ARTISTS: Alicia Keys/Jack White
TITLE: “Another Way To Die”
WEB DEBUT: Sept. 17, 2008
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: As previewed in the non-Jack-approved Coke Zero ad, the music for the first duet in James Bond-theme history keeps the grandiosity intact, albeit with a little bit of White Stripesy mud smeared around here and there, and a backmasked bridge. But the vocals… uh, is this really the finished take? I only ask because the interplay between White and Keys has a feeling not dissimilar to two people yelling at each other across a crowded street. While their ears were stuffed with cotton. And their ability to keep their vocal presence was taken away by, I don’t know, Grace Jones in a suit or something. (There’s one point where one of them goes into head-voice mode that’s just painful.)
WHERE TO HEAR IT: YouTube, at least until the Bond-marketers have their way with the DMCA claims.
it sounds a lot like i thought it would. i think it could’ve been an interesting collaboration, but because it’s a bond theme, it automatically limits where the artists can go with the song. i imagine some record exec yelling “MORE STRINGS! MORE TRUMPETS!” while jack and alicia are trying to record. aside from jack’s guitar, there’s nothing that makes this stand out among the other bond themes from the past ten years. same ideas, same boring arrangements. heck, even madonna’s theme broke somewhat from convention…. and you can tell how much the bond people liked that by how many times the song’s melody was revisited in the actual film’s score (never).
what a big surprise that stereogum commenters think alicia keys is “unnecessary” on this song!
it’s a terrible song. and i’d say alicia keys is “wasted”, not unnecessary. the only redeeming thing is that i recall chris cornell’s terrible song from casino royale was over quickly and quickly forgotten when it came to the actual movie.
btw, sheryl crow’s “tomorrow never dies” was the best bond theme in recent memory.
Speaking as someone who never has been a Jack White fanboi, that sounds exactly like what I imagined a Jack White / Alicia Keys collabo would sound like.
Stepping back and getting more meta, I’m wondering a bit about this “leak”. User “jkatyt4″ has disabled both embedding and rating on this post. I can’t help but think this is an “intentional” leak to test listener reaction, with time to tweak before the “final product” is released. That’s how it’s done now, right Kanye?
Sounds like its a work in progress vocal mix to me. Haven’t heard a decent Bond theme tune in a long long time, jeesh, since A-ha! :)
@JohnOO: Tina Turner’s Goldeneye theme was pretty good, I thought.
Was it just me or did that song start, like, 7 times?