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| Arnold |
The World is Not Enough: (David Arnold) With the
19th entry in the famed 007 franchise,
The World is Not Enough,
Pierce Brosnan was comfortably situated as British spy James Bond and
the tone of the resurrected series was firmly set in a new technological
age. This Bond story differed most significantly from its predecessors
because of its greater integration of Bond's superior, "M" (Judi Dench),
into the field of action, as well as the ramifications of her
relationship with an heiress brainwashed into helping the villains of
the day. The lead baddie this time is a sourpuss who cannot feel pain
but is ready to use disruption of the world's oil supply to his benefit.
At his side is Sophie Marceau, whose classy "conflicted Bond girl"
presence countered a comparatively ridiculous Denise Richards as a
nuclear scientist, and, at the end of the day, the film was undemanding
and quite entertaining. As usual, a handful of outstanding action
sequences define this Bond film, and these lengthy scenes are also the
dominant factor in David Arnold's music for the project. The young
British electronica and orchestra blender had fallen into the perfect
venue in which to merge the two distinct halves of his talents. His
experience on
Tomorrow Never Dies wasn't entirely smooth, with
his song replaced and a post-production schedule that prevented a
well-rounded album release. Still, his music for the film is generally
considered to be extremely strong, the pinnacle of his achievements
throughout the years of Brosnan as 007. The mixture of his synthetic
rhythms and sound effects was well matched with the jazzy tradition of
John Barry and the ethnic and orchestral elements in
Tomorrow Never
Dies, and his song, "Surrender," was both brilliantly written and
performed. Arnold sought to continue the twist of old and new for
The
World is Not Enough, but given the even higher level of technical
sophistication exhibited in the plot, the composer weighted the
electronic elements more heavily this time around. This emphasis on his
newly trademarked sound of drum loops and excessive metallic effects for
the franchise is typically considered the defining characteristic of the
work, and it is a style that eventually subsumed the orchestra in
Arnold's far weaker music for
Die Another Day a few years
later.
Along with the shift towards the electronica elements,
Arnold's music for
The World is Not Enough also differed in that
it utilized the theme of the title song to a great degree in the score.
Arnold wrote the melody for the song, "The World is Not Enough," and his
subsequent reliance on especially the three-note fragment containing the
lyrics "not enough" is a very satisfying technique of cohesion. Unlike
Tomorrow Never Dies, in which the title song eventually had
nothing to do with the score, and
Die Another Day, which, as
Arnold lamented, offered an atrocious Madonna song with no discernable
melody to adapt,
The World is Not Enough features an extremely
strong bond between its song and score. Arnold's adaptations of the
melody into his score are far more intelligent than John Barry's old
habit of only restating full reprises of his entire themes in lengthy
fashion. The fragments of the main theme here, as well as several
supporting elements, are really the greatest strength of
The World is
Not Enough. The performance of the song by Shirley Manson of the
American rock group Garbage is lacking in distinctive style. While the
instrumentation and progressions of the song are well tied to the Bond
franchise, Manson's voice is sleazy rather than sultry, and thus the
song comes across as too grungy to support the underlying melody. In
these regards, it stumbles with the same lazy attitude as Sheryl Crow
and exhibits none of the high class of either k.d. lang or Tina Turner's
preceding entries. The album releases for
The World is Not Enough
also feature the loungey jazz song, "Only Myself to Blame," performed
with retro style by Scott Walker over muted trumpets and a traditional
jazz ensemble. This song utilizes the Elektra theme's melody but fails
to appear in the film and really has no connection to even the casino
music that Arnold wrote in his score. If the energy level of the song
had been kicked up a few levels, perhaps memories of the song from
From Russia With Love would be merited. As it is, however, this
inclusion of a totally irrelevant song is disappointing. Aside from the
song's melody in the score, Arnold also writes a longing, distant theme
for the bittersweet Elektra King. This idea is explored by woodwinds and
strings with delicate piano accompaniment in "M's Confession,"
"Elektra's Theme," and "Elektra Turns," with appropriately fleeting
variants that die away in "Remember Pleasure" and "Torture Queen."
