This is another entry in my Complete Score Breakdown Series, focusing on the complete scores to films that have had abbreviated previous releases or have gone unreleased.
Today we are looking at Licence to Kill (1989) by Michael Kamen.
To be honest, I’m not terribly familiar with Michael Kamen’s work outside of his Die Hard and Lethal Weapon films. I am kind of obsessed with his Die Hard scores and I’m extremely knowledgeable and a huge fan of the Lethal Weapon scores, but aside from that there are only a few random scores of his that I’m familiar with. I have nothing against his career and music, I am just not terribly familiar with it for one reason or another. Other scores that I listen to of his, and quite enjoy, are Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The Three Musketeers. Certainly I’m impressed by other scores I’ve heard of his as I’ve heard in their respective films, but I digress; this is about Licence to Kill.
As it came smack in the middle of the first two Die Hard films and it had been a very long time since I’d seen it, and since I wanted to induct Kamen into my Complete Score Breakdown Composer Club, this seemed like a good score to work on since I seem to recall a lot of people wishing for more of it to be released. I recently downloaded the 28 and ½ minutes of score available and gave it a listen and quite enjoyed it, actually. I wanted a primer before starting the film. I have to say, though, and I apologize in advance, but in this CSB I will not be comparing the score cues as heard in the film with the CD tracks, as I normally do. From what I understand through a bit of online research, the CD tracks are an extremely poorly edited collection of score cues and given the fact that I’m not terribly familiar with either the score or the film to begin with, it would just be too much trouble to try to match everything up. So alas, in this case, I will list the CD tracks as they are and I will list the score cues as they appear in the film, but I will not attempt to connect the dots. What’s left is we will discover how much score appears in the film and how that runtime compares to the CD runtime, how long each cue is in the film, etc.
So in watching the film, I learned the complete score runs a substantial 73min 50sec. Compared to the CD score runtime, this results in 45 minutes of unreleased material. Considering the poorly edited suites of cues on the existing album and the considerable wealth of missing material, added to which this lengthy score turned out to be quite the fantastic action score from one of Kamen’s most exciting periods of his career, it just begs to be expanded and released. I thought the existing CD material was good, but the complete score as heard in the film showcases the score as much, much better than I realized. The action writing is top-notch and I really enjoyed the acoustic guitar work (a lot of it sounds like guitar work from Lethal Weapon and Die Hard so I’m biased). I’m not really that into Bond scores so I’m not married to the sound so it’s ok that Licence to Kill has a distinctly Kamen vibe and may or may not hew that close to how a Bond score “should” feel, whether it’s appropriate or whatever. As someone who knows little about the general Bond scoring vernacular, I just took the score at face value as a Kamen action score fan and enjoyed the hell out of it. I very much hope for a cleaned-up and thoroughly expanded release one day, because this score is definitely one of his his better action works, and I will say this: the cue "Drug Bust" as Bond releases the villains' cocaine underwater and is subsequently chased is one of the best action cues Kamen has ever written...
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 28min 30sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME (AS HEARD IN FILM): 73min 50sec
UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 45min 20sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
1. Mid-Course Deviation (1:10) 2. Sanchez Is In the Bahamas (1:42) 3. No Sanchez (2:14) 4. Let’s Go Fishing (2:38) 5. Underwater Escape (1:28) 6. The Honeymoon’s Over (0:55) 7. Shark Bait (0:55) 8. ‘Til Death (1:44) 9. Bond Caught (2:58) 10. Killifer Goes for a Swim (2:24) 11. Bond Scolded (1:45) 12. License Revoked (1:02) 13. Bond Aboard (3:09) 14. Bond Overboard (1:30) 15. Drug Bust (6:37) 16. Kevlar (0:37) 17. The Love Boat (1:26) 18. Executive Secretary (0:28) 19. Bond Summoned (2:15) 20. A Proper Family Reunion (1:23) 21. An Historic Moment (0:24) 22. Bond on the Ledge (3:13) 23. Goodbye Q (0:47) 24. Ninja (6:25) 25. Distraction (1:00) 26. The Truth (1:28) 27. Sanchez and Krest (2:45) 28. High Pressure (0:44) 29. Safer On My Own (1:20) 30. Lupe and Bond (1:11) 31. Distribution Center (0:48) 32. Professor Joe / The Lab (3:44) 33. Lab Fire (0:24) 34. Bond Doomed (0:57) 35. Dario’s End (0:47) 36. Secure (0:31) 37. Fleeing the Compound (0:51) 38. Tanker Collision (1:25) 39. Highway Chase (2:27) 40. Final Fight (2:23) 41. Finale (1:34)
Current CD Release Track Titles and Track Times:
1. Pam (3:52) 2. James and Felix on Their Way to Church (3:55) 3. His Funny Valentine (3:27) 4. Sanchez Is In the Bahamas / Shark Fishing (2:07) 5. Ninja (6:05) 6. License Revoked (9:11)
I love this score, some great unreleased material - it's on par with LALD as my favourite non Barry Bond score.
