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The LALD Soundtrack Appreciation Thread


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#1 Trip_Aces

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:06 AM

For those who highly enjoy the George Harrison's score for Live and Let Die, let's discuss!

I find this particular soundtrack to be severely underrated... Understandable, considering it doesn't follow the typical/classical John Barry orchestrations; g

#2 Trip_Aces

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:18 AM

For those who highly enjoy the George Harrison's score for Live and Let Die, let's discuss!

I find this particular soundtrack to be severely underrated... Understandable, considering it doesn't follow the typical/classical John Barry orchestrations; gone are the swanky, bombastic and jazz-tinged influences of the 60's (which perfectly underscores Connery's Bond), replaced with sounds evocative of early 1970's Blaxploitation/Afro-centrism: groovy "wah-wah" sliding guitars, heavy drums, and whimsical woodwinds.

The music - which would usher in a new era of Bond with Roger Moore - is refreshing, upbeat, and colorful but with the right amount of slick menace and danger: a perfect cocktail for the tongue-in-cheek and bizarre tone which besets the film itself.

Top Tracks:
- The (new) James Bond Theme / Bond In New York
- Snakes Alive
- Bond Drops In
- Trespassers Will Be Eaten
- New Orleans
- Bond Meets Solitaire
- Live and Let Die (performed by Paul McCartney and Wings)

*Fun side note: If you're like me and enjoy rescoring Bond films with different scores, play Snakes Alive on top of the Shanghai scene where Bond's stalking Patrice - works surprisingly well during that part).

#3 Call Billy Bob

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:34 AM

Good idea for a thread Trip! I agree with you on this one. Particularly, the gunbarrel arrangement. One of my personal favorites!

 

Another sequence I quite enjoy is the Bond theme arrangement during Bond's taxi pursuit through Harlem. The guitar in particular gives a very 70's New York vibe.



#4 AMC Hornet

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:45 AM

You Are Not Alone.

 

Two things that bother me:

 

1) People who assume that Paul McCartney composed the entire score

and

2) People who dismiss the soundtrack because it wasn't composed by John Barry.

 

LALD has a killer score! Trespassers Will Be Eaten is my personal anthem - I think of it any time I'm out walking at night, as it helps me project purpose and menace.

 

Second is Whisper Who Dares, plus I enjoy Bond Meets Solitaire, Bond Drops In, If He Finds It, Kill Him...oh hell, there isn't a duff track on the whole album. And now, with the expanded score, there's the long-missed New Orleans, Boat Chase, Underground Lair...

 

LALD ranks as one of my favorite scores, alongside TB, OHMSS and DAF.

 

Thanks for starting this thread, Trip. More power to Sir George!



#5 Trip_Aces

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:46 AM

Good to see you 'round these parts, CBB! The LALD gunbarrel is an absolute favorite of mine...as well as the arrangement during the Harlem sequence.

BJ Arnau's cover during the Filet of Soul scene is also pretty funky too!

Btw, I apologize for the duplicate threads (total accident); can a mod merge this one with the other, perchance? :)

#6 AMC Hornet

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:48 AM

You Are Not Alone.

 

Two things that bother me:

 

1) People who assume that Paul McCartney composed the entire score

and

2) People who dismiss the soundtrack because it wasn't composed by John Barry.

 

LALD has a killer score! Trespassers Will Be Eaten is my personal anthem - I think of it any time I'm out walking at night, as it helps me project purpose and menace.

 

Second is Whisper Who Dares, plus I enjoy Bond Meets Solitaire, Bond Drops In, If He Finds It, Kill Him...oh hell, there isn't a duff track on the whole album. And now, with the expanded score, there's the long-missed New Orleans, Boat Chase, Underground Lair...

 

LALD ranks as one of my favorite scores, alongside TB, OHMSS and DAF.

 

Thanks for starting this thread, Trip. More power to Sir George!



#7 Trip_Aces

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:57 AM

So glad I'm not alone on this one, AMCHornet! :) You actually touched upon my bothers as well, and even though John Barry didn't compose this one, no one can deny the fresh take and ideas that Harrison brought to the table. For when I think of Roger Moore's Bond, THIS film (along with the music) almost always come to mind.

