For Thulsa Doom's more hauntingly pleasant side, Poledouris worked with a simple theme inspired by the musical tinkering of his young daughter, Zoe, for "The Orgy," a basic, but effectively rolling representation of the barbaric sexual environment of the villain. The love theme for Conan, sometimes included as a passage within Conan's own similarly rendered theme, is performed with an appealing, lush heart by woodwinds, instruments that often act as the soul of the characters in the film. Among the smaller motifs are the relentlessly grinding rhythms of "Wheel of Pain" and the light-hearted, percussively festive "Civilization" theme that accompanies Conan's Mongol friend and flourishes in grandeur as Conan is rescued from "The Tree of Woe." To finish a commentary about Conan the Barbarian by suggesting that these are the only superior ideas in the work would be an insult to Poledouris, because nearly every cue contains an equally effective motif of some kind, culminating in the harmonically lovely and chorally lamenting "Orphans of Doom" at the conclusion of the film. While the score is never completely integrated so that all of the themes come together in a suite format (outside of artificial editing of sequences in the film to collect the best portions for multiple uses), Poledouris does manage to restate most of his ideas consistently throughout the film, providing the perfect musical canvas for the rather predictable characters. The score is rich in exotic percussion, heart-pounding rhythms, and mesmerizing instrumentation, proving what level of magic can result when a composer and director work towards a common goal with a massive ensemble of performers collected from two orchestras and a broad, expansive scope in mind from the outset. Because most of the constructs in the score maintain accessibility through their common, harmonic foundation, Conan the Barbarian translates very well to album, where the music has had another storied history. A very early CD was issued not long after the identical LPs hit stores in 1982. Most of the early Milan/MCA Records pressings were sold outside the United States, with the only CD representation for many years being a Milan album originating from France. This album contains the rather silly and disjointed (but still inexplicably cool) spoken prologue from the film by the Mongol wizard (Mako), the classic text of which you can view at the bottom of this review page. Featuring about 48 minutes of score, the Milan album has been reprinted several times (in 1992, 1999, and 2003), and all of these products feature identical contents at a low retail cost for casual listeners.

In 1992, following Milan's initial offering, Varèse Sarabande released the scores for both Conan the Barbarian and its less impressive sequel, Conan the Destroyer, on their own CDs, with the album for the first score adding 20 minutes of previously unreleased material to the contents of the preceding CDs and LP. Among the extra cues are the fantastic "Tree of Woe" and "Recovery" back to back, both of which featuring strong extensions of the civilization and love themes that are not to be missed. Also added are lengthy cues from the latter half of the film, including the orgy scene and Doom's classic head-rolling execution by Conan. Unfortunately, these Varèse albums for the franchise fell completely out of print and hit $100 apiece in value on the used CD market. All the early CDs, largely assembled from unsatisfactory tapes held by Poledouris himself, exhibit the archival sound quality to be expected for the era, reflecting the same consequent harshness in brass that is typically heard in James Horner's early recordings. The Varèse release of Conan the Barbarian, although it is unfortunately missing the catchy prologue, features slightly more dynamic sound quality and an excellent 20 minutes of extra score, and this product was for a long time considered highly preferable. In 2012, Intrada Records finally obtained the studio's original tapes and produced a 3-CD set of the complete score with newly-released alternate takes, many of which raw and interesting in their revelations about the score's evolution. While this presentation suffers from the inclusion of the lengthy source-like usage of solo percussion and oboes, it's a tremendous treat for any enthusiast of the score. Be aware that the new mix of the score by Intrada may sound awkward at first to those very familiar with the previous albums, and a fair amount of archival sound issues inevitably remain. That said, it is a classic album for a classic score, presenting the early highlight of a career sadly cut short just two decades later. When Poledouris was nearing the end of his battle with cancer in 2006, he set his focus on traveling from America to a film music conference in Ubeda, Spain, in July of that year. Despite his scars from brain tumors and the effects of chemotherapy, he managed to miraculously make the trip so that he could conduct a significant portion of reconstructed music from Conan the Barbarian (albeit transcribed for a smaller orchestra) for adoring fans. Upon returning to the United States after that successful and widely publicized concert, the composer ceased his chemo and passed away within months. This score stands, therefore, as not only a highlight of Poledouris' career in a technical sense, but also as a tribute to his own spirit of adventure.

One of the only lingering elements of serious dissatisfaction involving Conan the Barbarian that will forever haunt its original recording is its uncorrectable issue of sound quality. That problem was compounded when many ensembles failed to capture the score's brutal tone in re-recordings of individual cues. Poledouris himself had never been pleased with how his score was performed and preserved, fueling long discussions about reconstructing the score and re-recording its entirety in vibrant digital sound. Through a partnership between James Fitzpatrick and Luc Van de Ven in 2010, Tadlow Music and Prometheus Records were able to give this monumental score a second life. The assembly of the score included the use of Poledouris' original manuscripts and a precise, careful assembly of the right instrumentation, including percussive effects not rendered as intended in the original recording, to constitute the City of Prague Philharmonic (joined by its usual choral supplement). The Eastern European tone of the 100 singers of the chorus was an additional fortune given the weightier force of sound they could naturally supply to the Latin texts. The reconstruction of the actual lyrics used by Poledouris was another painstaking detail not overlooked for the recreation. This ensemble, conducted by Nic Raine, consists of veterans of many film score recreations, and their recordings are well known for their outstanding balance between detail and a wet ambient mix that gives the impression of a live performance. All of the best attributes of the group's top efforts through the years, from their memorable performance of John Barry's Raise the Titanic to their rousing rendition of Jerry Goldsmith's theme from Capricorn One, are matched for Conan the Barbarian. It is often said in reviews of music from the fantasy renaissance of the 1980's that a precise re-recording of the full scores would be their own form of fantasy, and Conan the Barbarian has always been among such deserving candidates. To actually hear such an endeavor executed so well is stunning in a practical sense, not only from the technical performance aspect, but also given how expensive such prospects are. Thankfully, the 2010 re-recording of Conan the Barbarian is everything you could hope it to be. It's a rare case in which your high expectations are actually exceeded, with perfect execution across the board and a collection of extras on the second CD of its set that includes a fantastic hidden gem in the form of seven minutes from Conan the Destroyer. To hear over two hours of Poledouris' music for the franchise in this fashion is the kind of treat that every film score should greet with an open wallet. Simply put, no better film score album debuted in all of 2010. Between the albums from Intrada and Prometheus, now is the time to appreciate the music of Aquilonia.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download