Home » Jazz News » TV / Film

250

Jack White, Alicia Keys Misfire on New Bond Theme

Source:

Sign in to view read count
The song: Jack White and Alicia Keys, “Another Way to Die"

The good: It brings a bit of rock 'n' roll bite to the Bond theme and is instantly more memorable than the song Chris Cornell recorded for Casino Royale.

The bad: Any hooks by the song are provided by riffing on the instantly recognizable Bond theme, not by anything new offered in the song. And Keys, usually a relatively bold, in-your-face R&B singer, seems oddly tamed here, her voice not meshing well with White's yelled warble. In her defense, it's hard to not sound silly when you sing, “Suit 'em up, bang bang!" And there's some odd, out-of-place sudden electronic textures here and there, resulting in an overly-crowded song.

Final thoughts: One of the highest-profile film-related songs of the year, “Another Way to Die" is too firmly entrenched in Bond-lore to have any sort of life outside of the upcoming film, Quantum of Solace. The first mistake was mimicking an iconic film score with some electric guitars and modern effects, which is always, always, always, always a bad idea (see Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton in Mission Impossible). But don't fault White and Keys too much, as tackling a Bond theme has proved to be an insurmountable task for a bevy of pop stars of late. Everyone from Cornell to Madonna to Garbage has seemed to drown under the pressure of having to craft a tune for the franchise, trying too hard to sound modern (see Madonna's Die Another Day, the music equivalent of soulless CGI effect after CGI effect), or burdening songs with overwrought string arrangements (see Garbage's The World Is Not Enough).

Continue Reading...

Comments

Tags

News

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.