Why do we
like James Bond so much? It takes
hundreds of years to awnser this
question, because there are lots of
reasons to become a Bondmaniac - for Bond
himself, for the beautiful leading
ladies, for Q's gadgets or the
threatening foes. But is quite sure that
if there's something that attracts every
Bond fan who watches a film, even if it's
the umptheent time he does it on his DVD
player or if he just tunes it on
television, that's the music. The
soundtracks were in charge of very
important names such as John Barry,
Marvin Hamlisch or David Arnold, and
included title sungs performed by famous
artists like Shirley Bassey, Paul
McCartney, Duran Duran, Chris Cornell and
Jack White & Alicia Keys. The
soundtracks were released in LP, then in
tapes and lately in 1988 were issued on
CD. However, as the first editions were
incomplete and new technologies have
appeared, in 2003 MGM Music decided to
remaster and expand the James Bond film
soundtracks, from Dr No to GoldenEye,
with the exception of Licencia para
matar.
We've emailed Lukas Kendall, the man in
charge of the remastering process, who
also directs the Film Score Monthly
magazine, and we asked him about his work
on the soundtracks and his vision in the
world of the music of James Bond. |
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Lukas
Kendall (left) working Michael McDonald
(right), on the remastering on the Bond
themes. |
When has the idea
of remastering the Bond soundtracks appeared and
how did they contacted you?
It has been a few years so I forget the exact
chain of events. As a fan I had always wanted
expanded Bond soundtracks and knew that master
tapes to some of them were at EMI's tape facility
in Abbey Road, London. I was in touch with MGM at
the time (having enjoyed a licensing relationship
with them for other titles) and I knew they were
working things out with EMI to reissue the Bond
soundtracks. I pestered MGM to introduce me to
EMI, and then I begged EMI to let me produce
expanded editions until they agreed...I promised
I would spend only the money they had allocated
to the titles already (to reissue the LPs as is),
so it was a zero-sum affair for them financially
(although they probably spent more than they
intended on the tape transfers, which was very
good of them). It happened very fast and by the
time the CDs came out, my two contacts at EMI had
left the company! But I am grateful for that
opportunity.
What process is required to remaster the
scores and what was the most difficult score to
remaster?
This requires a longer explanation, but in short:
1) We had the original master tapes in England
transferred to a hard drive. 2) I went through
the tracks to select the cues, put them in the
proper order, make sure we had the correct takes,
etc. 3) My remix engineer Michael McDonald at
Private Island Trax did new mixes, using the old
albums as guides. 4) My mastering engineer Doug
Schwartz and Mulholland Music made the final
digital masters that we sent to EMI to be
manufactured. The hardest title was Thunderball
because some music for the end of the film
was missing, and only located at the last minute
(and then, not in the best sound quality) -- also
the score was so long that I had to make choices
of what to include or not, and I hate making
those choices!
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| Live
and Let Die was
one of the soundtracks which
contained unreleased tracks.
Other expanded CDs were Goldfinger,
Thunderball, You Only Live Twice,
and On
Her Majesty's Secret Service. |
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Which are your favourite Bond
actors and your favourite Bond films?
I prefer Sean Connery, by far, and his
Bond movies -- different titles for
different moods, I guess, from serious (From
Russia With Love) to exotic (You
Only Live Twice) to a little bit
silly (Diamonds Are Forever). I
loved Casino Royale. I like
everything about On Her Majesty's
Secret Service except for Lazenby
(which is a big "except").
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Who is your favourite Bond composer and
why?
John Barry is the beginning and end of the
conversation for me, because his style is so
distinct and melodic. It is like comparing apples
to asphalt. I am a fan of the other composers in
other contexts, but for Bond I only like John
Barry. None of the other composers, I think,
truly understood that the Bond movies are about
style and mood, not action. When Barry scores an
action scene, he does not score the action per
se, but the "idea" of action. It
is a difficult thing to explain! The outcome is
foreordained; it's all about the fun in getting
there.
What's your opinion on David Arnold and
what advice would you give him to compose Bond
23?
I think David Arnold is doing an excellent job
combining the Barry precedent with the modern
demands of a mega-colossal action movie. That
said, I don't particularly enjoy the music that
results from those modern demands -- it is too
heavily weighted on action and suspense for me.
David certainly does not need my advice on
scoring Bond 23 or anything else; he is having a
magnificent career and the few times I met him
was very thoughtful and pleasant to talk to.
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Do
you agree with those who think
Eric Serra didn't do a good job
in
GoldenEye?
Yes, that was a shame that what
seemed like interesting
"casting" turned out so
poorly. I liked Serra's scores
for Luc Besson's films but his
score for GoldenEye was
flat and disappointing and did
not give that movie what it
deserved.
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GoldenEye
was scored by
French composer Eric Serra, who also
scored La Femme
Nikita. According
to Kendall, Serra's work on Bond was "flat
and disappointing".
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Why were you unable to remaster and
expand Licence to Kill?
Have you talked with MCA to work with the
soundtrack?
Licence to Kill is controlled today by
Universal Music (MCA's current name) and was not
a part of the MGM-EMI deal that resulted in the
expanded editions. I do not have any contacts
with Universal to do anything with the title.
In the Internet there are complete versions of
the Moonraker
soundtrack. Why were you unable to extend this
film's music and other incomplete albums such as The
Man With the Golden Gun, The
Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy,
etc.?
There was very limited time and money and I
recommended to EMI that the most historically
important scores (in my opinion) -- those to the
early Barry/Connery films -- be done first. We
wanted to do The Man With the Golden Gun but
ran out of time and money. I don't know if there
are suitable master tapes to do any of the other
Roger Moore films. Beware of "complete
versions" that float around the Internet;
sometimes they are merely the surround channels
of a DVD which make for very poor listening. Moonraker
was recorded in Paris and I do not know
where the master tapes went.
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Is
there any plan to remaster and extend the
soundtracks from Tomorrow
Never Dies to Quantum
of Solace, and
other following films?
I have no idea. My involvement with James
Bond lasted all of two months. Your guess
is as good as mine!
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| Due to not
enough time and money, The
Man With The Golden Gun
and other Roger Moore era soundtracks
couldn't been expanded. |
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Beyond Bond, can
you tell us what your favourite soundtracks are
and the film composers you admire most?
My favorite composers
include Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, John
Barry, John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith -- and
dozens more! I have been involved with film music
for 20 years and produced a couple hundred
soundtrack CDs so don't make me choose my
favorites, it is too difficult!
Desde Bondcollection
agradecemos a Lukas por su colaboración y los
invitamos a visitar el sitio de su revista, www.filmscoremonthly.com .
Nicolás Suszczyk |
