Track Listing

1. Prologue/Anvil of Crom
2. Riddle of Steel/Riders of Doom
3. Gift of Fury
4. Column of Sadness/Wheel of Pain
5. Atlantean Sword
6. Theology/Civilization
7. Love Theme
8. Search
9. Orgy
10. Funeral Pyre
11. Battle of the Mounds, Pt. 1
12. Orphans of Doom/The Awakening

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26516 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Import, Soundtrack
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Basil Poledouris' exciting score to Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1982 barbarian epic. 12 tracks. Warner Music. 2003.

Amazon.com
This early '80s sword-and-steroids epic by writer/director John Milius is notable for making a bankable action-star of Arnold Schwarzenegger and cementing the reputation of film composer Basil Poledouris (Robocop, Hunt For Red October, Free Willy, Starship Troopers). A dream assignment for a young composer eager to showcase the range his skills, the lusty Conan score hearkens back to the '30s heyday of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's unabashed Euro-classicism, but with enough modern rhythmic and percussive flourishes to satisfy the modern listener. Buyer beware--this music is not intended for rush hour commute listening, and Amazon.com will not be held liable for the carnage such exposure might inspire. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Differences between the Varese and Milan editions...
Basil Poledouris' score to Conan the Barbarian is one of the great powerhouses of film music and remains as one of my favorite film scores to this date.

The score is a perfect blend of melodic beauty and raw power with a huge orchestral sound and lots of wonderful choral passages that range from haunting and slow to in-your-face and over-the-top. I could go on forever on this score, but suffice it to say that I really can't think of a more perfect score than this.

As for the CD's sound quality...

The sound quality is definitely dated and isn't quite as crisp and clean as one would hope. However, what it lacks in sound quality, it more than makes up for in musical quality. I've purchased a number of albums containing re-recordings of Conan music and while the sound quality has been better, NOTHING has matched the emotion and power of the original film soundtrack.

Differences between the editions...

This 12-track Milan edition was released first, followed later by an expanded 16-track edition by Varese Sarabande.

The Milan CD runs around 49 minutes, while the Varese edition runs about 67 minutes. The Varese edition includes pretty much all the same music as the Milan release, with one exception:
The first track of the Milan edition opens up with Mako's opening prologue speech which then immediately segues into the "Anvil of Crom" opening. The Varese track opens up directly with "Anvil of Crom".

The Varese edition adds the following four tracks:
- Mountain of Power Procession (3:21)
- The Tree of Woe (3:31)
- Recovery (2:11)
- Death of Rexor (5:34)

and expands the following two tracks:
- The Leaving/The Search (5:59)
- The Kitchen/The Orgy (6:30)

Compared to the original Milan tracks:
- The Search (3:09)
- The Orgy (4:14)

All in all, the Milan edition is missing about 19 minutes worth of music.

In my opinion, the Varese edition is definitely worth seeking out, but even if you decide to get the 12-track Milan edition, the music is worth getting in whatever form you can.

For any fan of film music and for any fan of the film, this score is definitely a must have!

However, if you're an audiophile, you may want to think twice.

Essential Movie Sountrack, by Crom!
This score, IMHO, is one the best of the last 1/2 20th century. Truly epic and egaging, the music tells a story and the movie would have been far less without it.

My advice is read the reviews for the Varese Records recording. It is sadly years out of print, and has 4 more glorious tracks on it. Used copies are going for nearly $100 if that tells you anything. Get a copy of it if you can though. If you can't, do yourself a favor and at least pick up the lesser but still great Milan version. This is one movie score no music lover should be without.

I cannot imagine any sane human being regretting buying this
I don't see any point in writing a long review. This isn't the kind of music that can be described in words, any more than Beethoven's Fifth or Ninth can be described in words, and the Conan soundtrack is like both of those rolled into one. You can throw around words like "huge", "epic", "glorious", "soaring", etc., and they still fall far short. Kettle drums like mountains falling from the sky. Brass like the charge of an army of immortals. Power beyond mortal comprehension and beauty beyond human sight. This isn't just the best movie soundtrack ever created, it is the best classical music composed in the last half of the twentieth century. If you don't possess it, that is a flaw in your character that you should remedy immediately.

(note added on the event of the death of Basil Poledouris: let all who read this review, however few or many they are, know that there are those of us who regard this work as some others regard Wagner: the peak of music, the soundtrack to our soul, the gospel music of our religion. Its composer, or, better, the medium who channeled it to our lesser sphere, is gone now from our stream of time -- but music, and spirit, exist outside that stream. BP RIP)