Another Way To Die, the Quantum of Solace theme track, is rather fascinating in its construction. Or is it quite the opposite, actually, a deconstruction, to quote The World Is Not Enough?
The song basically fuses classic elements of all the Bond trax from Goldfinger on up, changing the drawn out “Goooooooooold” or “Thunder-baaaaaaaawl” to a more peppy staccato “oh-oh-oh-oh” and refining all Bond sound down to a bit of drummin’ here, a bit of guitar thrum there. The lyrics are likewise minimal. Pretty intriguing.
Like deconstructed brownie where chocolate, burnt flour and syrup are laid out as separate elements on a diner’s plate as offerings from revisionist (and probably lazy) chefs, AWTD is a deconstructed and yet magically appealing Bond tune. Never thought Keys and White could pull it off…
Note that some of the guitar riffs are right from the Bond theme but with doubled notes–just as Monty Norman doubled his tune from “A House For Mr. Biswas” for his James Bond theme!
Also, the Bond theme is definitely heard long before the end credits and throughout the QOS David Arnold soundtrack, just again riffs here and there–deconstructed.
Bond Stripped To Basics
Your thoughts on the QOS music extravaganza? It’s just, it’s just… another way to die-ie!
3 users commented in " Bond, Deconstructed "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackWhen I saw the music video before QoS was released, the song did not connect on all cylinders for me. I kept waiting for it to “release”, which it never did. However, over the credits in the movie, I totally get it, and in fact love it. I like the pastiche of riffs and discordant elements–they fit well with the credits. I know Mk12 is getting flack on the internet, but I think it all comes together nicely. Incidentially, I saw QoS a second time, and my appreciation increased dramatically.
CHRONOLOGICAL CONTINUITY. Although I desperately miss Q and the famous 007 gadgets, what bothers me most is the disrupted timeline. I can buy the premise of going back to Bond’s origin and roots, but since he’s been around for half a century, especially during the Cold War, why do we have the contemporary M in modern era with an adolescent 007? Would it not have made chronological sense to set the origins BEFORE the Cold War, say immediately after WWII? These last two movies make it seem as if there were no Bond before this one whereas the previous ones had some sort of continuity.
Not really a disrupted timeline, more of a rebooted timeline… ala Batman begins. The flexibility is thus implied to remake any Bond title.
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