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Author	Topic: The Living Daylights

jonathan_little Goldmember	I've had the soundtrack to The Living Daylights for a while now, but I finally saw the movie last week on TV. Needless to say I was so very delighted and surprised to see John Barry conducting the orchestra in the film! I'd probably buy the DVD eventually, that is if it was still in print. On to the score... I love it. This is one of the Ryko releases that I'm really pleased that I picked up. It's without a doubt one of the Rykos that gets spun the most in my player, giving Taras Bulba a run for its money. Barry did a marvelous job on the score, and it works both great in the film and on the CD (when sequenced in film order, without the songs.) I've read that he composed this score in four weeks and it seems film music composers always produce such great work under a time constraint. When I first got the score, the electronics turned me off a bit. I don't mind synths (being a Goldsmith fanboy after all,) but the keyboards do sound different then the Goldsmith stuff I was used to. I'm over that now. My favorite part of the score would have to be the "Airbase Breakout" music, starting at about 1:35 into the cue. I adore the part with the driving strings and percussion and finally that "Barry" bass line. It morphs into a beautiful flute solo and the Afghanistan theme is quoted again softly on the strings. The very sad "Afghanistan/Opium" music seems so appropriate, especially given that I now know more about that country then I ever thought I would. Playing that music while showing the guys on horseback in this poor desert country... it scores the scenes so very well. The love theme is also great. It's given such a wonderful treatment in the unused End Title music. Thankfully the producers slapped this beauty onto the disc. Parts of "Inflight Fight" show off the trumpet section nicely. I love those high trumpet notes. "Hercules Takes Off" is a fantastic rendition of Barry's catchy title theme, this time without the crap vocals by a-ha. "Necros Attacks" is classic John Barry music and doesn't need any more explanation than that. The disc sounds perfect. Both the performance and recording are flawless. Sufficient bass and the beautiful sound of CTS Studios in London make this disc sound great. I think it was recorded by Dick Lewzey, but I can't pain myself to open up my map to find out. My preferred sequence for listening to this CD: 13, 3, 6, 2, 14, 5, 4, 8, 15, 16, 17, 10, 18, 9, 11, 19, 20, 21, (and finally, songs: 1, 7, 12.)
posted 07-24-2002 08:41 PM PT (US)

Lou Goldberg Goldmember	Yes, this is a great score and a film I'm fond of as well. Seeing it widescreen in a theater was wonderful. Pan and scan doesn't really do this film justice. Barry does a cameo which is also neat (He's in Deadfall too if you ever get a chance to see it). People didn't like Timothy Dalton in the role but he was business-like and less cheeky than Roger Moore which I liked.
posted 07-24-2002 09:02 PM PT (US)

Jeron Goldmember	Yeah, I've always enjoyed this film too. Timothy Dalton never bothered me as a 007. The score? One of my very favorites. Great post, Jonathan!
posted 07-25-2002 01:49 AM PT (US)

Timmer Goldmember	That 15 minute segment of Michael Caine digging out the safe while John Barry conducts his Romance For Guitar And Orchestra in DEADFALL is a true cinematic highlight, the remainder of the film is rather tedious though it does also boast a great 'Bond like' theme song sung by Shirle Bassey, worth seeing Jonathan for the Caine/Barry sequence alone. The Living Daylights is one of the best of the later Bond movies, I've always felt it was underated, Dalton was good as Bond but lacking charisma. Barry's score is FANTASTIC! 'Airbase Jailbreak' is also one of my favorite cues, Barry spots the jail punch-up perfectly!
posted 07-25-2002 04:08 AM PT (US)

dgoldwas Goldmember	While I don't think THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is Barry's best Bond score, it's still the one that I probably listen to more often than his other ones. The song thematic elements ("Living Daylights", "Where Has Everybody Gone") integrated into the score work exceptionally well, and while some people find the synth percussion a bit annoying, I gotta say that I just dig it. Also, it's the first CD I ever did anything on, and my first album "shout out". So.... that in itself was pretty darn cool. Dan
posted 07-25-2002 08:18 AM PT (US)

Bulldog Goldmember	I'm a fan of the music without being a fan of the score. The film is my favorite post-Connery Bond. Personally, I think Dalton's performance is the best this side of Connery's in Goldfinger. It's a shame he didn't really look the part. [If only there had been a way to combine Dalton's acting ability with George Lazenby's physicality....]
posted 07-25-2002 11:11 AM PT (US)

Richard Street Goldmember	Personnally I prefer OCTOPUSSY and A VIEW TO A KILL, but I still like LIVING DAYLIGHTS. To me, though, the "bonus tracks" on the Ryko CD are better than the previously released stuff. I've programmed it to play in chronological order, but I find myself itching to get to the cues that weren't on the original release. Maybe it's just that I'm a lot more familiar with them. NP: CUTTHROAT ISLAND (John Debney)
posted 07-25-2002 12:40 PM PT (US)

jonathan_little Goldmember	This is the first Bond film I have been able to watch the full way through... I'd caught some parts of the earlier films on ABC and couldn't stomach more than a half hour of them, especially the Roger Moore ones. Maybe without commercials and the annoying pan and scan process I could enjoy them a bit more. It continues to be the only Bond score that I own, since I'm holding out for the expanded releases... damnit! I've have to keep my eyes peeled for a showing of Deadfall. That definitely sounds like something I'd like to see.
posted 07-25-2002 06:53 PM PT (US)

Jack Goldmember	Some background info for the younger folks: The Living Daylights was originally written for Pierce Brosnan, but when he got the Bond role NBC renewed REMINGTON STEELE, he had to drop out. Dalton asked them to drop the one-liners from LICENSE TO KILL, which made the film too dark for the non-core fans and resulted in the low U.S. box office. After that there were years of financial problems for MGM, and litigation with Eon Productions over the sale of the Bond films to Turner. When the dust settled a French bank was in control of MGM and wanted to restart the Bond franchise (MGM's major asset) so the bank could sell off MGM. Eon wanted to continue with Dalton, but MGM refused to co-finance it with Eon if Dalton was Bond. So they settled on Brosnan and GOLDENEYE and the franchise was successfully relaunched. The bank has sold off MGM to people who make movies. Jack
posted 07-25-2002 08:28 PM PT (US)

HadrianD Goldmember	quote: Originally posted by Jack: The bank has sold off MGM to people who make movies. Jack Ummmmmmmmm...apparently they didn't. They only sold it to people who wanted to remake the classics, and sometime not so good ones. The Bond movies remain the only franchise that I still watch. And look at how they treated Maestro McTiernan with Thomas Crown Affair and 13th Warriors and Rollerball Sorry, had to vent...
posted 07-25-2002 11:16 PM PT (US)

Jack Goldmember	At least they didn't remake HEAVEN'S GATE.
posted 07-26-2002 06:15 AM PT (US)

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