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Posted: |
Feb 7, 2025 - 8:48 AM
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By: |
BasilDowl
(Member)
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Like said before in the 60s Bond films were leading. In the 70s they started to adept to the flavour of the month (blaxploitation, kung fun, sci-fi, etc.). LTK isn’t a bad movie, it’s just a random action film with a revenge subplot (trying to compete with Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis at the time), not a spy thriller. Not strange they ended up with Kamen who probably delivered the contemporary sound they wanted (another Lethal Weapon / Die Hard action score). So if you like Kamen’s action scores (including the guitar and Kurzweil sounds) you won’t be disappointed. If you’re hoping for more Barry’s spy sound, skip this one. Does anyone know what Kamen said about the whole Bond experience? LTK is very much a spy thriller incorporating Fleming elements (something director John Glen was always keen to do), in fact much moreso than many of the Bond films. John Barry's traditional Bond sound was pretty old-fashioned at this point and I'm very glad he opted out of doing it. I suspect it would have felt really creaky and out of place in this film. We'd have ended up with what became The Specialist, I imagine. Great score in its own right but totally wrong for LTK.
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I also have been very surprised to see some of the vitriol around this score and Kamen generally. This LLL LtK release has been my gateway to Kamen and I want to listen to more. I was engaged start to finish with LtK, save for those horrid sounding synth pizz strings that crop up from time to time. I continue to believe Kamen nailed it and integrated Barry-like Bond stylings with his own voice. The only other film Kamen scored I'm familiar with is Die Hard and I also think his score elevates the movie and gives it gravitas, tension, and a little bit of hyperbole that it needed for Hans Gruber. In fact, I find the tracked Horner from Aliens at the end so jarring as to rip me right out of the movie and cringe as its so at odds with the deft way Kamen handled the score. I admit: I've really come to a high opinion of Kamen. If you want to explore more melodic Kamen (as a John Barry fan you must enjoy melody, after all), check out this JWFan post I made linking to some of my favorite Kamen works: https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37320-new-licence-to-kill-35th-anniversary-remastered-expanded-limited-edition-2-cd-set-lll/&do=findComment&comment=2073558 Yavar
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Posted: |
Feb 7, 2025 - 10:02 AM
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By: |
danbeck
(Member)
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Ok I also decided to create a "fit on one CD program" (aprox. 77 min. being 68 of score and 8:10 the main and end title songs) editing some tracks and omitting others. Here is my program (++ are edited tracks): 1. Gun Barrel / Cray Cay Landing 1:13 2. Sanchez Is In The Bahamas / Shark Fishing (Extended Version) 2:16 3. Bond Hooks Sanchez / James & Felix On Their Way To Church 2:18 (++joined) 4. Licence To Kill (Performed by Gladys Knight) 4:12 5. Sanchez Escapes 1:52 6. Della’s Goodbye 1:17 7. His Funny Valentine (album) - replaces "His Funny Valentine and Torturing Felix", got used with the album edit and like the added synth. 8. He Disagreed With Something That Ate Him 2:05 9. Ocean Exotica Break-In 2:56 10. You Earned It 2:27 11. Hemingway House 1:48 12. Licence Revoked / Bond Aboard (++ joined these tracks cutting "Bond Aboard" at 1:28) 2:41 13. Sharkey Dead / Seaplane Escape (++joined the last 1:35 min of Bond Aboard/Sharkey Dead with Seaplane Escape) 8:41 14. Pam (album) 3:52 (again I prefer the album edit joining "Bond Sneaks Out" and "Pam" - used to it) 15. Enter Lupe / Sanchez’s Office / Planting The Explosives (++ cutted out the first 32 seconds "Enter Ms. Kenedy", cutted out the piano beginning [first 21 seconds] of "Planting The Explosives" and joined both tracks) 6:45 16. Kwang / Assassination Attempt 2:29 17. Ninja (Film Version) 3:59 18. Sanchez’s Home 1:11 19. Bond Confronts Pam 1:45 20. Bond And Lupe 1:46 21. The Process 1:25 (++ this track has 3 similar stinger repeats, cutted the first 57 seconds "The Lab") 22. Escape From The Compound 2:11 23. Tanker Downhill/Truck Chase (++ joined, as they play without gap) 24. Problem Eliminated / Get In 1:32 25. Pam And Bond 1:07 26. If You