James Bond Movie Theme Songs - Part 3

This instalment of my little series on James Bond movie theme songs will focus on the films released between 1987 and 2002. To begin with... the first two motion pictures of this bunch are The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, both starring Timothy Dalton as 007.

Timothy Dalton was an underrated Bond. I always thought that should he have continued in the role, he may have become one of the most popular of the Bond actors. But as it stands, he is only given a nod for a good showing but not much else. Personally, I'd rank him just after Connery, I think. Even Lazenby, who only made one appearance as the superspy, gives him a run for his money. Laz and Dalton give very different interpretations of the character, yet they are both compelling and exciting to watch as they take on villains and sweep damsels off their feet. 

Anyway, this is really about the music, so here we go...

The Living Daylights kicks off with its theme song of the same title, performed by Norwegian pop group A-ha. Longtime Bond composer John Barry collaborated with A-ha on the song, but they had their issues. Two versions of the song were the result: one was selected for the film, and the second, which A-ha preferred, ended up on one of their albums. I'm not crazy about the song, but it does evoke a touch of the Bond vibe. I just find it too busy with the traditional horn flourishes plus all the electronic embellishments. 

The remainder of the film score, by Barry, featured sequenced electronic rhythm tracks overdubbed with the orchestra, a pretty new advancement in the music field at the time. This stuff sounds great in the context of the movie... the familiar Bond horn motifs overlay the action-oriented fast-paced electronic rhythm section much more successfully here than in the compact format of the theme song. 

There's also a beautiful ballad in the body of the movie, If There Was a Man, performed by The Pretenders. This is so good I feel as though this could have been the theme song. Another in-film song by The Pretenders is Where Has Everybody Gone, a more sinister, uptempo track that fits like a glove.

Moving on to the next Bond picture Licence to Kill, we've got a really odd mish-mash of sounds. The theme song, performed by Gladys Knight, lifts a prominent horn line from Goldfinger, yet it works reasonably well. Not one of the better Bond songs, this is a bit too bright and light sonically and in mood, despite the "kill"-oriented lyrics. 

The musical score for Licence to Kill was developed by Michael Kamen (John Barry was unavailable), who was known in the industry for his contributions on big Hollywood action flicks. His work here is effective, creatively weaving Bond-esque hooks  into his lush, sometimes spare orchestral pieces. There's a pretty, almost haunting Spanish guitar part that rivals just about anything else in the canon of Bond music. Not one of the most talked about soundtracks, this does impress me as one of the better ones... aside from the theme song.

After Dalton's stint as Bond, Pierce Brosnan finally became available for the role. Pierce was scouted for the part years earlier, but he was busy at the time with a popular spy-ish TV show called Remington Steele. The Bond franchise and Brosnan eventually aligned their schedules to make things happen. Sadly, in my opinion, Bros fell into a bunch of inconsistent 007 flicks. 

First up for Brosnan is Goldeneye, which sports a cool modern theme song bearing the same title. It was written by Bono and Edge of the band U2, then given to Tina Turner for her brand of powerful sensual vocals. A great tune that feels very Bond, yet with a slinky dance vibe. The best of both worlds. 

John Barry turned down the offer to compose for Goldeneye, but Eric Serra, who stepped up to the podium, turned out a unique and... well, let's say "challenging" musical score. The music of Goldeneye has been criticized by many, and hey, even I had my issues with it for a long time, but it's Euro-experimental-industrial-techno feel has seriously grown on me. It suits the film's setting, much of it in modern-day Russia. Some of the music sounds clunky and weird, but over time I've learned to appreciate its oddity and inventiveness both within the film and on my soundtrack CD. 

There were submissions from many popular artists for the opening theme for Tomorrow Never Dies, the next James Bond outing. Sheryl Crow won the honour of performing the song. I'm not fussy about her vocal delivery, though... it sounds flat and almost off-key at times, kind of nasally and weak. The song itself might have been a hit with another singer, but as it stands, the theme is a bit of a dud. 

In fact, k.d. lang's superlative job on the movie's end credits track Surrender is far more in the Bond vein and should have been the main theme song. Boy, the decision-makers really dropped the ball on that one. 

Composer David Arnold serves up an excellent score for Tomorrow Never Dies, expertly blending his techno-edged style with traditional 007 sounds. He borrows (with permission from his boss) bits from previous Bond film music, and successfully creates a contemporary aural backdrop to the movie. 

Arnold returns to scoring duties on the 19th Bond film, The World is Not Enough. While Tomorrow Never Dies was a bit on the "dumb action movie" side, this new entry harked back to the oldies, at least in some respects. Arnold and longtime Bond employee Don Black co-wrote the theme song, and the band Garbage delivered the goods. The song is alternately classic Bond and modern Bond in temperament. Singer Shirley Manson's sometimes breathy, sometimes soaring vocals are perfect here, and her backing players keep the song alive alongside the orchestral touches. Among the best Bond themes. 

The remainder of the film music is standard David Arnold fare... thrilling chase and fight-scene electro music pumping and tense atmospherics, all dabbed liberally with familiar Bond horn riffs. Very good, though this stuff was becoming pretty common and formulaic in action movies at the time (late 90's). 

Okay, now brace yourselves. The fourth Brosnan Bond movie, Die Another Day, was met with a lot of boos, and I was certainly among the boo-ers. Among the film's failings was its irritating and inexplicably unfitting theme song sung by Madonna. If ol' Maddy has just stuck this forgettable tune on one of her albums, then most of us would have been spared the atrocity. But the powers-that-be chose this to open the movie. I mean, this is simply bad as far as songs go, let alone theme songs, or a Bond song. Jeez. 

The movie itself is a real dog, too, at least the second half or so of it. I must admit that the first chunk of Die Another Day is actually quite gripping and perhaps some of the most harrowing stuff we'd seen ('til that point in time) in Bond films. But bit by bit, the story goes off the rails, one ridiculous scene after another. A sad swansong for Brosnan in the 007 role. 

The rest of the movie music is cookie-cutter David Arnold... he lazily re-hashes and re-states what he'd done on his previous Bond pictures. There's nothing terribly interesting here, just typical action backdrop with very obviously dropped-in old-school Bond motifs. And sometimes it's just a noisy mess, trying too hard to be contemporary and relevant. Instead, it's simply lacking in imagination and contrast. Arnold's initially forward-thinking approach had become old-hat.

Well, that's it for the Dalton and Brosnan films. This ends an era of a certain tone of Bond film, too. The stories and musical scores move in a darker direction... but we'll get into that in Part 4, where I'll look at the Daniel Craig movies. Cheers... (shaken, not stirred)