In 1973 the Bond franchise was in trouble. The public had universally rejected George Lazenby as the new 007 and Connery had been persuaded back in the role for �1 million for charity to do one film, which had produced the dismal, Diamonds are Forever.
English actor Roger Moore was enrolled to fill 007s shoes for Live and Let Die, a cross between the usual Bond formula and Voodoo occult mystery. The film became a major hit, Roger Moore made a different Bond to Sean Connery, less of a ruthless killer and more of a �Gentleman� with slightly more keen womanising urges and a pair of animated eyebrows.
Part of Live and Let Die�s success is down to the effortless quips and gripping fight scenes such as the climax of the speed boat chase and the final knife battle with Kananga in the shark grotto.
The other part of Live and Let Die�s success is rooted firmly in the music. The opening song by Paul and Linda McCartney is one of the best, most powerful bond songs and sets the pace of the rest of George Martin�s score to come.
The next track A Closer Walk With Thee/ New Second Line although relevant to the film seems to detract from the rest of the score and destroys the mood created by the song and at the end of the CD this track feels isolated from the rest of the score and out of place, also throughout the film George Martin makes plenty of use of the themes established in the song but those lengthy cues do not appear on the release. Also the central love theme is all but absent from the CD which may disappoint as the love themes always make up about a third of any Bond score.
But criticisms aside the music by George Martin that follows makes one of the most effortlessly enjoyable Bond scores. There�s no doubt that George Martins score for Live and Let Die is the slickest of all the bond scores, throughout almost every track he makes excellent use of the James Bond Theme and his mixture of orchestral bombast and jazz makes the music flow through each track with hardly a pause. There is never a dull moment in the music which for the most part sounds almost like it was written in the 1990s, it certainly sounds anything but dated as many other Bond scores do (The twiddly electronics of The Living Daylights perhaps).
Throughout the score there is a lot of outstanding action music. The cues using the title song theme do not appear on the CD (Only the excellent �Whisper Who Dares� shows hints of the bombastic theme) however the more creative tracks such as �Snakes Alive�, �Trespassers Will Be Eaten� and �Sacrifice� offer plenty of the type of music that makes Live and Let Die so great. The tracks all play at a fast upbeat pace and the orchestra give them all enthusiastic performances.
Slick and effortlessly entertaining George Martin�s score is probably one of my favourite Bond scores. The music, track to track is stylistically the same although no two tracks have the same music content. Every track is different, all use the same Live and Let Die themes but the underscore is new for every track as is the action music new in every track. The Bond theme gets a new sound, with an added jazz beat as well as a few subtle alterations by George Martin and the title song gets a jazz singer�s performance in track 8. Whilst the release is shorter than most other Bond scores, George Martin�s unique and fast paced score rivals David Arnold�s score for Tomorrow Never Dies and is up with the best of John Barry�s scores. The only pain is the lack of two key cues, the love theme and the music from the shark grotto battle.
Score in the film: *****
Score on Album: ****
1. Live And Let Die � Paul & Linda McCartney
2. Just a Closer Walk With Thee/
New Second Line � Milton Batiste
3. Meets Solitaire
4. Whisper Who Dares
5. Snakes Alive
6. Baron Samedi�s Dance of Death
7. San Monique
8. Fillet of Soul � No/
Live And Let Die/ Performed by BJ Arnau
Fillet of Soul
9. Bond Drops In
10. If He Finds It, Kill Him
11. Trespassers Will Be Eaten
12. Solitaire Gets Her Cards
13. Sacrifice
14. James Bond Theme