Asked Me To (Performed by Patti LaBelle) - End Credits 3:58 CD 2 starts with the songs - Licence to Kill complete version, the source tracks and then the tracks excluded from the main program. Score tracks not used in the main program (and why): 2. His Funny Valentine (Film Version) 1:46 (replaced by album track with trimmed repeats at the start and added synths) 9. Torturing Felix 2:08 (replaced with album track [second part of His Funny Valentine]) 11. Let’s Go Shark Hunting 0:38 (short track, basically a stinger and AFAIRemember unused, want to get faster to Ocean Exotica - my most wanted previously unreleased track) 16. Bond Aboard (used the begining of this track for Bond infiltrating the Boat, but other portions of Bond Aboard are kind of generic suspense music most of it replaced in the movie by Planting The Explosives) 18. Pam (Film Version) 2:52 - replaced with the Pam album track which starts with "Bond Sneaks Out" 19. Enter Ms. Kennedy (short variation of Pam's theme - synthy and not necessary following the "Pam" track) 20. Uncle Q / Let’s Get Some Rest (an Ok suspense track, similar to others in the score) 25. Bond Sneaks Out 1:26 - replaced with album track (begining of "Pam" which in the album omits the guittar intro) 27. Framing Krest 5:18 - like some parts of this track (specially the section from 3:00 to 3:16), but otherwise a long suspense track that can be omitted 28. Leaving Harbour 1:19 - an Ok track but similar to material existing in more developed tracks 30. Q In Disguise 0:41 - short track that sounds like something from Lethal Weapon. 1. The Lab - kept the last part of the track (omiting the first two start/stop repetitive stingers) 2. The Conveyor Belt - a reuse of material from "Sanchez Escapes" and the last minute is sustained suspense music, ok but not really necessary 3. Dario Sees Pam / Chewed Up - not a bad track (I like the "Pam" quote, but the "Chewed Up Portion" is a bit to atonal for my taste).
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I do love melody! Thanks for the tip, Yavar! My pleasure! Let me know what you connect with, as you continue your Kamen journey. Yavar
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Main Title Questions for Neil Bulk: I finally received my copy of the new LLL edition yesterday. I'm still working my way through the programme. There is a lot in this score. Not much in the way of memorable themes but it is certainly atmospheric and accentuates the drama. But darn it, even the four minute version of the main title has Gladys Knight singing Licence to Kilt! I'd never heard it before. I believe this is the take that was released on mini disc. All this time passed, a major new release with quality production values and yet the backing mix is still off or mistimed. I know that's the case with the extended album version, too. It sounds like Licence to Kilt as well. Some time back, I was annoyed enough by the Kilt effect that I lifted the main title from the DVD. On the Main Title there, Gladys can clearly be heard singing Licence to Kill. The mix with the backing is clean. I edited the start and end of the Main Title to remove the sound effects and cut the start and end from the album version in instead. The running time for the track is 3.17. So, how many takes of the Main Title were recorded by Gladys Knight? There's the album version at 5 minutes plus. The shorter mini disc take at 4 minutes plus. The direct cut from the DVD main title, running at 3 minutes and change. Why wasn't the clean 3-minute take, as heard in the film, used for this new CD? Neil, I'd appreciate your insights and reasons for the tracks not taken. Thanks for your impeccable work on all these releases. Roll on THUNDERBALL! Best, Stan
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The chorus is overlapping her singing “kill” with a reprise of the words “TO kill”. So, the “T” we are hearing is not coming from Gladys, who just sings a normal ”kill”, but from the chorus girls singing “To” at the same time. It took me years to figure out. :-) GLADYS: Got a licence to kill CHORUS: To kill GLADYS: And you know (etc. …)" which is just a typical Walter Afanasy style - the same goes for MY HEART WILL GO ON where he makes the choir sing "why does the heart go on Hate it just like Timbaland that has to sing some chanting in the song he produces - at least he did not say anything in the score for Romeo must die
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Pleased I still have this in my collection with the MCA Album.
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