Customer Reviews

Soundtrack

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I saw Casino Royale yesterday and loved the soundrack and score. Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" had been brillianly reworked to include string and horn flourishes that put the tune up there with John Barry's best. Sadly, the exciting jolt of that song has been omitted from this CD, so one never gets to feel immersed in the experience of the film. This was a stupid, stupid decision, if you ask me. Chris Cornell has said that the decision to leave his song off the CD was his alone. First, it is hard to believe that two major forces like Sony and the TWE organization would give Cornell such a right-of-refusal. Second, what kind of moron decides to take his song off of a Bond soundtrack? Cornell is either lying or a complete idiot. He does, however, sound great on the main titles track. It should have been here.

The negatives first:

The title song is not on the album, nor is it on the import or iTunes version. The only way to get the title song is to buy the single, which may not be the same version of the song that was used in the film.

The cool version of the Bond theme that was in the trailer is not on the album. That is par for the course, though - the equally memorable trailer music for the Brosnan Bonds never appeared on those soundtracks, either.

The iTunes version has more music from the movie - supposedly including all of the cues recorded by David Arnold (though the tracks on the CD will have been chosen to optimize listening to in album form).

If the only reason you want this soundtrack is for multiple renditions of the James Bond theme, go buy Tomorrow Never Dies, because you'll be disappointed. Since the movie is about Bond becoming 007, the music holds back on the Bond theme, with only a few brief statements before a fantastic full-orchestra rendition in the last track.

All of that being said, this is a great Bond soundtrack. Even though there is sparse use of the classic theme (it only appears partially and briefly a couple of times before the end), this is still pure Bond. Arnold channels Barry and the classic Bond sound effortlessly, with brassy orchestral statements of the title song and the movie's themes that don't sound dated, but still would sound equally at home in Goldfinger.

Thankfully gone is Arnold's overuse of electronic music and manipulation from the last two outings. They are somewhat replaced by a heavier use of percussion than we're used to in Bond music, but it works well to lend energy to the action tracks.

We have energetic, percussive action music, classic Barry-esque brass and orchestra work, romantic themes for locations and Bond girls, a couple of hooks to previous Bond scores, and a thoughtful approach to scoring the development of a 007 in progress. The full rendition of the Bond theme is well worth the wait - no electronics, no remix dance version - just a great arrangement of the 007 theme that could have been played by the Monty Norman orchestra itself. Great stuff, and the best Bond soundtrack since Tomorrow Never Dies. Recommended.

David Arnold's James Bond film compositions up to now have gradually fallen into an abyss of the mundane. Arnold's DIE ANOTHER DAY was just very weak overall. CASINO ROYALE is a complete about face. With CASINO ROYALE David Arnold provides us with his most innovative Bond score to date. You almost have to forget everything that Arnold has composed for the James Bond series prior to CASINO ROYALE.

He has proven up to now that he can accomplish two elements of a James Bond score. First, he can copy predecessor John Barry's style when using the James Bond theme very effectively if need be. Second, David Arnold has a definite talent for coming up with rousing Bondian themes like "Surrender" on the TOMORROW NEVER DIES soundtrack. "Surrender" was belted out by K.D. Lang but relegated to the end titles in favor of Sheryl Crow's humdrum concoction behind the main titles. "Surrender" was pure Bond but somehow the producers stuck it on the end titles. However, Arnold used the "Surrender" theme throughout the entire score and it was very effective.

Arnold innovatively uses that same approach on this soundtrack but with much more subtlety. He gives us both THE JAMES BOND THEME and the MAIN TITLE to CASINO ROYALE in piecemeal fashion. If you examine the soundtrack to THUNDERBALL you will hear that John Barry used almost the same approach. You really do not get much of THE JAMES BOND THEME throughout the THUNDERBALL soundtrack if you listen to it. In fact, you get the entire THE JAMES BOND THEME on this soundtrack on the last track of the album! If you listen to the soundtracks to GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER you get good background music, which are outstanding scores. That's what you get here. CASINO ROYALE is one of the best James Bond scores ever composed.

Unfortunately the Chris Cornell's main title song is not included. It is a very good theme that redefines for the cinema what drives James Bond. It does not sound like a Bond song at all, but it truly does work for the movie. I found the omission of that song to be very disappointing. I am really upset that it is not on this soundtrack CD.

