Skyfall (soundtrack)

Skyfall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Thomas Newman
Released29 October 2012
Recorded2012
StudioAbbey Road Studios, London
GenreFilm score
Length77:31
LabelSony Classical
Producer
Thomas Newman chronology
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(2012) 		Skyfall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2012) 		Side Effects
(2013)
James Bond soundtrack chronology
Quantum of Solace
(2008) 		Skyfall
(2012) 		Spectre
(2015)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Filmtracks
Movie Wave

Skyfall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 23rd James Bond film of the same name. Released by Sony Classical on 29 October 2012 in the United Kingdom and on 6 November 2012 in the United States, the music was composed by Thomas Newman. This is Newman's first Bond soundtrack, making him the ninth composer to score a Bond film. The score won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. In 2013, it became one of two Bond scores to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The other to be nominated was the score from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Development

Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced on 9 January 2012 that Thomas Newman, frequent collaborator of Skyfall director Sam Mendes, would score Skyfall.[1] On describing how the job became his, Newman said, "I very shyly gave [Mendes] a call or emailed him and said, just so you know, I’d be overjoyed to do it, but would never want to be presumptuous. He emailed me back, saying I was just about to call you, let’s meet for lunch!"[2] Newman took over musical duties for the film from David Arnold who was busy directing the musical aspects of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic closing ceremonies. However, Arnold later commented that the reason behind the selection of Newman had been because of his past work with Mendes.[3] Newman's collaborator J. A. C. Redford did the orchestration.[4]

On 6 October 2012, the album's track list was revealed featuring the running times of each track.[5] The first preview of the score was released a few days later on 9 October 2012,[6] while the soundtrack itself was released less than a month later by Sony Classical.[7] This was the second time the label had released a Bond soundtrack, with the first being the Casino Royale soundtrack album.

Unlike most other Bond soundtracks, the soundtrack album to Skyfall does not contain the title song performed by Adele. This marks only the second time that this has happened, the first being the Casino Royale soundtrack album. Despite this, at the producer's insistence Newman added an interpolation of "Skyfall" in the track "Komodo Dragon", used in a scene where Bond enters a casino in Macau.[8][2]

The CD booklet mentions that the score contains interpolations of the "James Bond Theme", written by Monty Norman. Arnold's arrangement of the "James Bond Theme" (which appears on the Casino Royale soundtrack as "The Name's Bond…James Bond") plays over Skyfall's end titles (which begin with the film's gun barrel sequence); however, the track does not appear on the soundtrack album. Newman's arrangement of the theme plays over the reveal of Bond's Aston Martin and his escape with M to Scotland; the track appears on the album as "Breadcrumbs".

Boum ! by the French singer Charles Trenetl featured in the execution scene on the island, but was not included in the soundtrack.[9]

Track listing

Standard album[10]
No.TitleLength
1."Grand Bazaar, Istanbul"5:14
2."Voluntary Retirement"2:22
3."New Digs"2:32
4."Séverine"1:20
5."Brave New World"1:50
6."Shanghai Drive"1:26
7."Jellyfish"3:22
8."Silhouette"0:56
9."Modigliani"1:04
10."Day Wasted"1:31
11."Quartermaster"4:48
12."Someone Usually Dies"2:29
13."Komodo Dragon"3:20
14."The Bloody Shot"4:46
15."Enjoying Death"1:13
16."The Chimera"1:58
17."Close Shave"1:32
18."Health & Safety"1:29
19."Granborough Road"2:32
20."Tennyson"2:14
21."Enquiry"2:49
22."Breadcrumbs"2:02
23."Skyfall"2:32
24."Kill Them First"2:22
25."Welcome to Scotland"3:21
26."She's Mine"3:53
27."The Moors"2:39
28."Deep Water"5:11
29."Mother"1:48
30."Adrenaline"2:18
Total length:77:55
iTunes bonus track[11]
No.TitleLength
31."Old Dog, New Tricks"1:48
Total length:79:03

Charts

Chart (2013) Peak
position
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[12] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 36
US Billboard 200[14] 100

See also

References

  1. ^ "Newman on Board for Skyfall". 2012-01-09. Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  2. ^ a b Hewitt, Chris (2012). "Thomas Newman On The Skyfall Soundtrack". Empire. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  3. ^ "@DavidGArnold: 10 January". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  4. ^ Featured Artist: J.A.C. Redford
  5. ^ "'Skyfall' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. 6 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  6. ^ Chitwood, Adam (9 October 2012). "Listen to Over 6 Minutes of Thomas Newman's Score for SKYFALL". Collider.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  7. ^ "'Skyfall' Soundtrack Update". Film Music Reporter. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  8. ^ Schweiger, Daniel (5 November 2012). "Interview with Thomas Newman". Film Music Magazine. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  9. ^ ""BOUM!" the French Song in the New 007 Movie "SKYFALL"". 2 November 2012.
  10. ^ "Skyfall: Thomas Newman: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads". Amazon UK. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  11. ^ "iTunes - Music - Skyfall by Thomas Newman". iTunes. 6 October 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  13. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  14. ^ Caulfield, Keith (16 November 2012). "'Skyfall' Soundtrack: Highest-Charting Bond Album in 27 Years". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2013.