'Trespassers Will Be Eaten' is a track I can listen to on repeat; it's utterly cool, especially when I'm hopping off the train downtown and headed to work - fun and dangerous.

'Bond Drops In' is PERFECT when I'm out and about, skateboarding around town; I like to imagine myself on some kind of stealth assighment, trying to go undetected while I weave through the crowds. :P

#8 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 04:58 AM

Is it really underrated?  For me, it´s one of the best Bond scores.  It manages to be Barry-like and yet its own animal, giving it a unique sound that is in perfect tune with the 70´s.

 

Fun, melodic, irresistible.



#9 David_M

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 10:34 AM

Agreed it's a great soundtrack and that Paul McCartney shouldn't get all the credit.

However, neither should George Harrison, as the score is actually the work of George Martin. :-)

#10 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 10:40 AM

Agreed it's a great soundtrack and that Paul McCartney shouldn't get all the credit.

However, neither should George Harrison, as the score is actually the work of George Martin. :-)

 

Good point.



#11 Turn

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 01:19 PM

Count me as a fan. When the first wave of the expanded soundtracks came out in 2003, DAF was at the top of my list and LALD was second and I got them both that week.

 

LALD was one of the first Bond soundtracks I got as a young kid, got it as a close-out. It was when I taped the film onto a cassette before VCRs that I really got to appreciate the music. I was thrilled when they added the boat chase music to the expanded CD.

 

It just felt and still feels kind of fresh and stands apart from the other soundtracks. LALD also shows how when you have a great theme you can work it in variations without it being repetitious, something recent composers either chose to ignore or didn't feel confident to do. For instance, I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times. Skyfall was the biggest hit from the series in years and it hardly got any play in the score, which could have sorely used it. All you end up with is non-descript, unmemorable music.



#12 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 02:17 PM

Count me as a fan. When the first wave of the expanded soundtracks came out in 2003, DAF was at the top of my list and LALD was second and I got them both that week.

 

LALD was one of the first Bond soundtracks I got as a young kid, got it as a close-out. It was when I taped the film onto a cassette before VCRs that I really got to appreciate the music. I was thrilled when they added the boat chase music to the expanded CD.

 

It just felt and still feels kind of fresh and stands apart from the other soundtracks. LALD also shows how when you have a great theme you can work it in variations without it being repetitious, something recent composers either chose to ignore or didn't feel confident to do. For instance, I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times. Skyfall was the biggest hit from the series in years and it hardly got any play in the score, which could have sorely used it. All you end up with is non-descript, unmemorable music.

 

To be fair - incorporating the main melody from the title song is nearly impossible when the score has to be composed and recorded before the song is finished.  The SKYFALL score had a snippet of the song put in very hastily, kicking out an already composed track by Newman.

 

In my book, the composer of the score should always be the composer of the song.  But those days are gone - thank you, marketing experts and cross-media fetishists...



#13 David_M

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 04:52 PM

LALD was the first Bond soundtrack album I ever bought -- which makes it the first soundtrack album I bought period -- back around 1977 or so.  I still remember being blown away by the gatefold pictures, especially the huge image of Roger.  Boy, I miss those huge jackets we got with vinyl.

 

As noted, the score holds up well for one so very much "of it's time."  I think it was that contemporaneous quality that appealed to me as a youngster; it was a bit harder for me to get into the more "timeless" scores by Barry which, while lush and beautiful, were also more "traditional" in arrangement and/or had a '60s nightclub vibe to them.  Similarly, Roger himself, with his flashy 70s suits and TV hero looks was easier to get behind than the comparatively swarthy Connery with his narrow lapels and brilliantined hair and features that made him look more like a "heavy."  That's why I tried to be patient with young Bond fans who were pulled in by video games or the 90s movies that were essentially video games; everyone's got to start somewhere.

