Friday Feature: “GoldenEye”

A not-so-shameful confession: when not working or updating The Second Disc, your humble catalogue correspondent’s free time has been occupied by playing the new Wii game GoldenEye 007, a re-imagining of the Nintendo 64 game updated for the present with a newly retooled storyline by original co-writer Bruce Fierstein and featuring current James Bond star Daniel Craig as the British spy. Though my own hardcore gaming days are largely behind me, I have no qualms saying the game is perhaps the best title for Wii without one of Nintendo’s flagship characters in it. It’s a taut, action-packed game that, along with the new 007 game Blood Stone, will nicely fill the increasingly long wait time until another Bond film is made.

Every attempt is made to make GoldenEye 007 feel like an actual film, including the score personally overseen by current Bond composer David Arnold. Many fans will see this as a godsend, since it means none of Eric Serra’s music for the original film makes the cut. While this is true, it provokes an unpopular opinion from this writer: while many Bond fans and film score geeks absolutely despise Serra’s GoldenEye score, I…actually think it’s not that bad.

For today’s Friday Feature, you get a discussion of the merits of GoldenEye as a film and soundtrack, after the jump.

UPDATE: Helplessly Hoping for Stills DVD-A Remaster?

With its scheduled release date now mere days away, has Rhino U.K. pulled the plug on the CD/DVD-A remaster of Stephen Stills’ 1970 solo debut of the same name?

As of the morning of September 4, the Amazon U.K. listing was revised to show the set as “Temporarily out of stock,” while the release date was baffingly changed to January 1 (!), 2010. By evening, the “DVD-A” of the title had been replaced with “DVD.” While the mystery isn’t yet solved, it’s likely that Stephen Stills won’t be shipping next week. When and if Rhino U.K. does release the set, it’s possible that the advanced resolution DVD-Audio could be replaced with a standard DVD containing DTS and/or Dolby Digital surround tracks. The project as originally solicited may still arrive at some later date; the 2008 CD/DVD-A release of Graham Nash’s Songs for Beginners is similarly listed by Amazon U.K. as “+DVD” so the absence of the “A” may or may not be a sign as to the reissue’s format.

Two other Crosby, Stills and Nash-related titles once announced by Rhino U.K. still linger in limbo: remasters of CSN’s 1983 Allies and Stills’ 1984 Right by You. These long out-of-print discs were set for a welcome release in 2009 as part of the “Rhino Encore” line of no-frills remasters (Nash’s 1986 Innocent Eyes slipped through the cracks and did see a reissue in this series) but never materialized. Let’s hope a similar fate doesn’t befall Stephen Stills. Watch this space for more information as it becomes available.

Michael

No, not me.

As you’ve doubtlessly heard from the entire music-consuming portion of the Internet, Epic is releasing what is sure to be the first of many posthumous albums by Michael Jackson on December 14. Titled simply Michael, it’s looking like the disc will feature mostly tracks recorded after the release of 2001’s Invincible. Obviously, that’s not as exciting a period to cover as, say, the Thriller or Bad years, but those outtakes will probably come packed with another reissue of those albums. (That’s not so much a gripe as it is a statement of probable fact; I’d happily buy a box set devoted to Thriller or a proper reissue of Bad with the original LP mixes restored.)

A track list has not been released – heck, it may not even be finalized yet – but the cover art has been released, and a single, “Breaking News,” will stream on MJ’s official site starting Monday. Join us at The Second Disc in hoping the set has got some worthy material on it – I’m sure something will escape the vaults that turns out to be a winner, but who knows when? – and, of course, more info as it arrives.

Twenty Years and “Ten Legs”

To celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band – a celebration that unofficially kicked off back in 2009 with a massive reissue of their debut album – Pearl Jam will release Live on Ten Legs, a concert chronicle of the band in the 2000s.

Culled from shows recorded between 2003 and 2010 (many of which have been offered by the band for download or direct-burn-to-order CDs), Live on Ten Legs will be available through the band’s long-running Ten Club and in indie shops on January 18. It will be available as a CD or vinyl set as well as a deluxe set that combines both with the usual photos and paper swag.

Hit the jump for the track list.