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James Bond Soundtracks 1995 to TODAY
1962 to 1969 / 1970 to 1989

"Goldeneye" (1995) arrived after a six year wait with a new Bond- Pierce Brosnan, and a new composer- Eric Serra. While an interesting score, fans weren't thrilled and apparently neither were the producers who had Serra's arranger and orchestrator, John Altman, rescore the entire tank chase sequence. Serra's version is on the CD (I swear I hear the Chipmunks in there) and a cover version of Altman's is included on "Bond back in Action-Vol. 2"

"Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) introduced composer David Arnold to the series. He combined a little of the old John Barry sound with his own newer, boom, crash, action music. We also got TWO CDs of music. (Only half of the score had been completed in time for the first album and Chapter III records put out a CD with the rest). Unfortunately, one of the best Bond themes in a long time, "Surrender", performed by K. D. Lang was pushed back to the end titles in favor of Sheryl Crow's so-so "Tomorrow Never Dies". There is however, a great collaboration with the Propellerheads on "Company Car" as well as Moby's take on the James Bond Theme/. AND... La-La Land Records has recently released a 2 CD set of David Arnold's score with lots of previously unreleased tracks and alternate versions making it the one to get.

"The World Is Not Enough" (1999) brought Mr. Arnold back with a nice title song performed by the band Garbage. Another good action score, a little more on the techno side, with a lot of the Bond theme thrown in. If the music on the score CD left the listener wishing for something more, they got it in 2018 when La-La Land Records released a 2CD set including all sorts of unreleased tracks, alternate versions, and even demos by the composer. Great stuff!

"Die Another Day" (2002) gave us another nice score by Arnold, but also a shoddy CD release that didn't do it justice. Again, the La-La Land label re-released it in a beautiful, expanded, and remastered 2-CD set with over an hour of never-before-released music! It does NOT however, include the Madonna theme song, Paul Oakenfold's bond theme, or the interactive computer nonsense that cluttered up the original release. If that stuff means anything to you, you may want to keep the original CD.

"Casino Royale" (2006), "reboots" the Bond series and introduces Daniel Craig to the role. The familiar James Bond theme doesn't show up till the end credits. Snippets of it are scattered throughout, but one misses the guitar riffs and blaring trumpets. They did jam 75 minutes of music onto this one (and 13 extra tracks on the i-Tunes site). The title song, "You Know My Name" by David Arnold and Chris Cornell is not on the CD, but can be found on the Bond tune compilation, "Best Of Bond James Bond 50th Anniversary Collection"

"Quantum Of Solace" (2008) Mr. Arnold has taken some flak in the past for over-using the Bond theme, but like Casino Royale it is only heard in the end credits while tiny bits and pieces wind through the film's atmospheric, location oriented music. The title song, "Another Way To Die" by Jack White and singer Alicia Keys is included. The version during the credits was better than the single, but you'll probably never listen to it again anyway. Track down the instrumental instead.

"SKYFALL" (2012) Thomas Newman took over the scoring duties for this and the next film. We get a little more of the Bond theme here and there with a lot of repetitive action music. Try "The Chimera" track to break it up. The theme sung by Adele is a great Title theme, but not on the soundtrack CD. Look for the import CD single which has both the vocal and instrumental (which is like a mini Bond score all by itself!) You can also find one extra track (Old dog, New Tricks) on iTunes.

  • There was a 3 CD version of the Skyfall soundtrack sent out to members of the Director's Guild for the Academy Awards. One CD with the theme and 2 CDs with 34 tracks from the score if you're lucky enough to come across it.

"SPECTRE" (2015) Newman again and a lot of music seemingly recycled from Skyfall. There is some good stuff (try "Los Muertos Vivos Estan"). The theme song, "Writing's On the Wall" by Sam Smith is not on the score CD. There is a single that also includes the instrumenal, but unfortunately his voice bleeds through here and there. A shorter instrumental is included on the CD with no voice and may be more to your liking. No extra tracks on iTunes this time.

Oh, and Radiohead apparently did a song for SPECTRE that didn't make the cut. They have released it for fans on "Soundcloud"

"No Time To Die" (2021) finally arrived in October with a score by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro on the Decca label. There's some great stuff here and some questionable choices (music from OHMSS). The Billie Eilish song was released back in February 2020 and fits the movie well. An instrumental can be found on a CD single AND you can find an unreleased 5 minute track from the pre-credits titled "Saffin" on Steve Mazzaro's site here.

and we are told...


James Bond Will Return...
in

"Zombies Are Forever"?


Bond Soundtracks 1962 to 1969

Bond Soundtracks 1970 to 1989