If all goes well the 25th installment of the official James Bond film series is going to be directed by Danny Boyle.
Which begs the question as to who he will chose as his music composer?
One would assume the likelihood of David Arnold returning is seemingly significant, since he has collaborated with Danny Boyle in the past, composing Boyle's "A Life Less Ordinary".
But that was 22 years ago, and the fact that Boyle never called upon Arnold's services for any of his subsequent films is perhaps telling, although certainly they must have had some interaction in their respective roles for London's 2012 Olympic Ceremonies(?)...

Danny Boyle also has collaborated with John Murphy on numerous projects throughout his career and Murphy getting the 007 gig would certainly intrigue and engage my anticipatory enthusiasm a great deal!

More recently the brilliant Daniel Pemberton composed Boyle's "Steve Jobs" biopic in 2015, and Pemberton is another name I'd welcome learning is attached to a new 007 adventure!

I's also consider Craig Armstrong, just because I can imagine him doing something beautiful and lush, yet modern and striking. Same goes for John Powell, Ilan Eshkeri, or Edward Shearmur.

I am fond of the idea of whomever scores Britian's most iconic hero also being a subject of the Queen, which is why every composer I mentioned are in deed as well Englsih.

Ultimately David Arnold did such fine work in his previous tenure as 007 compositional custodian that I feel it is somewhat criminal to not give him first rights.

What do you all reckon? What would you like to hear musically from the next Bond outing?

I'll also add that Benjamin Wallfisch could be an interesting choice. Not that there is anything wrong with his collaboration with Hans Zimmer on "Blade Runner 2049", but if that highly ambient synth-drone score is all most casual film score fans know of Wallfisch, then I should recommend digging deeper with him. Because Wallfisch is a very astute classically trained composer, arranger, and conductor - and I feel quite positive that he along with fellow recent breakout talents such as Daniel Pemberton, Ludwig G�ransson, Blake Neely, Bear McCreary, and Jeff Russo are certainly the names that are going to continue to gain in reputation and assuredly be at the forefront of leading the world of film music into the coming decades.

And while I'm at it, I'll invoke the name of the great and mighty Clint Mansell, because he's another sort of underutilized wickedly versatile British talent, and also just plain old fashioned awesome in a gleaming new fashioned way! The 2005 Matthew McConaughey franchise non-starter "Sahara" may not have been a hit film, but it was actually quite decent, and Mansell certainly proved there that he could also write lush and stirring classical action-adventure music. So yes, I'd fully support his name attached to a 007 score, absolutely.

And what about a more than merited opportunity for Rachel Portman, to hear her romanticism get a good walloping crack at rollicking reveling red-blooded reverie? I feel you can hear similarities in her compositional work to that of predominant 007 maestro John Barry in his penchant for melancholic transcendence, in the bucolic delicacy sometimes found in Thomas Newman, and in the triumphant buoyancy Jerry Goldsmith would frequently employ. Her score for the Bruce Willis/Colin Ferrell WWII prison escape thriller "Hart's War" was quite satisfying and had some very fine action type cues akin to what one might have expected out of Michael Kamen. I'd love to hear what she could do.

Then are a slew of talented yet somewhat indistinguishable Englsih born Media Ventures/Remote Control Zimmerhouse prot�g�s such as Harry Gregson-Williams, his brother Rupert Gregson-Williams, Henry Jackman, Lorne Balfe, and David Buckley. They are seemingly highly proficient, although rarely provide memorable thematic material of any particular identity of their own... Yet still, they provide good service, and are at least certainly no weak sauce candidate like the bafflingly Academy Award winning Steven Price (whom, God willing, shall hence forth never be mentioned again by this film score fan)!

