Spectre Film Song

[Violet Mcdow]

Radiohead recorded "Spectre", an orchestral ballad, for the 2015 James Bond film Spectre after another song they had submitted, "Man of War", was rejected. However, the producers instead used "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith, and "Spectre" went unused.

Radiohead released "Spectre" as a free download, their first release since 2011. It was also included as a B-side on the 2016 single "Burn the Witch" and the special edition of A Moon Shaped Pool. It received positive reviews.

Radiohead were approached by the Bond production team to write the theme for the upcoming James Bond film Spectre (2015).[1] The director, Sam Mendes, and the James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, were both Radiohead fans.[2] In July 2015, the bookmaker William Hill suspended bets after a customer placed 15,000 at ten-to-one odds on Radiohead, suspecting insider knowledge.[3]

Radiohead first submitted "Man of War", an unreleased song written in the 1990s, which the singer, Thom Yorke, had once described as an homage to Bond themes.[4][5] The Spectre team liked "Man of War", but rejected it when they discovered it had not been written for the film and was therefore ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[6]

Radiohead suspended work on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), to record another song for the film, "Spectre".[7] However, the production team instead used "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith.[8] The lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, said the production team felt "Spectre" was "too dark".[9] Yorke said the decision not to use the song was "just politics as far as I can tell".[10] The Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said it arrived too late to be used, and that the team had already created the title sequence using "Writing's on the Wall".[2] Mendes attempted to use "Spectre" elsewhere in the film, but decided its lyrics made it distracting. He described the situation as "an utter nightmare ... We had this beautiful song and we weren't able to use it. But it's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that wasn't used."[6]

Radiohead's producer, Nigel Godrich, described the experience as a "real waste of energy", and said it disrupted work on A Moon Shaped Pool.[7] Greenwood said that Radiohead were free to finish and release "Spectre" as they wanted, and so "that side of it was really positive ... We get to have it back and it's ours and we got to put it out. We're really, really proud of it."[9]

"Spectre" is an orchestral ballad[11] that features Yorke's falsetto, strings, "jerky" piano chords and jazz-like drums.[12] Pitchfork likened it to Radiohead's 2001 single "Pyramid Song",[12] and said it had the "melodrama" of a Bond theme with "only a hint of the kitsch".[12] Variety wrote that "Spectre" had "Radiohead's signature moody sound, with a somber sweeping grandeur".[13]

Radiohead released "Spectre" on the audio platform SoundCloud on Christmas Day 2015. Yorke announced the song on Twitter, writing: "Last year we were asked to write a tune for Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were. It didn't work out ... but became something of our own which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas."[14] It was the first Radiohead release since the 2011 single "The Daily Mail" / "Staircase".[14]

"Spectre" was included as the B-side on Radiohead's 2016 vinyl single "Burn the Witch".[15] It was also included as a bonus track on the special edition of Radiohead's 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool.[16]

Spectre: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 24th James Bond film of the same name. Released by Universal Music Classics on 23 October 2015 in the United Kingdom and on 6 November 2015 in the United States, the music was composed by Thomas Newman, who previously composed the soundtrack of the 23rd Bond film Skyfall, making him the third composer after John Barry and David Arnold (and the first non-British composer) to score more than one film in the series. The film's theme song "Writing's on the Wall" performed by Sam Smith is the fourth theme song (not counting instrumental-only theme songs) that doesn't feature the title of its film in the lyrics.[1] It is also the third song after "You Know My Name" (2006) and "Skyfall" (2012) that did not appear on the film's official soundtrack album.

Thomas Newman returned as Spectre's composer.[2] Rather than composing the score once the film had moved into post-production, Newman worked during filming.[3] The theatrical trailer released in July 2015 contained a rendition of John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service theme.[4][5] Mendes revealed that the final film would have more than one hundred minutes of music.[6] London Voices provided the choral element to the soundtrack, most noticeably in "Backfire".

