by geejayaye on 6/21/2003
favorite track: 2
 
Maybe it's because this was one of the least successful Bond films, but this music seems to be the forgotten Bond score, which is a pity because I think Michael Kamen did a reasonable job and consider this one of the better non-Barry Bond scores. It certainly beats Hamlisch's insipid score for The Spy Who Loved Me and while not as lively as either Conti's or Martin's scores for For Your Eyes Only and Live And Let Die, I think it's the better Bond score.

The contents of the disc can be split in to two parts: Kamen's score and the songs.

The songs first:

The title song sung by Gladys Knight is one of the better efforts. The opening bars pay homage to Goldfinger. It's certainly got more oomph than most of the later songs and it's also nice to have a song that isn't sung by whoever happened to be the current "in band" at the time.

The end title song is "If You Asked Me To" by Patti Labelle. This is a very pleasant ballad and more than holds its own in the Bond canon. It's also nice to have a different end title song rather than a repeat of the main title song.

"Dirty Love" is a song that I've no idea why it's on the album. At the moment I can't recall hearing it in the film unless it was playing on a radio during one scene and no doubt someone thought it would be a good idea to stick it on for commercial reasons. All it does for me is to have me reaching for the "skip" button on my CD remote control.

The final song is "The Wedding." No complaints about this cue. It's a catchy steel band number that will get your feet tapping.

Now to the score:

Kamen seemed a good solid choice to score a Bond film given his experience with action films. I've seen this score described variously as uninspired, workmanlike and adequate. To be honest, the first is a bit harsh, but I can see where the other two descriptions are coming from.

One of the problems is that Kamen doesn't build the score around the main theme to bond the score together (pardon the pun). The closest he gets to doing that is in his use of a Spanish guitar motif to represent the Latin setting of most of the film. It's a pity because the main theme has passages that would sound great incorporated into an action cue or as a love theme. Perhaps the fact that Kamen didn't actually write the theme had a bearing on his decision not to use it or maybe he had the score written before the theme was.

At least the James Bond Theme makes a regular and welcome presence in most of the tracks.

"James And Felix On Their Way To Church" opens and closes with the Bond theme and has some good brass and percussion passages.

"His Funny Valentine" is a slow, moody, tense cue that builds to a big climax. Nothing too special though.

"Sanchez Is In The Bahamas/Shark Fishing" is the shortest cue with the guitar motif and the Bond theme. It's a snappy little piece with a nice brassy build up.

"Pam" is a track of two parts featuring the ethnic guitar sound. We have the tense first part that includes the Bond theme, but it's the second part where this cue stands out, thanks to the reflective guitar playing.

"Ninja" starts like a group of kids bashing away at percussion instruments for the fun of it. It's a case where the music may sound fine with the visuals, but divorced from them it sounds a bit of a mess. Thankfully it settles down after a minute, but this is one cue that just doesn't seem to get anywhere and is the least memorable of the score cues, which, given that it's the second longest at six minutes, is a bit of a disappointment.

Finally, in "Licence Revoked" we have the cue that contains the bulk of the action music. It's a good, lively and punchy cue where the James Bond Theme makes regular appearances including a full blast electric guitar version. I think it's well worth a place with the best of Bond action cues.

Generally I like the