![]() But that song was a slow dance with pulse Smith’s is no-dance-percussion-free other than piano and an occasional rumble of what sounds like a timpani. The initial flare of strings and horns on “Writing’s on the Wall” recalls a lot of Bond music, but most especially the opening to 1965’s “Thunderball” from Tom Jones, incidentally the last British solo male performer to tackle Bond before Smith. It still had drums the main theme’s riff, remember, is all surf guitar. However sumptuously it used big-band jazz and classical orchestration, Bond’s early music, under John Barry, still dabbled in the modern. In fact, “Writing’s on the Wall” hearkens to a time before “Goldfinger,” before Bond on screen, or at least to a tradition that has run parallel to the Bond sonic universe: that of music without rock-and-roll influence, music where no one craves propulsion, rhythm, or groove. ![]() In a promotional video, Smith said that instead of making a “big pop song” he wanted to have listeners say, “That’s Bond, that sounds like a Bond theme.’” Accordingly, there has perhaps never been a more defiantly retro title song in the history of the franchise, which is saying something. This is true for “Writing’s on the Wall,” Sam Smith’s newly released theme for the forthcoming Spectre, though Smith and his producers may want it to seem otherwise.
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