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Willow vs Conan the Barbarian


WampaRat

Willow vs Conan the Barbarian  

30 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is you favorite?

    • Willow (James Horner)
      12
    • Conan The Barbarian (Basil Poledouris)
      18


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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...;)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.) 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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?

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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.

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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. 

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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