Quantum of Solace - Score by David Arnold
Returning to the fold as composer is David Arnold, for his fifth James Bond score. Over the years since 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, Arnold has established his own formula for James Bond. Since his first entry in the series, Arnold has married classic and modern sounds in the Bond scores. These have been mixed together in varying measures, with a heavy emphasis on Monty Norman's James Bond Theme. In 2006, when scoring Casino Royale, David Arnold used very little of this theme, only giving brief hints of it until the end of the film. Bond music fans expected a more traditional sound when Arnold returned for Quantum of Solace, now that Daniel Craig's James Bond had been established in Casino Royale. In actuality, the score for Quantum of Solace is still light on James Bond Theme, but as with Casino Royale, Arnold relies more on original themes, and some of themes used in Quantum of Solace are carried over from Casino Royale. After many rumours about the Bond title song, and different artists being discussed, including Amy Winehouse, it was announced that Jack White and Alicia Keys would be performing the title song, with White writing the song himself. The song, Another Way To Die, is an unusual one in the Bond title song canon, but one which I The film's score continues in much the same vein as Casino Royale. Once again it is not as techno driven as Arnold's scores during the Pierce Brosnan era were. However, the style of Arnold is once again evident, and there is a clear link between all of his Bond work. In particular, Arnold's action music has a distinctive sound, and I have often felt that his action music was perhaps his weakest side, as it often sounded rather monotonous and lacked the pleasure value which John Barry's action music tended to have. Casino Royale was one of Arnold's better scores in terms of action music, making use of the main title tune in a similar way to what Barry did in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with the theme acting as a kind of substitute James Bond Theme. As is the tradition in Bond films, the picture begins with an action sequence. But as with Casino Royale, the film does not begin with the traditional gunbarrel opening shot. Instead the film leads straight into the first action sequence, which is a car chase, which occurs only minutes after the final scene of Casino Royale. 'Time To Get Out' is the cue which Arnold composed to accompany this sequence. It begins with a long, low, mysterious sound before bursting into the action music at the 1 minute mark. What follows is just over a minute and a half of typical Arnold action music, which is among his better action pieces in my opinion. It then moves into a cool, Bondian theme as 007 drives his battered Aston Martin into the Italian city of Siena. More action occurs immediately after the main titles as Bond chases a traitorous MI6 agent through the city, during the famous Palio di Siena horse race. The 5 minute cue, 'The Palio' is one of the less memorable tracks in my opinion, although it is certainly adequate in its place in the film. Track 3 on the album, 'Inside Man' is a new theme composed by David Arnold. While not containing previous Bond material, this track combines a twangy electric guitar with brass and bass to form a distinctly Bondian sound. This theme is possibly my favourite in the entire score. It appears again later on, at the the end of the film in the cue, 'The Dead Don't Care About Vengeance'. As in Casino Royale, Arnold has composed lush, but brief cues to accompany the establishing shots of the films various locations. For instance, 'Bond in Haiti' combines some elements of the Bond theme with locally inspired istrumentation and sounds. My favourite of these transitional cues is 'Talamone' which is very reminiscient of 'I'm The Money' from Casino Royale. Another major theme which Arnold composed for Quantum of Solace is the theme for the villainous organisation, Quantum. This theme is scattered throughout the score - in slow, sinister mode in 'A Night At The Opera', and sometimes in a faster, action mode such as in 'Someone Wants To Kill You'. It is a useful and versatile theme, but it is not one which stood out to me and stuck in my mind when I was listening to the score. I have always liked the tender and emotional themes which Arnold has composed for the Bond series, including such cues as 'Bond and Paris' in Tomorrow Never Dies and 'City of Lovers' in Casino Royale. Arnold's lush romantic style lends itself to these more tender scenes in the Bond films, and Arnold has more opportunities to show his ability with these types of cues in Quantum of Solace. Interestingly, and appropriately, since Quantum is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, Arnold re-uses the 'Vesper' theme from Casino Royale at various points in the score. Including in the cues, 'What's Keeping You Awake' and 'Forgive Yourself'. Another interesting emotional cue is 'Camille's Story', whose first half includes statements of Vesper's theme, and the second half feature's an unsual, almost halucinogenic sounding theme accompanying the sequence which shows the plight of the Bolivian people who find themselves without water as a result of the villain's schemes. In a way this cue typifies this score. It brings together many elements, both traditionally Bondian as well as new sounds and mixes them together rather well.
Once again, David Arnold has turned in a good, solid score for the new James Bond film. Like the film, he picks up where Casino Royale left off. I didn't fully appreciate the score until I'd seen the film. It was the same with Casino Royale. I think that part of this is down to the fact that these two scores contain less of the James Bond Theme than the previous ones did. Whereas the Bond theme is a very recognisable piece, the other music requires the addition of the film to be truly enjoyed. Also, Arnold is almost a little too subtle in his use of some of the thematic material, especially with the main title theme - Another Way To Die. This is most likely because the song's melody gave him little to work with. However, problems aside, since seeing the film, I have listened to the score many times and I find it a very enjoyable listen. Arnold continues to mature as a composer and I would be quite happy for him to continue as composer of the James Bond series. Further Reading
TRACK LIST
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Now that the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, has been out for a couple of months, the time seems right to add it to this set of articles concerning the music of James Bond. 
like and to my ear, fits in with the history of James Bond title songs, in a way which Die Another Day, for instance, did not. The opening notes of the title song bear a strong resemblance to the opening notes of Casino Royale's title song, You Know My Name. The song is an interesting mix of styles, including the classic Bond mix of strings and brass, with rock influences from White, and R&B influences from Keys. I have read much negative opinion about the song, but I felt that it fit the film very well. David Arnold described the sound of the song as being 'dirty', which is a word which could equally describe the film itself. However, a Bond song needs to do more than simply fit the film in order to go down amongst the classics such as Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever. It also needs to appeal as a song in its own right, which Another Way does to me, not on the same level as the classic Bond songs, but it is certainly good enough to warrant listening to outside of the film itself. It seems that many would disagree with me on the point, but all artistic endeavours appeal differently to different people. The song also combines well with the main title sequence of the film, designed on this occasion by a studio, MK12, rather than by an individual, which has been the norm over the years. As with the song itself, the titles are a slight departure in style from previous sequences, but they are nonetheless enjoyable and complement the film well. The main difficulty is that the song doesn't have a memorable melody which is integrated into the score. There is material from the song scattered sparsely in various sections of the score, but it doesn't seem to provide a substantial amount of thematic material to the score. 
Like most Bond music fans, with each score a certain level of excitement occurs when a bit of the James Bond Theme is heard. As with Casino Royale, there is no complete, bold statement of the Bond theme until the very end, and sadly that recording is not included on the album, which is strange, considering the somewhat short running time of the album - 61 minutes. Album space was clearly not an issue. However, as with Arnold's previous score, there are bits of the theme sprinkled throughout the score, and this time the sprinkling is a little more liberal than with Casino Royale. The scenes featuring female MI6 agent, Strawberry Fields, contain the most traditional statements of the Bond theme. 'Field Trip' which accompanies Bond and Fields' brief romantic interlude is a short, playful track which features the James Bond Theme heavily, in a style remiscient of John Barry's Diamonds Are Forever. 'Oil Fields' also contains a large amount of James Bond Theme, this time as Bond escapes from the hotel after Fields' death.
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