 |
|
| Poledouris |
|
|
Flesh + Blood: (Basil Poledouris) In 1985, audience
fascination with the raw brutality of the Middle Ages continued to feed
Hollywood's production of topics involving swords and sorcery. The
popular acceptance of these violent depictions of barbarians and magic
had begun to taper off by the time Paul Verhoeven's
Flesh + Blood
blindsided audiences with what some have said is perhaps the most bloody
and gruesome vision of the era to come from Hollywood to date. The story
of
Flesh + Blood wasn't spectacularly new, though unlike many of
the other films to come from that genre, there wasn't one clear-cut hero
in the plot to follow. Each of the film's primary characters is flawed,
leaving the audience to exist as a sort of outside observer while
witnessing massive sieges, bloody battles, and conflicting courtship
splash across the screen, usually in shades of red. Perhaps due to the
lack of a single superstar in the cast (Rutger Hauer was the most
recognizable name),
Flesh + Blood was soon forgotten by
audiences, and many critics blamed Verhoeven's blood-splattering realism
in the violence for turning audiences away. After successfully elevating
the character of Conan to greatness with his tonal, yet brutal scores
for that franchise of films, Basil Poledouris was an immediate and
logical choice for the project of
Flesh + Blood. Poledouris had
not worked the Middle Ages out of his system quite yet, and was very
eager to compose for another barbarian-related film. Through his
meetings with Verhoeven, Poledouris discovered that the director's
desired score was essentially an extension of the tonal and rhythmic
Conan the Barbarian sound. The thematic development in those
earlier scores, especially in regards to Poledouris' ability to form
harmonic battles between two themes simultaneously in counterpoint, is
what the director was seeking. An additional dose of adventurous,
sword-fighting spirit would also be requested of Poledouris.
Using folk music from the time was a consideration, but
that sound simply didn't offer the modern standards of thematic power
needed for a film of this magnitude. Thus, the only music rooted in the
period for this project is similar to that in
Conan the
Barbarian, with simple, rhythmic themes performed by woodwinds and
percussion. Don't be fooled into believing that there's any attempt at
authenticity in
Flesh + Blood. There are even slight synthetic
effects employed to compensate for the ensemble's smaller size, such as
those heard the crescendo at 1:30 into the opening cue. The tone of this
score consists of accessible Poledouris action and carnage at its most
savage. He establishes themes and motifs for every character, as well as
one pounding identity for the element of war itself, and through these
constantly mingling themes, Poledouris has created a very satisfying and
rich orchestral powerhouse. With the help of tambourines, triangles, and
drums, Poledouris's music dances with light rhythms throughout its
scenes of contemplation, courtship, and rest, often relying on low
woodwinds (as usual) to add a simplistic, staggered rhythm to that
canvas. What will interest film score enthusiasts, however, is the
considerable attention to monumental action sequences featuring muscular
French horn performances. The opening and end titles are extensions of
this battle music, flowing with the same slightly folksy rhythms, but
backed up by the intensity of the London Symphony Orchestra and
featuring more of a swashbuckling style than heard in previous
Poledouris entries. For the slower cues, only 25 musicians were
necessary, but that number was beefed up to 75 players for the numerous
cues of wartime conflict. These elevated, brass and timpani dominated
action cues are lengthy and repetitious in their presentations, and
rarely do they fade without a fight. One standout abnormality is the
trumpet solo at 2:15 into "Siege of the City," which awkwardly reminds
of Poledouris' title theme for 2000's
Kimberly.
The sheer quantity and forcefulness of action material
similar to
Conan the Barbarian is overwhelming, but when
comparing the two scores,
Flesh + Blood's plethora of themes
causes it to have a different effect on the listener. Whereas
Conan
the Barbarian stated its themes in distinctive, unyielding fashion,
Flesh + Blood mixes and mingles its ideas with better clarity,
sometimes even with elegance. The score's two love themes, led obviously
by the one represented in "Martin and Agnes," are significant in their
romantic appeal. Thus, you get a more rounded score that may, for some
listeners, play better on album, but you also get a score that is less
memorable in terms of individual highlights.
Flesh + Blood is a
slightly less brutal, less magical score, but if you were disappointed
by
Conan the Destroyer in 1984, rest assured that
Flesh +
Blood is your true sequel score for
Conan the Barbarian in
terms of quality. Despite Poledouris' mentioning of chants in this work,
it should be noted that there is no choral accompaniment, which has
always been something of a surprise. On album, this score has only
existed on a pair of rare, collectible releases. It was a member of the
original Varèse Sarabande series of Club albums in the early
1990's and remained a prized collectible until 2002, when Prometheus
released another limited edition of the score as one of the last in
their own club series. The additional material supplied on the expanded
2002 album is interesting, but not as necessary as the music presented
on the Varèse CD. The sound quality of the appended material is
acceptable, though slightly poorer than the original album's selections
(partly due to the fact that these selections are among those that
employed fewer players). A handful of alternate versions of cues round
out the additional material on the Prometheus product, though, making it
a solid purchase. Both albums present this excellent Poledouris score in
its best, bombastic and relentless glory.
****
| Bias Check: | For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.48 (in 30 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.42
(in 27,554 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
Both albums contain extensive information about the score and
film. Both are also hand numbered.
