I was going through a Conan fan site today when I saw “Basil Poledouris 1945 - 2006″. Such a loss!
The amazing thing is that I brought Conan’s soundtrack to work today. It’s one of my favorite pieces of music. It’s also one of the best original soundtracks (nominated for Oscar).
If you haven’t listened to it, I urge you to do so. You’ll immediately recognize some of the tracks. For example, Riders of Doom has also been used repeatedly in trailers for The Legend of Zelda series of games by Nintendo. The Anvil of Crom appears on a Gladiator trailer and others. Here’s a snippet from an “independent” review:
Basil Poledouris has written one of the year’s best scores for one of the year’s most wretched films, Conan the Barbarian. Whatever Poledouris saw when he scored this film is a wonder… The score is handsome, strikingly original and, wonder of wonders, sensitive and often convincing in spite of the film’s ghastly stupidity. This is a ceremonial work but is in its own way also concerned with joy. What is celebrated in Poledouris’ ode is nothing less than a triumph over pain and despair, with music of deeply felt certitude. The drama of Poledouris’ sensibilities is not laid on externally, but rises unselfconsciously and drawn to fable scale.
I specifically recommend the following tracks:
- “Anvil of Crom”
- “Riddle of Steel” / “Riders of Doom”
- “Wheel of Pain”
- “The Kitchen” / “The Orgy”
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