More appealing than the melancholy Elektra love theme in
The World is Not Enough, though, is the straight romance theme
for Bond and his various friendlier women. In both this film and
Die
Another Day, the idea is adopted humorously by Moneypenny as she
wistfully imagines herself with Bond, but its primary focus in the first
film is on Christmas, the American scientist. The idea opens with the
descending, three note "not enough" phrase from the main melody and then
deviates into a beautiful theme of its own that owes some tone and style
to the Paris love theme from the previous Bond film. The only
performance of this idea on the original album occupies the quiet
"Christmas in Turkey" celebration cue, with two gorgeous piano
renditions leading into an elegant closing statement of Monty Norman's
original bass progression. Even more impressive is the fully orchestral
performance of the theme in traditional, bloated, Barry fashion in the
later released cue, "Snow Business," which accompanies the breathtaking
helicopter photography of the scene with bold, tonal horns in all their
glory. This one cue (which exposes the theme's substantial similarities
to the "Safari" cue from Barry's
Out of Africa) is among the few
truly symphonic delights of the entire score. The Moneypenny version of
the theme can be heard in "Dr. Warmflash" near the beginning of the
expanded album. Two ideas represent the villains of
The World is Not
Enough, and one of those is a recurring motif from
Tomorrow Never
Dies. While not readily obvious in his representation, the lead
villain, Renard, receives an elusive, descending motif in "Remembering
Pleasure" and elsewhere in the latter half of the score, though this
idea eventually mingles with the Elektra theme for good reason, adopting
the piano as means of suggesting the sick romanticism between those
characters. Note a more optimistic variation on the idea for the actions
of "M" in "M Clocks Locator." Far more enjoyable is the return of a
great villain motif in
Tomorrow Never Dies that apparently was
meant by Arnold to serve the general purpose of multiple Bond opponents
and their unseen power. In
The World is Not Enough, this idea is
best heard at about a minute into the extended version of "Caviar
Factory" and reprised at the 4:45 mark. This particular scene remains
among the more vicious confrontations Bond has ever had with the usual
array of abnormally-armed freaks, justifying the massive arrangement,
and the motif recurs with more sinister appeal at 0:34 into "Submarine
Surfaces."
Unlike the other two scores in the opening trilogy of
Arnold's work for the franchise,
The World is Not Enough seems to
have fewer clever references to other Bond scores on the whole, though
the victorious brass heralding the opening of "Sub Get It" resurrects
Barry's wholesome moments of triumph. But the score does contain a few
rhythmic motifs that drive individual concepts within its confines, led
by a stylish descending action phrase in "Come in 007, Your Time is Up"
and "Ice Bandits." An ascending bass string rhythm occupies the later
action scenes, taking center stage in "Submarine #1." The remaining
major cues in the score vary in purpose between outrageous action,
mundane conversational underscore, and a handful of ethnic accents.
Arnold doesn't let the conversational cues run long without some
reference to one of the score's themes, though few of them are
memorable. The ethnic material exists in token pieces throughout the
score, including the opening of "Caviar Factory," though it really
shines in "Welcome to Baku." While "Welcome to Baku" runs under two
minutes, it's definitely a highlight of the work. For the setting change
in the plot (and once again another overhead shot), this cue is a
brilliant layering of both the traditional Bond rhythmic progression and
the main theme of the film, rendered with a stunning blend of
percussion, the usual brass, and Natascha Atlas' always-alluring voice.
For a reason still unknown, the cue was stripped of Atlas' vocals when
it appeared in the film, a definite blow to the sense of awe that the
transition on screen attempts to stir. Likewise, the mix of the
percussion and electronics in the action cues sometimes varies between
film and album. As mentioned before, Arnold's emphasis on the techno
elements in his action music for
The World is Not Enough is
really the score's downfall. One of the great appeals of
Tomorrow
Never Dies was the fact that Arnold only used his native electronica
accents sparingly, leaving many of the early cues truly symphonic and,
when the film really heats up, using the drum loops and slapping
electronic percussion as an aid to the cue rather than its driving
force. For
The World is Not Enough, that equation is flipped,
with the same drum loops and an even harsher collection of metallic
percussion samples (or perhaps they're real; it's hard to tell) mixed at
the forefront and drowning out the orchestra's already hyperactive level
of activity. The orchestrations and pacing of many of these cues are so
frantic that the potentially intriguing intelligence of the ensemble's
melodic references are lost in the "wall of sound" approach with which
Arnold mixed the final product.
