WampaRat 1,105 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Two massive fantasy scores from the 1980s. Just for fun. Which one is your favorite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,012 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I love Willow but it is no match for Conan. Karol Naïve Old Fart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,651 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Conan ainec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,364 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Willow AINEC I know everyone loves the Conan score but for whatever reason it just never clicked with me >shrug< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chen G. 3,949 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I like the Willow score (and I probably prefer that movie, too) but no. Its Conan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WampaRat 1,105 Posted November 13, 2020 Author Share Posted November 13, 2020 Poledouris had written some great scores in his career. But I don’t feel he ever topped his first Conan score. He really tackled that assignment head on. Shame the sequel was so disappointing. Even he wasn’t that inspired to write a ton of new material. His music to “Flesh and Blood” always felt to me like the worthy successor to the original Conan. And then there’s the Tyler Bates reboot...;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstrox 6,651 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I know people complain about the sound quality (and performance?) but for me, there's not a lot that touches the Conan OST. Unlike Willow, I've never seen the movie - but man is the Conan score and OST evocative of...something. It lost a little of its special-ness in the re-recording and the expansion. I stick with the OST for Conan. Call it nostalgia. Willow is a pretty good score, and one of the only Horner scores I would consider buying as an expansion - but I feel like most of my thrill from it comes from its association with a movie I like. So nostalgia too I guess. blondheim and WampaRat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chen G. 3,949 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Would have been interesting to throw more 80s fantasy scores into the poll. There are some fine scores from Jerry Goldsmith (Legend) and Alex North (Dragonslayer). Although I might stick with Conan anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,504 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 WILLOW is a fantastic score, but CONAN takes it. It's a cornerstone of film music history, and just damn good (despite the raw, skewed orchestral performance). blondheim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1977 1,743 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Willow. I prefer Destroyer to Barbarian. WampaRat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romão 2,274 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I love Willow, but Conan is simply one the greatest scores of all time and probably the best sword and sorcery score ever written Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,528 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 CONAN THE BARBARIAN, without a doubt. WILLOW was the beginning of the end, for Horner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounty95 558 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Willow by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chen G. 3,949 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said: WILLOW was the beginning of the end, for Horner Oh come off it, that's a nice score, too. Its just not Conan. 5 hours ago, Thor said: despite the raw, skewed orchestral performance From memory, there's a lot of overdubs in that score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csista 13 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 I really like Conan but Willow is one of my favorite adventure scores, so this one was easy. And to be honest, I prefer the soundtrack to Destroyer more than Barbarian. (But Willow still would have gotten my vote.) 1977 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Guernsey 2,284 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 7 hours ago, Jay said: Willow AINEC I know everyone loves the Conan score but for whatever reason it just never clicked with me >shrug< Glad it’s not just me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great score and I enjoy it immensely. Technically it’s probably Basil’s greatest achievement but I don’t get as much out of it as most people. I’m not sure Willow could really be deemed better but I enjoy it more, although Krull would probably be a better comparison in terms of era and style, plus Krull is probably a greater technical achievement even if Willow is perhaps more affecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brundlefly 2,385 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 15 hours ago, Thor said: WILLOW is a fantastic score, but CONAN takes it. It's a cornerstone of film music history, and just damn good (despite the raw, skewed orchestral performance). I assume you're talking about the original performance. I've listened to it once, way after I've got to know the score and it was a revelation in the most negative sense. People must have been stunned when the re-recording was released. That was really worth the expenditure. Holko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,528 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 12 hours ago, Chen G. said: Oh, come off it... No, I won't "come off it". Starting with the Mozart rip-off, WILLOW really does signify the end of Horner's "creativity". After that, he descended into churning out pastiche after pastiche, referencing previous scores ten-to-the-dozen, while coasting along on the coattails of his early successes. Yes, there were good scores (THE ROCKETEER; TITANIC; SNEAKERS), but as a viable, and original, composer, he died over thirty years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,076 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 19 hours ago, Jay said: I know everyone loves the Conan score but for whatever reason it just never clicked with me >shrug< This. Not a huge fan of Willow, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,512 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 The original performance of the Conan score is amazing. What's wrong with it? I'm asking, because in comparison with it the re-recording ranges from boring to repugnant, with your typical Czech flat, lifeless, sample-library-like sound. To be worse with Hollywood studio musicians than a budget eastern-European recording, the original would require some hard fails. Yet I am hearing no trumpet flubs or anything like it... Brundlefly and blondheim 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romão 2,274 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 15 minutes ago, Albus Percival Wulfric said: The original performance of the Conan score is amazing. What's wrong with it? I'm asking, because in comparison with it the re-recording ranges from boring to repugnant, with your typical Czech flat, lifeless, sample-library-like sound. To be worse with Hollywood studio musicians than a budget eastern-European recording, the original would require some hard fails. Yet I am hearing no trumpet flubs or anything like it... Wasn't the original recording done in Rome? