It was a promotional CD made by Basil Poledouris and Richard Kraft and intended for filmmakers and producers only. Since the composer was so nice, he gave some to journalists and even fans. But unfortunately, the original recording of The Tradition of the Games has never been officially and commercially released.
I have to concur with Thor, Henry. Pretty soon, every single score Basil has written will be recommended by someone as "the best thing he ever did". QUIGLEY is superb and probably the closest thing to it is LONESOME DOVE, but my personal fave is CONAN. I think his weakest big score may be HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, but I see someone has already proclaimed it his best. He's not wrong...for his own personal taste...so just go with your instincts (and samples....samples are good). Frankly, I envy your discovering Basil for the first time. I don't think any of his scores are bad or boring...they are almost all top-notch. He is definitely one of my top ten composers.
Whatever one's personal tastes, CONAN is THE score to listen to. A milestone in film scoring, and if in 500 years Poledouris will be remembered for ONE thing, it will be this one.
I’m very late to the discussion. My favorite Basil Poledouris has and will always be Conan the Barbarian. This score I will keep forever and never get rid of it, especially the 3 disc Intrada set. Pure masterpiece in my opinion. Now Hunt for the Red October was the first Poledouris soundtrack I owned but found out that I really just loved the Hyme. If you enjoy the fantasy, barbaric sound of the Conan’s then check out Flesh + Blood. Like others said here, he has a lot of tastes for everyone.
You are correct, when he spent a whole lot of time on preparing the master for release.
He worked his ass off on that score that was rightly proud of it.
it's an amazing piece of work and well worth seeking out.
Any hope of Amerika receiving an expanded/complete release some day, Ford? If I'm not mistaken it was Basil's longest score that he ever wrote...and quite thematically rich.
Yavar
P.S. to henry -- have you picked up Les Miserables, my favorite Poledouris score, yet?