Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #440168 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Soundtrack, Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Brooding and Subtly Powerful James Bond Score
This is David Arnold's fourth James Bond soundtrack and perhaps his best to date. One can only appreciate this score after seeing the film. It is brooding and subtly powerful and shrewdly and methodically relies on flirting references to the James Bond Theme and the film's main title song throughout. This is a departure for Arnold's brilliant TOMORROW NEVER DIES score, which fell back on the traditional tried and true sound that John Barry had established and simultaneously brought James Bond up to date with the composer's own style, and his overly techno synthesized score for DIE ANOTHER DAY. There are haunting and pensive passages throughout this rich soundtrack underscoring Bond's complex nature in this film.

Chris Cornell's performance of the main title song is sorely absent from this CD. Initially I did not like this song at all. After seeing the film I found that it really works and gives the film the edge it needs to bring in a new style of Bond movie. The catchy melody is actually very good and the song has a raw drive that works on its own. I think it is the best Bond song since a-ha's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. I am not sure why it is not on the CD. It is very disappointing to have left this song off this soundtrack.

One of the Best James Bond Scores ever Composed
David Arnold's James Bond film compositions up to now have gradually fallen into an abyss of the mundane. Arnold's DIE ANOTHER DAY was just very weak overall. CASINO ROYALE is a complete about face. With CASINO ROYALE David Arnold provides us with his most innovative Bond score to date. You almost have to forget everything that Arnold has composed for the James Bond series prior to CASINO ROYALE.

He has proven up to now that he can accomplish two elements of a James Bond score. First, he can copy predecessor John Barry's style when using the James Bond theme very effectively if need be. Second, David Arnold has a definite talent for coming up with rousing Bondian themes like "Surrender" on the TOMORROW NEVER DIES soundtrack. "Surrender" was belted out by K.D. Lang but relegated to the end titles in favor of Sheryl Crow's humdrum concoction behind the main titles. "Surrender" was pure Bond but somehow the producers stuck it on the end titles. However, Arnold used the "Surrender" theme throughout the entire score and it was very effective.

Arnold innovatively uses that same approach on this soundtrack but with much more subtlety. He gives us both THE JAMES BOND THEME and the MAIN TITLE to CASINO ROYALE in piecemeal fashion. If you examine the soundtrack to THUNDERBALL you will hear that John Barry used almost the same approach. You really do not get much of THE JAMES BOND THEME throughout the THUNDERBALL soundtrack if you listen to it. In fact, you get the entire THE JAMES BOND THEME on this soundtrack on the last track of the album! If you listen to the soundtracks to GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER you get good background music, which are outstanding scores. That's what you get here. CASINO ROYALE is one of the best James Bond scores ever composed.

Unfortunately the Chris Cornell's main title song is not included. It is a very good theme that redefines for the cinema what drives James Bond. It does not sound like a Bond song at all, but it truly does work for the movie. I found the omission of that song to be very disappointing. I am really upset that it is not on this soundtrack CD.

James Bond Soundtrack with a New Approach
This James Bond soundtrack is different in many ways from the 20 that preceded it. The differences go beyond the fact that the main title song is absent from this album. There is no melody performed in its entirety on any of the tracks with the exception of the James Bond Theme on the final track. This soundtrack is the result of going against the formula. It is a moody work interspersed with outbursts of action scoring interlaced with fragments of the main title and elusive references to the James Bond theme. It is a highly impressionistic work and an important one. This will go do down as one of the most important soundtracks, and perhaps not a very popular one, for being truthful to the job of scoring the film. David Arnold mentioned in some of his commentaries that he has fallen back on the James Bond theme when it seemed appropriate, and quite often, in his three previous Bond scores. He departs from that approach here and scores the measure of the man, a man who solidifies his resolve in the finale of CASINO ROYALE. This soundtrack is exceptional and the more it is played the more layers of its great depth are uncovered.