Buy it... if you consider yourself any kind of Basil Poledouris collector, or if you enjoy John Barry's broad and lush romantic sensibilities of the 1980's.

Avoid it... if neither of Poledouris' scores for Conan the Barbarian nor Les Misérables holds any stylistic interest for you, for Farewell to the King resembles pieces of both works despite its exotic tones.

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Farewell to the King: (Basil Poledouris) Director John Milius' adaptation of Pierre Schondorffer's 1969 novel "L'Adieu au Roi" takes considerable elements from Milius' penned Apocalypse Now and combines them with several homages to Lawrence of Arabia and The Man Who Would Be King to form another film about the utopian dream of the simple, natural life among noble primitives during a time otherwise defined by worldwide conflict. In this case, Nick Nolte is a World War II American Army sergeant who deserts the service after narrowly escaping capture by the Japanese during the battle of Corregidor on Borneo in 1942. He flees inland until encountering a tribe of headhunting Dyak Indians. Instead of killing him, however, the headshrinking Iban tribe in Sarawak allows to him to live because of a tattoo of a dragon on his chest, and eventually he becomes king of the tribe. Three years later, the war catches up with him as the British parachute onto the island and attempt to enlist the American and his tribe to fight against the Japanese. A predictable dilemma faces the Nolte character, who by that point has long hair and looks frighteningly similar to the look of the actor's famous 1990's police mug shot. The philosophy of becoming a hero is Milius' focus here, and though Nolte's performance was heralded as a success, the predictable nature of the plot (with several contradictions along the way) caused the film to be largely panned by critics and ignored by audiences. The director's choice to force the film into the mould of a love story would complicate matters. For Milius, however, the choice of composer would be among the easiest he'd have to make. Having Collaborated with Basil Poledouris for Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn, Milius would rely on the versatile composer (from a time very early in the production process) to provide music both exotic enough for the tribe and noble enough to represent a king. Also necessary would be a musically romantic representation of grand vistas, and all of this would require a significant orchestra and an array of unusual percussive elements.

The employment of such an organic ensemble yielded tremendous success for Farewell to the King, despite the composer's well documented success with the incorporation of synthesizers as a dominant aspect of his career. The end result is still music that stands as one of the finest obscure scores of the digital age, one that is known mostly for its stunning ten minutes of highlights but remains strong throughout. One aspect always prevalent in Poledouris' music is a compelling theme, and for Farewell to the King, the composer provides no less than four primary ideas, each receiving considerable development throughout the work. The most obvious of these themes is the one of sweeping, romantic, and epic expanse, with layered strings and accompanying brass straight from the famed 1980's style of John Barry. Heard most prominently in "Main Title (South China Sea)," the resemblance to Barry's broad constructs and fluid performances in this theme is remarkable, but perhaps predictable given the immense popularity of that lush Barry style at the time. In fact, even Milius became caught up in that sound, insisting on it from Poledouris despite not being the composer's initial inclination for a film for which he originally considered a mostly vintage militaristic approach. The other themes in Farewell to the King exist in various states of nobility, one being a battle call worthy of Conan himself. In "The Battle Montage," Poledouris drops the Barry imitation and returns to the folk-inspired rhythmic flow that is more familiar to his career; he handles the cue with the same rhythmically propulsive and raw horn techniques heard in both Conan the Barbarian and Flesh + Blood. With its crisp percussion, the theme dances with remarkable depth and enthusiasm, emulating the same feeling in the tree of woe rescue cue in Conan the Barbarian in particular. Softer variants of this theme are equally rewarding, including the closing finale in "Farewell to my King." A subtheme for pan flute evokes memories of James Horner's use of related instruments, though Poledouris always distinguishes himself by allowing a more traditional orchestral woodwind to take the lead.

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All of Poledouris' primary ideas are masterfully referenced in the aforementioned cue "Farewell to my King," complete with the banging of the composer's ethnic metallic instruments taking the place of the usual tolling chimes at the end. In a score that often uses the gong-like instruments as slightly dissonant accents to the orchestra, the conclusive employment of them as harmonious accompaniment is extremely satisfying. Saturated with Poledouris' heavy, dense orchestral styles, the score reduces its dramatic grip rarely, such as for the newsreel-inspired "The Training March" and an elegantly simplistic and out of place "Imperialist March." Ethnic rhythms and instrumentation also offer quick respites in the opening cue and "Day of the Dead" (Hans Zimmer would take the percussion in "Realization" to heart when writing Beyond Rangoon). But the quality is never in doubt across the board, with Poledouris maintaining harmonic integrity and a melodramatic presence also heard in Les Misérables, though without the brooding bass mix. In fact, the strings in "War is Over" and other cues significantly foreshadow ideas that would be heard again in Les Misérables. Simply put, Farewell to the King is an outstanding combination of all of Poledouris' finest thematic and instrumental elements, except for the synthesizers. On album, the score was released on 1989 CDs by both Varèse Sarabande and Milan (in nearly identical fashion), and both fell badly of print and demanded prices in excess of $50 for many years. In 2006, the Prometheus label expanded and remastered the score as part of its non-limited offerings, allowing it to exist on the soundtrack specialty market at an asking price of about $17 for several years. The most interesting additional material on the Prometheus product is contained, not surprisingly, in the alternate mixes of the score's two major cues, though none of these three bonus takes is so different from the originals as to make them absolutely necessary. Within the score, only the opening minute of exploration of the primary theme in "Flare of Youth" is truly worthy of inclusion. The remainder of additional material strays too closely to source material to compliment Poledouris' bolder tones. On any of its albums, though, Farewell to the King is an absolute necessity, and it should be sought with confidence by any Poledouris collector. *****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.47 (in 33 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 32,977 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.