When the news of the premature leak of this song came to my attention a couple days ago I had no idea who on earth Adele was.
I think the song on its own is fine. Very well done.
A wonderful James Bond opening credits song.
I liked how it builds up, how a suggestion of the "James Bond horns" were worked in around the 2min point, the alternate turn at 3:19, then return to the previous theme with additional grandeur.
I'd give it a B+, as there are other Bond songs I enjoy better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagCoUYvIXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJFuw_ZXl8c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaV-6qerkqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_pCcBm400Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWEPGNjDi1M#!
Only this evening did I bother to go hunt down what else Adele had done.
A few of her top hits I'm familiar with in tune only.
They're very nice, but no so nice that I ever felt compelled to go hunt down who was singing any of them.
I didn't even know they were sung by the same artist.
But I'm a '70s and '80 Rock&Roll guy. I haven't really given a big sh!t about the music scene in two decades. Most of contemporary cr@p the radio's been dumping out has been... cr@p for quite a while.
A musical desert, IMHO. But that's another subject.
FYI:
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=764815&affid=100055
http://www.billboard.com/column/cha...-james-bond-theme-songs-ever-1007973172.story
http://movieline.com/2012/09/26/james-bond-movie-theme-songs-list-best-worst-007-music/