The Tribute to Basil Poledouris program is now on-line. Go to...
http://www.geocities.com/cinematicsound/

...to hear the show. In honor of Basil Poledouris' great career, which saw him win an Emmy for his work on the television mini series, LONESOME DOVE, we are presenting a 3 hour tribute featuring some of the best and most beloved scores from Poledouris' career including CONAN THE BARBARIAN, STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE BLUE LAGOON, ROBOCOP and many, many more.

Playlist http://www.geocities.com/cinematicsound/playlists/nov_10_06.html

If you have any problems listening the show please e-mail us at cinematicsound@yahoo.com.

Enjoy!

Gae

My girlfriend asked me to do a new compilation CD for her this week... so I did two. The first was easy - we'd been to see U2 on Monday night, so she wanted to hear some of my treasure trove of unofficial live recordings of the band. Going back over the ZooTV and Popmart tours to prepare that disc was a joy - those years of anguished cynicism from the band are my favourite... moreso than their latest material. (Though Bono's performance of 'Sometimes you can't make it on your own' on Monday night was a highlight moment for the band live - a true goosebump inducer.)

CD number 2 was also easy - a tribute to the late great Basil Poledouris. So I gathered all my iTunes files together and started thinking of a way to combine it all in one CD... The result being:

Basil Poledouris 1945-2006

1. 'Main Title' (For Love of the Game) (3:33)
2. 'Theme' (Lonesome Dove) (5:15)
Conan the Barbarian suite
3. 'Anvil of Crom' (Kunzel) (2:29)
4. 'Theology and Civilization' (Milan) (3:15)
5. 'Orgy' (Milan) (4:16)
6. 'The Leaving / The Search' (Varese) (6:00)
7. 'Main Theme' (Kimberley) (2:37)
8. 'Chopper' (The Hunt for Red October) (2:53)
9. 'Farewell Ladies (edit)' (Lonesome Dove) (5:43)
Farewell to the King suite
10. 'The War is Over' (3:22)
11. 'Honeymoon' (0:43)
12. 'Imperialist Waltz' (1:49)
13. 'This Day Forth' (2:43)
14. 'Learoyd Surrenders' (4:25)
15. 'The Attack' (Quigley Down Under) (2:53)
16. 'Lights Out' (Cherry 2000) (1:52)
17. 'Love Theme (Emmeline) ' (Blue Lagoon) (2:33)
18. 'Denouement / End Title (alternate) ' (Flesh and Blood) (7:22)
19. 'It's My Party' (It's My Party) (3:19)
20. 'Burial' (Amerika) (3:48)
21. 'Ceremony Montage' (Amerika) (2:54)
22. 'The Gift' (Quigley Down Under) (5:30)

Probably to some this will be a controversial list. Firstly, I wanted some of the inclusions to go beyond the obvious - yes, have a few main title cues, but also have some rogue cues that wouldn't normally get put on a compilation. So some will marvel as to why the main themes from Amerika, or Hunt for Red October isn't there, while other less obvious inclusions like 'Orgy' of 'Imperialist Waltz' are. (Incidentally, the latter two are there as representative of Basil's more whimsical side. )

Secondly, as it took shape as a playlist in iTunes over the last week, I found myself removing the more obvious tracks from Hunt for Red October (one of my first purchased scores), Les Miserables (a personal favourite), Starship Troopers... - they just weren't fitting in, particularly Les Mis, something which I found a bit frustrating, as it's such a wonderful main theme - for some reason the tone of it just wasn't mixing well with the others. Starship Troopers was originally represented by the action warhorse 'Bugs!' , which I dumped at the last minute in favour of 'The Attack' from Quigley Down Under. (My girlfriend has an affection for the use of the banjo in the action tracks of Danna's Ride with the Devil, so I figured this would go some way for her.) Hunt for Red October was a real challenge - the famous 'Hymn' just wouldn't fit anywhere... the epic finale cues - track 2 and 'Kaboom!' didn't really work either. 'Two Wives' and 'Red Route One' were both strong contenders... but I really needed a strong action track, so 'Chopper' it was.

Thirdly, I couldn't find my copies of Amanda, Cherry 2000, The War at Home, Big Wednesday and Robocop while putting this together. For some reason 'Lights Out' was in my iTunes (I think I may have downloaded it from somewhere a long time ago), and I think that strange sounding track would have remained my choice from Cherry 2000. I don't think Amanda or Robocop would have made an appearance... Almost certainly a cue from Big Wednesday would have made it though - it's a masterpiece. Perhaps all these unused treasure troves suggest a volume 2 down the track.

Fourthly, Conan and Farewell to the King were two scores I wanted to feature at some length.

Fifthly, I wanted to have a blend of his synth and orchestral writing. In the end, no pure synth work remained - but I like the shift back and forth of styles and idioms. Americana (Lonesome Dove, Quigley, For Love), New Age - orchestral fusion (Blue Lagoon), Alfred Newman biblical epics ('Theology and Civilization' opens with a great nod to 'The Slave Market' cue for Newman's The Robe), Elgar Cello Concerto (a nifty nod in Amerika's 'Burial' cue), wrenching piano solo (It's My Party), Medieval pirates (Flesh Blood) - so much range to an incredible voice.

Sixthly, I wanted to provide ample evidence of why I esteem this composer so greatly. His woodwind writing leaves his compatriots for shame except perhaps John Williams. And it's the woodwind solos in cues like 'This Day Forth' , 'War is Over' , 'The Leaving / The Search' and 'The Gift' that I'll miss the most from Basil Poledouris.

It's been a while since I've also prepared liner notes for my girlfriend to go along with - but I might do that here. She hasn't seen most of the films here, and the only score she's heard before at length was Farewell to the King.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gae:
Thanks Erik,
I'll have to download Realplayer now!!

Gae

P.S. I spotted a typo in the Gerhardt playlist that gave me a chuckle...."The Red Horse" by Miklos Rozsa? Of course it's "The Red House" although I'd love to see a movie about a Red Horse!

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Tee Hee. The Red Horse. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for the show... you know you DON'T have to donwload Real Player to listen to the show. I know a lot of people who hate you use Real Player so there is a Real Player alternative... called Real Alternative.

Check it out!
http://www.codecguide.com/about_real.htm

My favorite scores and cues by him are: