On Christmas Radiohead released a new song that they composed under commission for the latest James Bond film, “Spectre.” It was ultimately rejected by the producers in favor of a different song from Sam Smith, but Radiohead’s is leagues better, if you ask me. It’s haunting and gorgeous and would have been one of the few redeeming qualities in a film that was otherwise a huge disappointment. Now someone has combined Radiohead’s theme with the film’s actual title credits to give us all a glimpse of what might have been.
This situation echoes one that happened eighteen years ago when Sheffield, England band Pulp wrote a theme for the similarly moribund James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies.” It too was scuttled in favor of a song by a more mainstream artist (Sheryl Crow, in that instance), and Pulp’s too was far superior to what ultimately made it onto the official soundtrack. The band ultimately released it as a B-side called “Tomorrow Never Lies.”