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,512 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 15 minutes ago, Romão said: Wasn't the original recording done in Rome? I stand corrected. The score was played by the "Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino", an Italian radio orchestra which has actually been regularly conducted by first rate classical conductors. So a different league than the Czechs, still. Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,076 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 The Rocketeer > Willow. Like this post if you agree. Jay 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post blondheim 1,157 Posted November 14, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted November 14, 2020 17 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said: CONAN THE BARBARIAN, without a doubt. WILLOW was the beginning of the end, for Horner. I feel like Willow was sort of the beginning of the beginning. He really thrived from '88 to '97, imo csista, Thor, WampaRat and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounty95 558 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 7 minutes ago, blondheim said: I feel like Willow was sort of the beginning of the beginning. He really thrived from '88 to '97, imo This. There are few composers who could ever equal Horner's level during this very period. To me, it's only JW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheUlyssesian 2,478 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 On 11/13/2020 at 10:51 AM, WampaRat said: Poledouris had written some great scores in his career. But I don’t feel he ever topped his first Conan score. He really tackled that assignment head on. Shame the sequel was so disappointing. Even he wasn’t that inspired to write a ton of new material. His music to “Flesh and Blood” always felt to me like the worthy successor to the original Conan. Another worthy successor surprisingly is Joel Goldsmith's main theme for Kull The Conqueror (the movie which used the script for the 3rd Conan film). The score is a eclectic with electronic elements but this main theme personifies some of the other worldly bluster and bravado that people like in Conan - still driven by a great melody. WampaRat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,504 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 4 hours ago, blondheim said: I feel like Willow was sort of the beginning of the beginning. He really thrived from '88 to '97, imo You're absolutely right! Chen G. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brundlefly 2,385 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 7 hours ago, Albus Percival Wulfric said: The original performance of the Conan score is amazing. What's wrong with it? I'm asking, because in comparison with it the re-recording ranges from boring to repugnant, with your typical Czech flat, lifeless, sample-library-like sound. The original recording is in no way better than the re-recording, be it the sound quality, the performance or the instrumentation. Without the re-recording I'd never have come to appreciate the score at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,076 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 They changed the instrumentation for the re-recording? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brundlefly 2,385 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Due to a tight budget Poledouris couldn't get some of the exotic instruments he had intended to use. The re-recording uses all the instruments the score was originally written for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chen G. 3,949 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Interesting. What instruments are we talking about? Can't recall anything too exotic sounding in the score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondheim 1,157 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 I don't care how many exotic instruments there are, it sounds lifeless. The crescendo before the climax in Riders of Doom is a disaster. It is insane for me to consider that anyone would prefer the Prague recording of that track. That's not the only moment, either. Just the first one that springs to mind. Fabulin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,076 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 I wonder when the Intrada 3 CD set comes back in stock. I might give it a try. 36 minutes ago, Chen G. said: Interesting. What instruments are we talking about? Can't recall anything too exotic sounding in the score. Exotic instruments like violas and double basses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holko 9,526 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 It is insane to me that anyone would so heavily prefer that janky mess of an original recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,076 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 What's janky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romão 2,274 Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 2 hours ago, blondheim said: I don't care how many exotic instruments there are, it sounds lifeless. The crescendo before the climax in Riders of Doom is a disaster. It is insane for me to consider that anyone would prefer the Prague recording of that track. That's not the only moment, either. Just the first one that springs to mind. Well I do agree about that track, other highlights like The Search sound better on the rerecording, IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasey Kockroach 2,344 Posted November 15, 2020 Share Posted November 15, 2020 Land Before Time and Wind over either one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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