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I think I'm the only person on the board who hasn't heard it, except for the main title music.
OH... MY... GOD, SPACEHUNTER
You have denied yourself one of the great film scores of all time... I mean, when they say, this one has it all, they are talking about Conan, by Basil Poledouris. Granted the opening title is magnificient, but some of the best stuf is further into the score. "The Orgy" brilliantly written and orchestrated. "Wifeing" is tragic and touching. And the amazingly savage battle themes that bookend the score are breathtaking. Choir and orchestra combined in perfection... Please find a copy of this score... don't deny yourself one of the great pleasures of movie music
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You're wrong, Thor:
Thulsa Doom can't stand Conan. You can probably figure out why.
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Nope, Thulsa Doom is from Conan.
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I first saw CONAN when my brother got me into a press screening about a week before it was released. (In my brother's view, it was a sin to pay to see a movie; I think that's how he got to be a critic. They never have to pay for anything they see, which ends up giving them this lofty air of enitilement.) Anyway, while we liked some parts of the film, we had trouble with its tone, which seemed to be trying to effect the old STAR WARS trick of presenting itself as a parody taking itself seriously. It eventually gives up on this idea, and just tries to be serious, which, had I been 10 or 12, I might have enjoyed as much as I enjoyed MGM adventure pictures in the 50's. I guess I was too old for it. It still seems to promise more than it delivers.
But the music was overwhelming! I hadn't heard a score like that in epochs! Definitely a throwback to the old Korngold-Rozsa style of rousing swashbucklers! It was incredible! Thunderous melodies pouring over you at every opportunity. I still remember that experience as feeling awash in music; it was that intense. And the variety of his score made me feel that a master composer had sprung fully grown out of nowhere. The only Poledouris score I'd been aware of before that was BLUE LAGOON('80), which has a gorgeous Main Title, and then sort of peters out.
So I ran to get hold of my soundtrack buddy at the time, Myron Bronfeld, and tell him about this masterpiece, and he went running out to see the picture as soon as he could, and together we gloated over the score for many years. CONAN THE DESTROYER is almost as good; it's sort of like just an extended CONAN. Which is OK by me; I could easily listen to 10 hours of music like that! Myron ended up getting a tape of the music tracks; that man had connections like you wouldn't believe! He even got a tape of a compilation Poledouris later put together for the Universal Studios Tour, called the "Conan Sword and Sorcery Spectacular," which sounded like more of the same.
DEFINITELY a MUST for every collector who tries to call himself a collector!
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Any collector wqho is a collector would have locate the complete score from recording sessions. Goodness, they did remaster it for the DVD. Someone has to have this beautiful thing.
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And I also wondered what the chances would be that, if I did buy it, an expanded rerelease or something would come out just months later. Is that likely? I don't know how much is on the CD to begin with.
The Varese issue is the expanded one; it runs 67:52 and contains a lot more than the Milan issue.
NP: DAY OF THE DEAD (John Harrison)
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The Varese issue is the expanded one; it runs 67:52 and contains a lot more than the Milan issue.
But there is still roughly a half hour of unreleased (and fabulous) music... we need a 2 CD complete release! This score utterly deserves it.
And Ford, don't tell us that the masters don't exist... I recently read the book "Knowing The Score", and Poledouris' interview details his troubles in "finding suitable masters".
True, he may not have the masters to do a full 5.1 channel remix of the score... but he at least has a left / center / right mix that would be just peachy for a 2 channel stereo CD release... he says so himself, right there in the interview.
Come on, now... let's bite the bullet and get a complete Conan released in my lifetime!
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But there is still roughly a half hour of unreleased (and fabulous) music... we need a 2 CD complete release! This score utterly deserves it.
And Ford, don't tell us that the masters don't exist... I recently read the book "Knowing The Score", and Poledouris' interview details his troubles in "finding suitable masters".
Well, what you have is all that exists in STEREO.
It's was only due to dumb luck that VARESE found the extra tracks.
The score does exist in a rather muddy MONO version on the film stems with ups and downs.
The best solution IMHO is for Basil to just go back and RE-RECORD the entire score for a new CD relesae with a better orchestra (The Rome group was far from the best) and there is vast room for improvement.
Basil been wanting to for the last twenty years, maybe he'll be able to do it sometmie in the future.
Ford A. Thaxton
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I'd pick up a recording of that in a heartbeat.
Although i've never had a problem with the performances of the orchestra on the OST.
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Posted: |
Sep 15, 2020 - 4:37 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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Ever since I heard the scores to BIG WEDNESDAY & CONAN THE BARBARIAN, back when they were released, Basil Poledouris was pretty much always in my Top 5-10 Favourite Film Composers.
He would often jostle with Elmer Bernstein, John Barry, Maurice Jarre, Pino Donaggio, and later, Bruce Broughton, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, JNH (and others) for a place near the Top, alongside John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith & James Horner.
Sometime around 2013/14 (I think), I found myself falling out of love with his music.
I would play one of his scores but switch it off, as it wasn't really doing it for me the way it used to.
Obviously our tastes do change as we grow older.
Some music becomes even more beloved and powerful, while others fall out of favour.
Anyway, while watching Cobra Kai recently, I heard his music from IRON EAGLE playing on a TV in the background in some scenes, and was instantly transported back to that time/moment when his music just sparkled with with and invention.
Since then, I've been playing his scores and enjoying them all over again.
His was a unique sound and talent that we should all be thankful for and that we got to hear for as long as we did.
There are parts of BIG WEDNESDAY, CONAN, RED DAWN, LONESOME DOVE, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER & FLESH + BLOOD that are as good as anything I've ever heard by anyone else at the top of their game.
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