 

I'm curious:  after this extremely high-profile credit, did George Martin ever go onto to score any other films?  The only other one I know of is "Yellow Submarine" (which predates LALD, of course) and even then only about half of that.  I thought maybe he did McCartney's "Give My Regards To Broad Street" film, but it's not showing up in his credits.  I wouldn't put him up there with Korngold, Steiner, Hermann, Williams or Barry, but surely he could've been a match for say Bill Conti or Michael Kamen?  Maybe he just wasn't interested...



#14 glidrose

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 05:20 PM

Off topic, but Jennifer Lawrence does a cover version of the song in American Hustle.

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Ue4_S3deakQ

 

I've read that it's both the best and worst use of the song.



#15 Walecs

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 08:10 PM

I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times.

 

Excuse me??? You Know My Name was pretty much everywhere in Casino Royale score.



#16 Trip_Aces

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 11:27 PM

I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times.

 
Excuse me??? You Know My Name was pretty much everywhere in Casino Royale score.

So right, Walecs! Tracks like 'African Rundown' and 'Blunt Instrument' on the CR soundtrack are wonderful uses of the You Know My Name theme.

But back to LALD, I really commend George Harrison for incorporating the main title song into the soundtrack; not only does it create a memorable melody, but it really blends many ideas and motifs to create a very cohesive, as well as effortless, soundtrack.

#17 glidrose

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 11:46 PM

But back to LALD, I really commend George Harrison for incorporating the main title song into the soundtrack


Really? Then why didn't the producers give him a credit in the film? Instead some guy named George Martin got credit. :D

Edited to add smiley face in case my sarcasm wasn't clear.

Edited by glidrose, 17 September 2014 - 11:50 PM.


#18 AMC Hornet

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Posted 17 September 2014 - 11:47 PM

Agreed it's a great soundtrack and that Paul McCartney shouldn't get all the credit.

However, neither should George Harrison, as the score is actually the work of George Martin. :-)



#19 thecasinoroyale

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Posted 18 September 2014 - 07:30 AM

One of my favourite soundtracks from the whole Bond catalogue, coming in behind 'A View To A Kill' and 'Skyfall', this encapsulates everything perfectly for the film.

 

It defines the culture, the era and tone of the film perfectly and manages to eradicate that 'classic' Connery sound to allow Roger Moore a clean, defining slate to build on. I actually think Moore's soundtracks took the biggest risks of the series, really getting in tune with the tone and culture of the specific film.

 

From one of the best gunbarrel openings of the series (just behind 'For Your Eyes Only'), there are plenty of mellow beats, dangerous riffs and high tension mixed that funky James Bond theme that is just brilliant, and never fails to get me excited and thoughtful about the film itself.



#20 hilly

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Posted 19 September 2014 - 12:17 PM

 

 

 

To be fair - incorporating the main melody from the title song is nearly impossible when the score has to be composed and recorded before the song is finished.  The SKYFALL score had a snippet of the song put in very hastily, kicking out an already composed track by Newman.

 

 

 

Thunderball and Tomorrow Never Dies are good examples of where the composers worked aspects of the proposed main title songs into the score (Mr KIss KIss Bang Bang and Surrender, respectively)...only for that main title song to then be changed at a relatively late stage....

 


Edited by hilly, 19 September 2014 - 12:18 PM.


#21 Turn

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Posted 19 September 2014 - 01:06 PM

 

 

I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times.

 
Excuse me??? You Know My Name was pretty much everywhere in Casino Royale score.

So right, Walecs! Tracks like 'African Rundown' and 'Blunt Instrument' on the CR soundtrack are wonderful uses of the You Know My Name theme.

But back to LALD, I really commend George Harrison for incorporating the main title song into the soundtrack; not only does it create a memorable melody, but it really blends many ideas and motifs to create a very cohesive, as well as effortless, soundtrack.

 

Excuse me back, but it wasn't everywhere in the Casino Royale score. It features in the two tracks Trip Aces mentions and that's about it. Even in African Rundown it starts well with the song referenced and I've long felt disappointed it then quickly strays into Arnold's very nondescript music. And those two mentioned tracks are why I used "very few times" in my post.