So, I think that is quite an excellent and interesting array of fifteen British born composer options for 007 producers to pursue:

David Arnold
John Murphy
Daniel Pemberton
Craig Armstrong
John Powell
Clint Mansell
Benjamin Wallfisch
Ilan Eshkeri
Edward Shearmur
Rachel Portman
Harry Gregson-Williams
Henry Jackman
Lorne Balfe
Rupert Gregson-Williams
David Buckley

*DISCUSS

---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 AM ----------

I shouldn't go so hard on dismissing Steven Price I guess. I mean, as long as he's getting work, we should all want him to grace our ears in something rapturous. Hey, anyway, he's more talented than me -- I just know he didn't deserve to win an Oscar for basically doing sound effects in "Gravity". He's right up there with Marc Streitenfeld, as just a major head scratch for me. Aren't these guys like glorified sound designers who sort of would write in little musical patch segue bridge scene tendons, and then suddenly they're the lead music composer ruining major films with completely bland wallpaper, lol?

Man, how did I miss this thread? :laugh:

Unfortunately, the only Bond scores I'm fond of are the two Thomas Newman ones... Skyfall in particular.
Considering the disappointing results with Spectre (both critically, artistically and commercially) I doubt they'll hire Thomas Newman again.

I'd be extremely excited for Daniel Pemberton, he'd be a great choice. Again, I'm not fond of any of the other composers you mentioned like Clint Mansell, David Arnold, Craig Armstrong. But if they have any talent in orchestral music, they'd surely fit the job perfectly.
As for the Remote Control Productions composers, I'd trust only Harry Gregson-Williams and Henry Jackman (if he's helped by the much more talented additional composers Matthew Margeson and Dominic Lewis). Lorne Balfe already ruined the latest Mission Impossible flick with his spineless and uninspired score, I'd avoid him as the plague from any other major franchise with distinct and respectable musical identity.

@Imperivm - There's not much in life I despair over. Famine, war, the global down-turn in the world economies, Donald Trump getting into bed with Putin - I suck all that rot up, but I'm sorry, I don't think you can sink much lower than to openly state on a film music fan's forum that you are not 'Fond' of Bond scores and in the same breath state that Thomas Newman's two monstrosities into the 50 year canon of work that encompasses the world of 007 are the only two scores that you like.
Are you off your chump?

Thomas Newman? Newman, along with the inane Eric Serra has done more to destroy the classic sound of Bond than any other composer, certainly that I can think of.

How in the name of sanity can you not admire and enjoy the stunning and timeless Bond scores under the baton of John Barry? Are you deaf or 12 years old?

To then go on a mention both Harry Gregson-Williams and Henry Jackman rubs more salt into an open wound (Thank Christ neither will get the remotest chance of a

look-in. Thankfully Danny Boyle works only with composers he has a long-lasting working relationship with.

Luton's David Arnold (Composer of most of Boyle's major movies) will hopefully come back to score Bond 25. One can only hope and pray anyway.

if we are truly unlucky (No, cursed) Herr Zimmer may get his hands on it and ruin the movie totally...

Thomas Newman ... The horror of horrors.

LMAO, you're always jumping to the wrong conclusions with me aren't you? :laugh:

Maybe it's because the only Bond films I watched are the Daniel Craig ones, at the time I didn't really care about real film scores and listened mostly to RCP music, my favourite of those 007 films was Skyfall and its score left a particular impression on me?

It's the purest of horrors not being fond of scores from films that I have never watched in my 20 years of life, isn't it?

I guess that if I took the time to watch the other 20+ films, I'd probably fall in love with the scores by John Barry and the other classic Bond composers, it's just that I'm not such a hardcore 007 fan that I'm willing to sit through a huge number of silly and ridiculous old Bond films...

---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 AM ----------

As for Harry Gregson-Williams, his scores for The Chronicles of Narnia (especially the first one) are beautifully orchestral and melodic scores that have a special place in my heart and not the boring, uninspired noise he's often composing for the numerous thrillers he's hired for.

As for Henry Jackman, I clearly stated (with a precise reference to Captain America: The Winter Soldier) that most of the good music from that score comes from his more talented additional composers, and not from himself. I did see his recent blockbuster films and they were far from being decent in any way. Winter Soldier is the only score of his (at least, from those that I listened to) with good action music, though probably not the type of music you'd like to listen.

For me my favourites composer for 007 score: David Arnold, Daniel Pemberton, Andrew Lockington