quite nostalgic. In anticipation of these arriving, I've revisited my personalised Bond music playlist over the last couple of days - a mix I started to put together during the lockdowns - and have made some discriminating additions/ substitutions from the other Limited Edition CDs, all of which I have to hand. The playlist is already over 18 hours of music and yet arises only from careful selections of tracks from my album archives. It's about to get a further significant refresh from these two new arrivals!
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
I thought a Moonraker was a smuggler's term for hiding in plain sight. Hence the cryptic title of Drax's rocket in the novel. Surely Fleming nicked the word from the 1952 play The Moonraker?
On another note, is there anyone else who hears an echo of Barry's 'Hit And Miss', the 'Juke Box Jury' theme, in the boppy element of his alternate instrumentations of the 'Moonraker' Main and End titles, on disc 2 of the limited edition CD?
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Yes, for the 'Slow Boat From China/ Nick Nack' segue I think it's still necessary to go back to the 'James Bond Back In Action: Vol 2' album of covers. In the new Limited Edition, 'Slow Boat From China' is isolated, ending on the shrill, high note which only makes musical/ narrative sense if followed by 'Nick Nack'. The Limited Edition is glorious overall, though, and 'In The Boot' is part of a fun sequence which it's great to hear on an album at last.
Stepping out of it a bit, I do have some mixed feelings about 'Nick Nick'/ 'In The Boot'. While it fits the score aesthetically and thematically, it seems to have dubious circus connotations, with an implied link to the freakshow tradition.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Fascinating though it is to gain insight to the development of a classic Bond song, I find the Paul Williams vocal grating and yes, the lyrics are awry. These somewhat put me in mind of Johnny Cash's pitch for 'Thunderball', though that's in the wrong genre altogether and is better produced as it's more than a demo.
The 'Smith and Jones' skit is in the right territory!
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
I've also got all eight Limited Editions and have just pre-ordered LTK from the OO7 Store.
Kamen's score is one I've grown to love since my initial misgivings in 1989, and I rate it very highly for the way it works with the tone of the film. Looking forward to a complete re-listen.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
I never purchased any previous LTK soundtrack release, so I couldn't pass up this one. The score never stood out for me, but I feel like this release is going to help me appreciate it more. The score suits the film and the music is well written with great detail. One thing I never noticed until I listened to the samples is the sound of the Kurzweil synthesizer. I never noticed it in the film.
I really like how Kamen destabilises the Bond theme with flurries of aestheticised anxiety, raining loose cannon on the parade even as we take pleasure in a recognition of familiar form.
It's Bond but it's as nervy as Martin Riggs and as dangerous as Hans Gruber. Such operatic flamboyance suits Dalton's Bond-in-crisis to a tee - a style which wouldn't have worked with Craig's later, more contained Bond-in-crisis and stands out as a welcome one-off in the series.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Yeah, I love John Barry of course, but I think what those other alternate composers who punctuated his run like George Martin, Bill Conti and Kamen did do, was to add in real energy and punch, which I guess is one thing Barry had a bit less of by the mid-70s. I don't love the LTK score, but it is so punchy and high energy and makes everything feel much higher stakes. To be honest I wish they'd got a director like McTiernan or Donner to go along with it, I feel like the film doesn't quite keep up with its own score; it could do with being more operatic and bigger like those contemporary films I tend to think. Imagine a Licence To Kill with the kick of a Die Hard film.
I do love Kamen's thing in these films of repeating one staccato brass note over and over with increasing frequency- like when Hans Gruber falls. It's even in his gunbarrel, and kind of gave away to me that that leaked Clapton demo was the real thing last year- it was just too Kamen-y.
Yes, I love how Kamen handles Gruber's death. Funnily enough, I always imaginarily re-score in my head that great slo-mo moment when Gruber begins to fall with Barry's opening bars to the unused 'Death of Grant' - similar, but faster and in a different key.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Comments
My two CDs, MR and TMWTGG, arrived in the post this morning and I'm beyond thrilled... this excitement for 'new old Bond' makes me feel quite nostalgic. In anticipation of these arriving, I've revisited my personalised Bond music playlist over the last couple of days - a mix I started to put together during the lockdowns - and have made some discriminating additions/ substitutions from the other Limited Edition CDs, all of which I have to hand. The playlist is already over 18 hours of music and yet arises only from careful selections of tracks from my album archives. It's about to get a further significant refresh from these two new arrivals!
