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 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:19 PM   
 By:   trevan323   (Member)

My list:

Monty Norman
Marvin Hamlisch
Bill Conti (not a fan)
Michel Legrand
Eric Serra

Unlike others, I liked Thomas Newman's and Hans Zimmer's contributions.

 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:20 PM   
 By:   Erik Woods   (Member)

Oh boy.... here we go!

-Erik-

 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:22 PM   
 By:   Justin Boggan   (Member)

Monty Norman (sorry, Monty).
Hans Zimmer
And if we ever get to hear Dan Romer's rejected score, probably him, too.

 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:26 PM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

Oh boy.... here we go!

-Erik-


This

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:36 PM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

Enough with the f&@:!ng James Bond already!

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 12:50 PM   
 By:   henry   (Member)

Enough with the f&@:!ng James Bond already!

I don’t mind the Bond threads, but this one can’t end well.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 1:45 PM   
 By:   BrenKel   (Member)

Bill Conti should definitely have composed a Bond score! Love it!

This thread will only bring pain…..

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 2:00 PM   
 By:   alan witt   (Member)

Oh dear I sense a disturbance in the force. OOPS wrong franchise! smile

 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 2:09 PM   
 By:   Justin Boggan   (Member)

The problem is not that Conti scored a Bond film, the problem is the time period and the style he thought was right for that period. He can do good stuff. Take his score to the James Bond parody film Spy Hard (still not officially released).

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 2:17 PM   
 By:   John Mullin   (Member)

I think ALL of the non-Barry Bond composers had interesting takes on the material.

...but that said, Éric Serra is the only one who shouldn't have been there.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 2:22 PM   
 By:   c8   (Member)

I controversially think GoldenEye and For Your Eyes Only contain scores that fit their movies like a glove and do a great job advancing their atmosphere and story at the same time.

I also controversially think that Hamslich was badly miscast doing a Bond film especially given at that time he was known more for Broadway and Barbara Streisand. He probably got the gig so he'd have done the title song, but, The Spy Who Loved Me contains what is hands down the worst Bond score in an EON film (okay so maybe that goes to Dr. No, but at least they had sense enough to track in the Barry arrangement of the theme as needed). It is silly, plays inappropriately on the film, and was dated on arrival. When its not [poorly] aping its temp-score of Barry and Martin, its doing some silly thing that yanks me out of the movie (bias alert: I also think the movie is tedious and boring and far from Moore's best). The Broadway chorus version of Nobody Does It Better at the end should have had "reject" printed on the tape before it was burned.

And if we ever get to hear Dan Romer's rejected score, probably him, too.

Did Romer ever get to the point of working on the film, or was he just announced? I never heard anything about him actually getting to the point of recording, let alone demos. I've said it before and will again that, seriously, Zimmer's score was excellent and the best thing about that otherwise noxious film.

 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 7:15 PM   
 By:   Mr. Jack   (Member)

Thomas Newman was gravely "miscast" as a Bond composer.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 10:54 PM   
 By:   John Mullin   (Member)

I love both Newman Bond scores dearly. I think it's exciting when an unusual choice is made for one of these movies.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 4, 2025 - 11:16 PM   
 By:   Jordi-El   (Member)

My list:

Monty Norman
Marvin Hamlisch
Eric Serra
Thomas Newman
Hans Zimmer

and Michel Legrand, of course!

 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 12:02 AM   
 By:   Amer Zahid   (Member)

And don't get me started on the songs...ugh!!

 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 6:20 AM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

John Barry

 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 6:34 AM   
 By:   Stephen Woolston   (Member)

I'm not mad about these negative threads. They bring out the worst in the board.

What I will say on this topic, however, is that while his Never Say Never Again score was a catastrophic misjudgement and failure, Michel Legrand is the best composer besides John Barry to attempt a Bond score.

I would normally have been on him turning in something great.

I think he was as aware as anyone how NSNA didn't work, and I've always imagined that if he had a second bite at the cherry, he might have come up with something amazing.

I love the Bond scores of Hamlisch and Martin. Love them.

Personally, I'm not that mad about the Conti, Kamen, or Newman scores, but that's just personal taste. I'd never come on here and pretend I know so much about writing film music that I can call their work bad. Just not to my taste.

I think David Arnold brought a real breath of fresh air to the 007 films, and managed to both continue the essence of the John Barry style while bring more modern and in-line with the more hyper-active nature of the films, although I'm not as keen on the more over-the-top scoring he sometimes did.

Cheers

 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 7:13 AM   
 By:   johnonymous86   (Member)

Increasingly, the answer to most negative film music questions is...

Zim.

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 7:14 AM   
 By:   lars.blondeel   (Member)

Listening after 25 years+ to the Michael Kamen score, it feels like i'm listening to Lethal Weapon.
I like Kamen, i just don't think 'Licence To Kill' is particurarly good score

 
 
 Posted:   Feb 5, 2025 - 2:47 PM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

David Newman is a fabulous composer. I assume he came with Sam Mendes as a package rather than being handpicked by the producers, and I’m afraid I don’t get a lot of pleasure from his Bond scores.

 
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