There has long been a desire to hear several of the
better action cues in
The World is Not Enough, such as "Come in
007, Your Time is Up," without most of the electronic accents, and that
sentiment applies to an even greater degree with
Die Another Day,
by which point the post-production manipulation of the recordings became
ridiculous. In some cases, this excessive mix of slapping sounds is
uniquely appropriate. In the previous film, the "Bike Chase" cue showed
a chopping helicopter blade as a lethal weapon, and here, the "Caviar
Factory" cue takes that menacing chopper mentality to another level. In
this cue, Arnold's blatant slashing sound effects are understandable. In
other cases, such as "Pipeline" and the end credits' "Orbis Non
Sufficit," the tone of the music is overwhelmed by its abrasive rhythmic
pounding and obnoxious loops. There are exceptions, of course. The "I
Never Miss" cue is one such curious note; not only are the electronics
absent from the cue, making it a close cousin to the first two cues from
Tomorrow Never Dies, but its recording quality seems to offer the
ensemble in a wetter, livelier mix as well, the flutes especially
pronounced. Also in need of discussion is the aforementioned lengthy cue
that accompanies the boat chase through London at the start of the film.
Heard in "Come in 007, Your Time is Up," this cue is inspiring but
frustrating, because if not for the ridiculously distracting synthetic
loops and sound effects, it would easily rank among the best of Arnold's
production for the franchise. From about 1:55 onward, this cue is a
powerhouse combination of both the Monty Norman theme, the primary theme
for the film, and a notable new action submotif. Even with its excessive
percussion, it's still a largely enjoyable piece, though the equivalent
of the gun barrel statement at the start is a bit heavy on the
electronics and Arnold's use of an echoing "wop-wop-wop" sound effect
(most prominent at 3:15 in the cue) is annoying. The original 1999 album
compounded dissatisfaction with the score by omitting some of its most
memorable moments, including the opening "Gun Barrel/Bond Has Left the
Building," "Balloon," "Snow Business," and "Welcome to Kazakhstan." A
2018 limited and expanded 2-CD offering of the score by La-La Land
Records rectified this situation and even provided a separation of the
symphonic and electronic and percussive overlays for the opening "Gun
Barrel" sequence. Unfortunately, no presentation of just the orchestra
and organic percussion mix alone is afforded for any of the other cues.
The 1999 album had truncated or combined some cues, and the 2018 album
restores the recordings to their original form.
Aside from its lack of additional cues from
The
World is Not Enough with the electronic overlays removed, the 2018
album is an outstanding product and elevates the score's appeal. It even
includes the two songs in the right narrative locations. The newly
released "Gun Barrel/Bond Has Left the Building" closes with a nice
rendering on electric guitar for the Monty Norman theme, and "Show Me
the Money" does the same. A ballsy brass motif in "Balloon,"
foreshadowing a tribute to Barry equal to the later submarine sinking
moments, loses the synthetic elements much like "I Never Miss,"
utilizing a snare drum instead. The love theme variant of the main theme
lightly occupies "Dr. Warmflash," foreshadowing the vital "Snow
Business" cue for the skiing scene; both these cues are strictly
organic, and the chimes in the latter are a nice acknowledgement of the
wintry setting. The album presents two versions of this cue, the
alternate on the second CD offering mainly a longer resolution at the
end. Introducing Elektra's theme with seductive lament is the duo of
"Out of the Snow/Stay With Me Please," the latter including an elegant
roll of the piano. The two newly released casino cues aren't notable,
the former a source piece and the latter rather stale suspense. Equally
non-descript is "Devil's Breath." Enthusiasts of the Norman theme will
enjoy "Welcome to Kazakhstan," a more subdued cousin to "Welcome to
Baku" that includes the score's three main themes in a nice transition
piece, highlighted by an enhanced baseline for the Norman rhythm.
Expanded versions of "Going Down - The Bunker," "Caviar Factory," and
"Remember Pleasure" aren't significantly improved. Both "Bond's Bedroom
Bombshell" and "Elektra Turns/Renard's Plutonium Gift" are underplayed
conversational cues, though there's much narrative development to like
in "Submarine Surfaces/Renard Greets Nik/M Clocks Locator," and "Bomb"
once again largely drops the annoying synthetic layers in its action and
closes with some nicely nuanced twists on the main theme. The brief "Sub
Gets It" is a heroic addition, but the album closes the film
presentation with the horrific "Orbis Non Sufficit" credits recording.
The 2018 album's second CD features a variety of alternate arrangements
and the two song demos performed by Arnold himself. Overall,
The
World is Not Enough could easily have been an unequivocal four-star
score if Arnold hadn't tried so hard to beef up the electronica elements
to distractingly obnoxious levels. In its full presentation, the music
only barely achieves that rating. There is a happy balance of techno
edginess and retro tradition to be sculpted, and Arnold struggled with
that equation here before losing that balance completely in
Die
Another Day.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on the 1999 Universal Album: ***
- Music as Heard on the 2018 La-La Land Album: ****
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For David Arnold reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.53
(in 15 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.28
(in 44,963 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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