In September 2015 it was announced that Sam Smith and regular collaborator Jimmy Napes had written the film's title theme, "Writing's on the Wall", with Smith performing it for the film.[7] The song was released later that month where it received mixed reviews from critics and fans, particularly in comparison to Adele's "Skyfall".[8][9][10] It became the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart.[11]

First we see her shows her car arriving (around 30:56 into the film) and switching on the light in her classically decorated house. She turns on some music and pours and drink, walking through the house to the rear garden.

Behind her in the shadows is first one and then a second of the assassins she expected. They follow her into the garden, and while initially she seems to be unaware of them it becomes clear from her face that she expects to be shot dead at any moment.

I loved the scene on first viewing and it is greatly helped by the classical music playing in the background. In intended to find out what it was after attending the SPECTRE premiere and then an IMAX viewing the following day, but it slipped my mind. Even a couple more screenings failed to jog my memory.

This is the fantastically atmospheric music used in the villa scene mentioned at the start. Although I initially thought it was sung by a woman, believe it or not it is a man, Andreas Scholl, singing. This is the one song heard clearly heard in the film without being drowned out by Thomas Newman and really used well.

David Leigh founded The James Bond Dossier in 2002. A fan of 007 since the age of 8, he is also author of The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. You can order a copy here if you don't own it already.

Enough time has passed to make it painfully clear: Spectre was not a good Bond film. While it's definitely not Die Another Day bad, it definitely creeps uncomfortably close to Quantum of Solace bad. However, like both of those movies, it signals the disappointment to come with its theme song.

Today is allegedly "Global Bond Day," on account of the fact that October 5th is the day that Dr. No was released way back in 1962. If you don't know why that matters, then you probably don't care about "Global Bond Day." But for the occasion, or merely by coincidence, we now have our official music video for Sam Smith's Spectre theme song, "Writing's On The Wall." Obviously the song itself dropped a couple weeks ago and, confession, I kinda like it.

For one thing, it's a little interesting to have a Bond theme song where a male singer hits high notes while baring his soul emotionally over a woman. Usually the male 007 themes are about kicking ass or running while others walk or being an exceptional GoldenEye N64 poker player. And besides, that "For you, I'll have to risk it ALL!!" bit is basically made for drunken karaoke in a manner not seen since the "Let It Go" chorus two years back. Now for those who want new footage, you won't really get it here.

This is basically 284 seconds of Sam Smith walking around singing about how, for you (for me?) he will most definitely have to risk it all. My favorite part comes during the bit at 3:06 where James Bond finds his name written on a stone where other names are chiseled ("He always writes, while others chisel!"). Presumably it's regarding members of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. or what-have-you, but at this point we get the song's title, at which point the metaphorical title becomes hilariously literal. Yes, Bond, the writing its literally on the wall.

The first half of the song has Bond trying to score with Monica Bellucci while Bond spends the second half of the video trying to score with La Seydoux. He is presumably successful both times. Considering how much free press the film has received over casting Bellucci (who is of course utterly and hideously ugly at the near-death age of 51) as a Bond Girl, er I mean Bond Woman, I will be amused if she is merely the first-act conquest and Daniel Craig's true "Bond Girl" is 30-year old Seydoux.

Of course, that's presumptuous of me. I'm somewhat hoping that the film takes a turn that will remind viewers of a certain obscenely underrated Sherlock Holmes adaptation that I don't wish to spoil, but the marketing is certainly implying that Seydoux (17-years younger than Craig) is the film's true female lead. I'm not a fan of trying to play up the notion that casting a genuinely stunning 51-year old woman as a love interest for a 47-year old man is earthshaking progress, or the notion that each Bond film claims that their respective booty calls are the toughest, most independent "Bond Girls" ever, but that's for another day.

Anyway, there will be more 007 fun in the coming days and weeks. Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion: The Movie opens courtesy of Sony Pictures, MGM, and Eon Productions on October 26th in the UK and on November 6th in America. See it in 2D and glorious IMAX 2D, even if... you have to risk it ALL!

CULVER CITY, Calif., Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment today confirmed that Sam Smith has recorded "Writing's On The Wall," the theme song to SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond adventure. SPECTRE will be released in the UK on October 26 and in the US on November 6. The song, released by Capitol Records, will debut and be available to purchase and stream on September 25.

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