This James Bond soundtrack is different in many ways from the 20 that preceded it. The differences go beyond the fact that the main title song is absent from this album. There is no melody performed in its entirety on any of the tracks with the exception of the James Bond Theme on the final track. This soundtrack is the result of going against the formula. It is a moody work interspersed with outbursts of action scoring interlaced with fragments of the main title and elusive references to the James Bond theme. It is a highly impressionistic work and an important one. This will go do down as one of the most important soundtracks, and perhaps not a very popular one, for being truthful to the job of scoring the film. David Arnold mentioned in some of his commentaries that he has fallen back on the James Bond theme when it seemed appropriate, and quite often, in his three previous Bond scores. He departs from that approach here and scores the measure of the man, a man who solidifies his resolve in the finale of CASINO ROYALE. This soundtrack is exceptional and the more it is played the more layers of its great depth are uncovered.

What genius decided to exclude "You Know My Name"? This is the first Bond Soundtrack that I know of that does not include the title song. Over the years, the Bond soundtracks have always been about 2 things for me: the Bond theme (and how it's woven into the overall soundtrack), and the title song (and how pumped up it gets you for the rest of the movie). There have been some great ones, and not so great ones, but no matter what, they were always on the soundtrack, and I could identify the movie from the title song. "You Know My Name", imho, was one of the better ones, and to exclude it is a travesty.

1. No title song? - A total disrespect for the customer. Sony needs this feedback. This action appears to be a way of suckering dedicated Bond fans into buying an additional piece for their collection.

2. David Arnold has done good work before but here he does not seem to draw inspiration from John Barry's great 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' so much as rehash his own tepid 'The World Is Not Enough' score. Although the music adequately matched the scenes during the movie, the tracks do not stand alone. Casino Royale's soundtrack does not evoke images of the film the way a soundtrack should.

I felt that leaving the Chris Cornell song off this "Soundtrack" was dishonest. How many of these CD's would have been sold if there was a sticker on the front that said "Title Song Not Included"?

As a fan of the James Bond music scores, the wait for Casino Royale's music has been an eager one. It's also been something of an emotional rollercoaster.

When EON Productions announced that it had acquired the rights for Casino Royale, David Arnold mentioned in an interview that the series would have to take a completely new musical direction from now on. Hooray, I thought; this should be an interesting departure!

To be completely honest, I had hoped that Arnold would not be selected to do the score for Casino Royale. This was a new James Bond film, with a new direction and a whole new take on the character. The last three Bond scores had rather left me cold, with their derivative style, techno percussion loops and repetitive, pounding brass.

However, when the Sony website released thirty-second clips of each track on the new album, I was surprised and delighted by how much of the traditional Bond magic had seeped through into the new score. The rollercoaster went up.

This feeling was not to last. I should have remembered that James Bond is always surrounded by marketing hooha and that any talk of a radical departure in the music would probably have to be seen in that light. It would be unfair to accuse David Arnold of disingenuity; in some ways this score is quite different from its three predecessors.

But there is the rub.

There may be more orchestra, but it's still loud and cacophonous. For sure, there is a little more melody (and EON Productions has at last allowed Arnold to relate the rest of his score to the song), but there isn't anything like enough melody for a Bond score. Gone is the electronic techno, but in its place is an equally distressing chaotic din of percussion and wailing brass.

The rollercoaster noesdives!

The real problem is the action cues. In the romantic passages where the melody for is actually allowed out, the score is vibrant and lovely. But when the Bond character gets up to his usual mischief, by the score we could being quite literally any action film genre at all. Nowhere is this contrast more apparent than between tracks eight and nine. Track 8(Miami International) is at teeth-jarring 13 minutes of typical, generic action film music. Just as you're reaching for the paracetamol, on comes Track 9(I'm the Money) and you feel like you're back in a Bond movie. For all of 27 seconds at least.

It's very hard to know how to grade David Arnold's score for Casino Royale. This is obviously a vastly superior work to the last two Bond film scores he has done. But if it bests Tomrrow Never Dies, it does so barely by a whisker. And despite some errie overtones from Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith, it doesn't even stand in the shadow of any of the other non-John Barry Bonds.

It gets three stars because it's halfway there. But a classic Bond score it ain't!

Just like the movie, this soundtrack is one of the best ones you can buy

Frankly, I'm only writing this review to negate the detrimental effect of other reviewers bringing the rating down because it does not included Chris Cornell's "Know My Name" introduction song(which was great, no doubt). But this is an original score, something different from a soundtrack, which confuses many people.

Now, this is the first Bond movie released in the last 8+ years to not completely suck. Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sir Connery and the overall production was just fantastic. That statement includes David Arnold's score. Cues like "African Rundown" and "Miami International" are epic in scope and exceedingly appropriate for the actions on screen. I thoroughly enjoy this score and hope the next effort for Quantum of Solace turns at just as well.