Adele – Skyfall (Theatre Of Delays Remix)
Here’s a cheap ploy by Acid Ted in the race for readers. A Bond theme tune by the UK’s most successful female singer of recent years given a remix.
Actually, that’s a bit unkind to me. I do love Adele’s work. Her voice does seem to lend itself to dance remixes, with High Contrast’s remix of Hometown Glory and Keljet’s remix of Rolling In The Deep being among two of my favourite tracks of recent years. And Theatre of Delays is a synth producer who can do little wrong.
However, I’d not heard Skyfall. Best check it out first. Oh. Disappointed. I was hoping for something huge and making maximum use of the drama in Adele’s voice. It never quite takes off. Instead, I find myself in the terrible position of agreeing with the Daily Telegraph who say “This song is fine, it will sound great in a cinema with CGI women and bullets floating across the opening credits, but it inevitably pales in comparison to the songs to which it pays homage. Meanwhile, Muse’s new album opens with a mad sci-fi rock and electronica romp, Supremacy, with a cheeky John Barry motif in it, that fans are already proclaiming as the greatest Bond anthem that never was. It does rather make Adele’s song sound timid. The new Bond films have a quality of boldness and vigour to them that her classy but overly predictable ballad just can’t quite match.” That’s not good.
Hopefully, Theatre of Dreams will solve everything. He gives it more of a dance feel but without taking away the cinematic widescreen sense of the original. All a bit respectful. Not enough energy and passion injected. Perhaps needs a more radical re-interpretation to unlock the amzing track hidden inside.
I’m a huge Bond fan (especially the soundtracks) but have been consistently disappointed by the theme songs for 25 years now. David Arnold’s work on the more recent films has been okay, but he’s no John Barry. The only contemporary tune worth more than one listen is Garbage’s “TWINE”, and even that’s derivative.
I find Adele to be a competent singer, but incredibly overrated. Over the weekend, a friend commented that “Skyfall” sounds like “Diamonds Are Forever”. There’s no “amazing track hidden inside” – the song is dull and unoriginal, and even this remix doesn’t improve it. But thanks for this excellent post, Ted.
[...] new original release from Theatre of Delays, after a load of remixes – be it Queen, Adele or The XX . This is music for hypercars. Chunky synths with go faster stripes. Music for traffic [...]