The World is not Enough

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Two years after Tomorrow Never Dies, David Arnold once more fulfils his talent on a Bond project, this time The World is not Enough. But I feel however that the latest Bond features start to ware out, TND wasn't so good as Goldeneye and this movie really lacks the impressive flair we found with earlier efforts. With the scores it's going extremely good, after Eric Serra's complete dud it was up to David Arnold to capture that Bond spirit Barry's scores so rightfully possessed. With Tomorrow Never Dies it went perfect, with The World is not Enough it became tiresome. What this score misses is that fun aspect of creating a Bond score, with every chase or dangerous situation you weave that Bond theme inside the already created action rhythm. This succeeded well in the past, but here it becomes simply too much, with all those added drum pounding sounds and electronic sounding beats. This makes The World is not Enough half as enjoyable than it should have been.

With almost each Bond movie, there is the main Bond song, and though Garbage's song will never make it into the long and impressive list of Bond classics, it sounds appropriately. The main part of Arnold's score, namely the action material starts after 5 seconds and frankly captures the most place on this disc. Though enjoyable and loud in parts, it becomes tiresome and simply too much. 'Come in 007, Your Time is Up' and 'Ice Bandits' are good. The pace is fast, the beat is interesting and the fun is present. But this fun disappeared after 'Ice Bandits', then it becomes tiresome and namely 'Pipeline', 'Caviar Factory' and 'Submarine' are responsible for the album's lack of interest. I do not know what to think of this score, I mean, recording to the begin it offers enjoyable pieces of action though the underscore isn't impressive either, except 'Welcome to Baku'. But the too loud portions of action stuff are simply too heavy to handle, and frankly this is nothing inspiring in the list of Arnold's career. 'Submarine' starts promising, but this doesn't last long and soon becomes too loud, too big and way too long to enjoy. And the end features more dull stuff, with 'Only Myself to Blame' we have probably one of the dullest songs of all time, stick it in an old time classic entry of 60' entries and nobody would discover the difference.

I'm not the biggest fan of Bond music anyway. But scores like The Living Daylights and Tomorrow Never Dies amused me, and I simply can not find The World is not Enough amusing, entertaining or interesting. The begin captures my complete interest, but during the middle section my mind doesn't even focuses on the same, and without knowing it, I missed half of the music. With 60 minutes of score the producers delivered more then enough so that an expanded edition wouldn't be necessary. But this score delivers half of uninteresting music, especially in my book. This score feels and listens with each listen more like a drag, and this is absolutely what I didn't want. The World is not Enough isn't the best Bond score, and featuring no highlights I feel disappointed and relieved when the CD ends that last moment of score. This score has only been saved by it's better begin and more interesting upbeat material, but on the whole it's a failed attempt by Hollywood star David Arnold.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. The World Is Not Enough: Garbage (3.55)

2. Show Me The Money (1.27)

3. Come In 007, Your Time Is Up (5.19)

4. Access Denied (1.33)

5. M's Confession (1.31)

6. Welcome To Baku (1.42)

7. Casino (2.55)

8. Ice Bandits (3.42)

9. Elektra's Theme (2.06)

10. Body Double (3.00)

11. Going Down / The Bunker (6.27)

12. Pipeline (4.15)

13. Remember Pleasure (2.45)

14. Caviar Factory (6.01)

15. Torture Queen (2.22)

16. I Never Miss (3.32)

17. Submarine (10.20)

18. Christmas In Turkey (1.27)

19. Only Myself To Blame: Scott Walker (3.37)

Total Length: 68.13

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=== Link to Composer Site: David Arnold ===