From his inception into the Bond franchise in 1997 for Tomorrow Never Dies David Arnold has firmly rooted himself into the world of Bond. His prowess at handling and mixing massive orchestra with electronic accompaniment earnt him wide spread critical acclaim and the right to succeed John Barry.
Arnold�s second score for the series was a sort of experimentation for the series focusing more on his action music than anything else. The score wasn�t nearly as widely accepted and for the people who rejected The World is Not Enough as a loada noise and not much else Die Another Day could be an even greater disappointment. However, I think it�s necessary to look beyond Tomorrow Never Dies. Arnold�s style is changing. His bad experience with Godzilla and various other films including his rejection from The Patriot project seems to have really changed Arnold�s approach to scoring so at the moment anyway a return to TND seems unlikely. Although the orchestral style here is closer to TND than TWINE it lacks the same edge of polish that TND has.
At this point I think I should mention the song (briefly). The song is easily the worst ever bond song. Its cringe-worthy qualities unfortunately manage to haunt you for the rest of the CD so its best to just skip the song and plough into Arnold�s score otherwise it just feels tainted with the dire awful rubbish of the first track.
The first thing you think when listening to On The Beach is that this score isn�t going to be anywhere near as good as previous bond scores. And you�d be right; the gun barrel sequence is an electronic mess, most of the instruments completely out of time and pitch with each other. The rest of the track isn�t much better with the orchestra and electronics seemingly unable to establish any form of cohesion in either the build up to the action or the action cue itself. The music just lacks the same punch and direction usually displayed by Arnold. The track just meanders its course without any exciting or interesting moments. This opening track is a great shame because after the awful song the sound of these two tracks stays with you for the rest of the listen a perhaps can make you forget that latter on in the album is some of the most highly charged and energetic action cues ever written. As the CD progresses the electronics become increasingly reigned in (With the exceptions of �A Touch of Frost� and �Iced Inc�) and brought under control and Arnold�s addictive orchestral power and punch returns.
�Hovercraft Chase�, �Whiteout� and �Antonov� provide the best action music on the CD. Each is worth noting for different reasons. Hovercraft Chase employs a series of clever devices to move the action along with stop go editing to cut out the music and then bring it back in and orchestral notes being altered to remove resonance and pitch to make a more metallic sound similar to Brad Fiedel�s techniques used in Terminator 2. And whilst these electronic alterations are noticeable they don�t divert the listener from the shear pace and frenetic energy of the orchestra.
�Whiteout� finally brings in the more brassy elements of DAD and combines them with a very effective tension cue half way through that gives a great performance of the Villain�s choral theme.
This theme appears at several key moments throughout the score and easily distinguishes this villain from others in this score and previous ones.
The only problem with these tracks on the whole is that there is something missing in the orchestration. They somehow to me just feel half finished. The quality of depth just isn�t there. Arnold just isn�t using all of the orchestra to layer his cues as in TND and his other scores.
�Antonov� however can make you forgive any problems with the rest of the score. This track could almost be called a return to TND as the electronics almost disappear from the track and some pure orchestral power is displayed. Also returning is that pleasant feel of undeniable quality. The orchestral performances feel full really for the first time on the album. Both the lush strings and brass are brought together with the choir to make a very exhilarating 11 minutes. The track features all the main themes and a lot of strong dramatic underscore for its first half. Then slowly the track gathers pace and lets out 6 minutes of unrelenting bombast of the type not heard since TND. The quality is there and the enjoyment of this track is effortless. The action moves from motif to motif with bursts of theme inbetween with tremendous ease and finally the James Bond theme appears with one of the most rorchous performances ever.
The quieter moments of the score are actually very impressive. The sweeping melodies of TND and TWINE are gone and replaced with a much darker and tragic underscore. Arnold seems to be trying to indicate the world weary side of Brosnan�s Bond (especially as he�s been betrayed in this film and out for revenge!) into this score and aside from destroying the bondanian sense of fun it adds a new and wholly unexpected feel to the score.
However this time there is a significant difference in quality for the love moments of the score. Arnold seems just unable to inject the same emotions into the music as he did in TND and to an extent in TWINE. Whether it�s the fact that Arnold never engages the full orchestra in these tracks or the orchestration isn�t up to par is debatable either way and it�s difficult to say which problem is the most disruptive to the overall feel of the score. Whilst the love themes in particular still exhibit some of the kind of orchestration that made TND�s love theme so strong they are limited to the string sections and just aren�t as engaging as the TND ones with none of the loud sweeping statements of TND or TWINE. The last Track �Going Down Together� does show some sweeping statement of theme however its performance has a very overblown 60s sound which doesn�t sit at all right with the rest of the score and its electronic backing.
In the end DAD is a mish mash of good and bad. The score is definitely the darkest and brooding bond score to date. The action music is almost all as good as any previous bond and really drives the score. However, the song is a cold blooded killer and much of the score does not reflect the bond spirit as it has a much more tragic and brooding feel (the opening of �Antonov� and �Some Kind of Hero�). If This weren�t a bond score then those dramatic cues would be praised by almost everyone. But it�s simply not what people are expecting in a bond score. Some bits of the score whilst good don�t really fit in with the rest of the score (�Welcome to Cuba�). The sections of DAD that are good are spread out over the course of the score but most still lack the quality finish of Arnold�s previous two bond efforts. �Antonov� shows that David Arnold hasn�t lost his mastery he just took along time to connect with his inspiration this time round.
Action Music: ***1/2
Love Themes: **
Overall Score: ***
Overall: **
Release Label: Warner Bros. Records
Date Released: November 12th November
2. James Bond Theme (4:05) (Bond Vs. Oakenfold)
3. On the Beach (2:51)
4. Hovercraft Chase (3:49)
5. Some Kind of Hero? (4:32)
6. Welcome to Cuba (2:07)
7. Jinx Jordan (1:29)
8. Jinx & James (2:04)
9. A Touch of Frost (1:52)
10. Icarus (1:23)
11. Laser Fight (4:35)
12. Whiteout (4:55)
13. Iced Inc. (3:08)
14. Antonov (11:52)
15. Going Down Together (1:34)