However "Drug Bust" is not unreleased, it is the last part of "Licence Revoked" (from 3'10 to the end) - from that sequence only Bond Overboard (I asume you're referring to the scene were Bond arpoons a bad guy and dives after him to get his scuba gear) and the final seconds (with Bond returning to Felix house to check the list of informers in the computer) are unreleased.
My favourite unreleased music is Bond invading Krests acquarium (Bond Caught?), Bond Overboard and Fleiing the Compound. The tanker chase is mostly tracked music from earlier tracks in the film (the Lets Go Fishing and Drug Bust tracks, included in the Licence Revoked track, except the very end when Sanches is Burned).
The music in the cd are:
Pam = Distraction + klevar + Love Boat James & Felix on Their Way To Church = Mid Course Deviation + Underwater Escape + last 54 seconds of Lets Go Fishing (parachute scene) His Funny Valentine = Sanches punishes Lupe + Felix and the Shark Licence Revoked = Licence Revoked + Lets Go Fishing + Drug Bust (minus the final seconds)
Wow Dan thanks for all the great info, you sure know your License to Kill stuff! I will try to make some adjustments here and there and notations regarding film-cue/cd-track based on the info you provided, and thanks again, based on my limited knowledge of film and score, it would've taken a long time to figure that stuff out.
Licence to Kill remains one of my top favourite JB007 films - joint 3rd with the Living Daylights - indeed: for me, the last of the really great films in the series.
But the score is one of its weakest elements - I know: personal taste - as I find it sounds so much like Die Hard/Lethal Weapon and only becomes Bond when the James Bond Theme is in flow. I understand that its scoring was something of a rush and I should admit that the late Mr. Kamen has never been a favourite composer of mine. Hence I am biased.
That said: yes, I'd buy a full score release simply as a great memento of a fabulous film ... and it's so much better than the latest offering.
I'm on the same ship as you with Kamen. I respect his work and the legacy he left, but I mainly know just his work on Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. Of course, being a huge Bond fan, I did love his score to Licence to Kill. The film is so/so for only because it doesn't have an exact Bond feel, but I always thought the music was great.
I wonder if Kamen was a Bond fan boy and when he got asked to do a Bond movie, he put all of his heart and soul into it because of that. I remember watching a Bond documentary where he comments on the excitement he felt after being signed on to do a James Bond movie.
Wow surprised by the negative comments here. Anyone putting it down saying it sounds like Die Hard/Lethal well thats his style. He was asked to score the film on that style. Like any other composer asked to score a Bond film. Barry, Hamlisch, Conti, Arnold all had their styles. Kamen's drug bust cue on album is one of the most thrilling cues from the Bond canon. The score is in dire need of a complete restore release.
Wow surprised by the negative comments here. Anyone putting it down saying it sounds like Die Hard/Lethal well thats his style. He was asked to score the film on that style. Like any other composer asked to score a Bond film. Barry, Hamlisch, Conti, Arnold all had their styles. Kamen's drug bust cue on album is one of the most thrilling cues from the Bond canon. The score is in dire need of a complete restore release.
I second this. Much as I love Barry's work, it's hard to imagine the score he might have written for this grittier Bond. Until recently, I knew Kamen more from this score (and MUNCHAUSEN, and BRAZIL) than from the DIE HARD movies, so had no issues with his style echoing those films. I think his approach suited the film brilliantly. I just wish he would have been better prepared to compose a title song! But the movie is one of my very favorite Bond movies; I agree it's the last great one.