I thought a Moonraker was a smuggler's term for hiding in plain sight. Hence the cryptic title of Drax's rocket in the novel. Surely Fleming nicked the word from the 1952 play The Moonraker?
I'm sure that's right.
On another note, is there anyone else who hears an echo of Barry's 'Hit And Miss', the 'Juke Box Jury' theme, in the boppy element of his alternate instrumentations of the 'Moonraker' Main and End titles, on disc 2 of the limited edition CD?
Yes, for the 'Slow Boat From China/ Nick Nack' segue I think it's still necessary to go back to the 'James Bond Back In Action: Vol 2' album of covers. In the new Limited Edition, 'Slow Boat From China' is isolated, ending on the shrill, high note which only makes musical/ narrative sense if followed by 'Nick Nack'. The Limited Edition is glorious overall, though, and 'In The Boot' is part of a fun sequence which it's great to hear on an album at last.
Stepping out of it a bit, I do have some mixed feelings about 'Nick Nick'/ 'In The Boot'. While it fits the score aesthetically and thematically, it seems to have dubious circus connotations, with an implied link to the freakshow tradition.
I hadn't thought of that but now you mention it you're right, it's there.
Fascinating though it is to gain insight to the development of a classic Bond song, I find the Paul Williams vocal grating and yes, the lyrics are awry. These somewhat put me in mind of Johnny Cash's pitch for 'Thunderball', though that's in the wrong genre altogether and is better produced as it's more than a demo.
The 'Smith and Jones' skit is in the right territory!
Licence To Kill has been announced by La La Land, coming Jan 21st.
This time if you're in the UK it does work out as slightly cheaper to get it from 007store.
I haven't bought the Moonraker one yet partly because, well, everything is better in vinyl - if it were in vinyl it would certainly be on my list.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
As of yesterday, I have all 8 of the LLL Bond releases. Great timing for LTK to become available so that I can make it 9.
Favorite by a wide margin is MOONRAKER.
I've also got all eight Limited Editions and have just pre-ordered LTK from the OO7 Store.
Kamen's score is one I've grown to love since my initial misgivings in 1989, and I rate it very highly for the way it works with the tone of the film. Looking forward to a complete re-listen.
as much as I don't like LTK as a film, the score is really solid.
The samples of it on the website sound pretty amazing, I would say. The quality is brilliant.
I spotted a little bit in there which didn't make it to the film, where Q gets a little 'Rule Britannia' motif when he first appears 😁
Play this one very loud!
https://johndadlez.com/MP3/LicenceToKill/2_06_TC.mp3
I never purchased any previous LTK soundtrack release, so I couldn't pass up this one. The score never stood out for me, but I feel like this release is going to help me appreciate it more. The score suits the film and the music is well written with great detail. One thing I never noticed until I listened to the samples is the sound of the Kurzweil synthesizer. I never noticed it in the film.
I really like how Kamen destabilises the Bond theme with flurries of aestheticised anxiety, raining loose cannon on the parade even as we take pleasure in a recognition of familiar form.
It's Bond but it's as nervy as Martin Riggs and as dangerous as Hans Gruber. Such operatic flamboyance suits Dalton's Bond-in-crisis to a tee - a style which wouldn't have worked with Craig's later, more contained Bond-in-crisis and stands out as a welcome one-off in the series.
Yeah, I love John Barry of course, but I think what those other alternate composers who punctuated his run like George Martin, Bill Conti and Kamen did do, was to add in real energy and punch, which I guess is one thing Barry had a bit less of by the mid-70s. I don't love the LTK score, but it is so punchy and high energy and makes everything feel much higher stakes. To be honest I wish they'd got a director like McTiernan or Donner to go along with it, I feel like the film doesn't quite keep up with its own score; it could do with being more operatic and bigger like those contemporary films I tend to think. Imagine a Licence To Kill with the kick of a Die Hard film.
I do love Kamen's thing in these films of repeating one staccato brass note over and over with increasing frequency- like when Hans Gruber falls. It's even in his gunbarrel, and kind of gave away to me that that leaked Clapton demo was the real thing last year- it was just too Kamen-y.
Yes, I love how Kamen handles Gruber's death. Funnily enough, I always imaginarily re-score in my head that great slo-mo moment when Gruber begins to fall with Barry's opening bars to the unused 'Death of Grant' - similar, but faster and in a different key.
Now I'm going to hear that too next time I watch it!