 

Part of this is my enjoyment of the Barry scores like DAF and Martin's LALD that weave the title track into the score in several variations instead of just music that's unmemorable for the most part. I know, it's not likely going to change. But one can hope.  



#22 Walecs

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Posted 19 September 2014 - 09:22 PM

 

 

 

I thought Arnold should have worked You Know My Name more into CR's soundtrack, which he did a very few times.

 
Excuse me??? You Know My Name was pretty much everywhere in Casino Royale score.

So right, Walecs! Tracks like 'African Rundown' and 'Blunt Instrument' on the CR soundtrack are wonderful uses of the You Know My Name theme.

But back to LALD, I really commend George Harrison for incorporating the main title song into the soundtrack; not only does it create a memorable melody, but it really blends many ideas and motifs to create a very cohesive, as well as effortless, soundtrack.

 

Excuse me back, but it wasn't everywhere in the Casino Royale score. It features in the two tracks Trip Aces mentions and that's about it. Even in African Rundown it starts well with the song referenced and I've long felt disappointed it then quickly strays into Arnold's very nondescript music. And those two mentioned tracks are why I used "very few times" in my post.

 

You Know My Name was used in, I think, 15 tracks out of 25.

 

Also, it was used in three tracks of Quantum of Solace and in the QoS game as well.



#23 Guy Haines

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Posted 21 September 2014 - 08:15 AM

After years of great John Barry themes and scores I was apprehensive when Paul McCartney was hired for the Live And Let Die theme and George Martin was commissioned to the write the film's score.

 

It took a little while for LALD's theme to grow on me, but I now consider it one of the best in the entire series. George Martin's score, however, I think I took to straight away. It's got its own style but is more than close enough to John Barry's to identify it as a Bond score. (George Martin worked with John Barry on a number of records in Barry's early days, I believe.)

 

One of its strengths is the "action" music. I've found the action cues in some non-Barry Bond scores to be a bit of a cacophony - sound effects rather than music, at times. George Martin's score, as with John Barry's Bond scores, managed to provide a musical background to the action scenes.

 

Finally, the arrangement of The James Bond Theme in LALD is one of my all time favourites.



#24 glidrose

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Posted 22 September 2014 - 06:03 PM

I've found the action cues in some non-Barry Bond scores to be a bit of a cacophony - sound effects rather than music, at times.


David Arnold? :P

#25 Grard Bond

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Posted 26 September 2014 - 08:34 PM

I Always thought that this score was one of the best of the entire series.

I realy like this loud and thumping score, especially with the boatchase. Great to get that one with the expanded scores.

 

But can someone maybe explain this: was it a coincidence that McCartney did the title song and Martin the score, because they knew eachother from their Beatles time very well. Who was commissioned first and did he ask the other one, or was this not the case and were they commisioned without knowing the other one was hired?


Edited by Grard Bond, 26 September 2014 - 08:39 PM.


#26 Bond of Steele

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Posted 27 September 2014 - 02:12 AM

I love this soundtrack.  It truly is one of the better ones.  However, one thing has always bothered me, and I haven't it out, but why does the "james bond theme" sound like it's edited at about 8 seconds in.  Does a longer version exist?  Was it pulled from the pimp mobile scene in the movie, where Bond's driver is killed, and edited to create a "formal" Bond theme?



#27 dtuba

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Posted 22 October 2014 - 06:14 AM

I love the score for LALD! Easily the best non-Barry score in the entire series IMO. That funky wah-wah quitar is the shizzz!

 

(slightly off topic: I always wondered why Isaac Hayes was not asked to do the theme for LALD. He was an Oscar winner for Shaft, so it would seem like a no brainer...plus he could write the score and maybe even act inthe film! Oh well, I guess if you have a Beatle willing to write you a theme song, the only proper thing to say is, "Thanks.")



#28 Berni99

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Posted 23 October 2014 - 05:00 PM

Hi, i also love the Score from LALD, i have a question.

 

The Cue of the Track "Bond drops in" 01:00 - 03:32 is not in the movie, is it possible that the scene was orginally longer?