Radiofinger
December 25, 2015 8:09 AM   Subscribe

@thomyorke: 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. May the force be with you ...
posted by Artw (34 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
I could see Colin Greenwood wearing a tux under a wetsuit.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:21 AM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


New lcd soundsystem, new radiohead, new achewood. Thanks, universe. (Thuniverse.)
posted by Rinku at 8:23 AM on December 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


And also with you, Thom Yorke. Merry Christmas.
posted by xarnop at 8:32 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


And also with you

Jedi liturgy
posted by shakespeherian at 8:40 AM on December 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


And also with you

Jedi liturgy


*is anointed with blue milk*
posted by Fizz at 8:57 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


This is so much better than Sam Smith.
posted by saul wright at 9:02 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


30 seconds in and I'm already loving it more than any other James Bond song. Thanks for posting.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:03 AM on December 25, 2015


I'm disappointed that it's been over five hours and no one seems to have torrented the movie and synced the Radiohead track with the credits sequence yet. Get a move on, internet.
posted by Grangousier at 9:05 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


I preferred Morrissey's "Spectre, Spectre, bulbous splendour"
posted by fallingbadgers at 9:13 AM on December 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


You mean like this?
posted by blue_beetle at 10:02 AM on December 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


Oh, internet how could I have doubted you?
posted by Grangousier at 10:36 AM on December 25, 2015 [9 favorites]


Direct link to the track on Soundcloud, which also has a download link. Awesome, thanks!

Oh, internet how could I have doubted you?

Internet: No worries, bro, we understand.

We also know where you live, what you buy, and what you see in so-called "private mode." Oh, we weren't supposed to say that out loud. Too bad our memory erasing capabilities are still a few years out. Ignore that, too.

I wonder how long it took them to write this, because Sam Smith knocked his out in about 30 minutes, for whatever that's worth. I think it says more about how well the James Bond spy themes have been structured that if you know what you're doing, you can select the right pieces and make a new theme in no time flat.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm digging it as a song, but it's not working for me as a Bond theme; there's no victory in the music.
posted by Banknote of the year at 11:13 AM on December 25, 2015


there's no victory in the music

If anyone here has a punk/ska band and you're at a loss for the title of your next album, well...
posted by Fizz at 11:15 AM on December 25, 2015 [8 favorites]


Craig's Bond is supposed to be relentlessly dark; I don't think a lack of victory would be an issue...

Just trying to picture the director et al. sitting and listening to this and going, Nah, thanks anyway Thom
posted by fungible at 11:17 AM on December 25, 2015


Oh, I can see them doing that. It goes quite nicely with the visuals anyway, and I'm glad to have another Radiohead track, especially with those strings. After listening to the Inherent Vice soundtrack (in particular the Shasta / Fay / Hepworth variations), Jonny Greenwood is the only rock musician I want an actual violin concerto from.

Watching the Christmas Top of the Pops on iPlayer and christ is it beige.
posted by Grangousier at 11:21 AM on December 25, 2015


My wife just showed me a Japanese fan manga of Q dressing up his cats in Christmas clothes and putting them on Instagram. There's a whole audience whose interest in the last couple of Bond movies revolves around Q. Occasionally my wife will take a small group of them to the Portuguese cafe over the road from MI6 for coffee and custard tarts.

I have no idea what MI6 think of this.
posted by Grangousier at 11:27 AM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


Crap Bond film deserved the crap Bond theme. This is too good for 'Spectre'.
posted by mannequito at 11:36 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Japanese fan manga of Q dressing up his cats in Christmas clothes and putting them on Instagram

...this makes me think of "Burn After Reading" in a new light
posted by thelonius at 11:57 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm digging it as a song, but it's not working for me as a Bond theme; there's no victory in the music.

it's not a bad soundtrack for a woman having sex with an octopus in silhouette... tho i could think of better.
posted by ennui.bz at 12:00 PM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Grangousier: "My wife just showed me a Japanese fan manga of Q dressing up his cats in Christmas clothes and putting them on Instagram. There's a whole audience whose interest in the last couple of Bond movies revolves around Q. Occasionally my wife will take a small group of them to the Portuguese cafe over the road from MI6 for coffee and custard tarts.

I have no idea what MI6 think of this.
"

Some of us wanted to be Q.
posted by Samizdata at 12:00 PM on December 25, 2015


Love it.
posted by gt2 at 12:25 PM on December 25, 2015


Some strings remind me of Melody Nelson.
posted by nims at 12:44 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


You mean like this?

Matched against the title sequence it works surprisingly - nay, suspiciously well - and provides the whole affair with some much-needed gravitas. The Radiohead version also comes to a close with a (sort of) suspension, always a key ingredient in the great Bond openers, i.e. Live and Let Die.
posted by specialbrew at 5:18 PM on December 25, 2015


this is better (also not used)
posted by philip-random at 5:52 PM on December 25, 2015


The strings section at 1:30 and onwards sounds really familiar to me, but I can't place it. Anyone heard something similar elsewhere?
posted by ymgve at 6:34 PM on December 25, 2015


Parts of it sound very similar to Pyramid Song.
posted by Diskeater at 6:36 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm inordinately pleased that this was a new song and not just the long-rumored retread of their unfinished 90s effort Big Boots/Man O' War (which already sounded very Bond-y). The old song's great, but this is just magnificent.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:20 PM on December 25, 2015


I'm digging it as a song, but it's not working for me as a Bond theme; there's no victory in the music.

I would argue You Know my Name not only has no "victory", but is remarkably Kylo Ren and emowhiny.

I'd say that was the low point of the series if some of the 90s songs weren't almost that cheesy.

Seriously, this isn't even in the top 5 "least fitting" songs.
posted by emptythought at 8:50 PM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


This is nice, but as far as inexplicably declined Bond themes go, I still prefer Johnny Cash's Thunderball.
posted by ckape at 9:42 PM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


I've been listening to this non-stop and I am just super super happy that Radiohead decided to release this.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:59 AM on December 26, 2015


And here I thought Jeff Buckley was dead. :-P
posted by smidgen at 9:02 PM on December 26, 2015


My favourite Bond theme never used in a Bond movie is Janelle Monáe's Cold War.
posted by kandinski at 3:03 AM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Of course, unused Bond songs is a whole genre of its own (which I'm fairly sure was actually posted to the blue several years ago). My favourite being Only Myself to Blame by Scott Walker (if only because it goes to prove that he can still do that kind of thing), with an honourable mention for Shirley Bassey's Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
posted by Grangousier at 3:44 AM on December 27, 2015


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