Basil Poledouris
 

Is it just me or is this guy the most underrated composer ever.

Conan: Anvil of Crom
Starship Troopers: Klendathu Drop
Robocop: Rock Shop

Why pose.

Nope, it's not just you! That said, this is more an issue with the composer being very selective in what he scores, because he can be. The only more selective composer I have heard about is John Barry who seems to take every job offered and ends up scoring practically nothing... ;)

Basically, Basil Poledouris would be doing more film work if he wanted to. Though, he has enough money where it's not an issue and he does only those he wants to.

I saw a interview that goes more into detail about his "taking it easy" style of choosing which projects to take on. Will post a link if I can find it again.

I seem to recall reading on the Movie Music UK message board that Poledouris underwent a divorce recently, which might help explain his near-total lack of new scores recently. I'll search the info out ans post it if I can.

On the plus side, I suppose, Poledouris' small body of work makes it easier to collect his complete works than someone who's been incredibly prolific like Morricone. Still, I'd rather he did more.

Oh, and "Hunt for Red October" rules too. I need to find a complete version of that without SFX.

For me, it's all about Conan The Barbarian. This is what is called epic. The music is so beautiful, that it's far better than dialogues. That's why Conan is almost a mute movie, no need to talk, the music speaks for itself. Theology/civilization, Anvil of Crom, Riders Of Doom, I mean...Which score could pretend to be so perfect in this present day and age ?

The Conan soundtrack is the only good thing about the movie. Fortunately, it's insanely good.

Here we go; here's what MMUK had to say about Poledouris' current status:

I love his music, but it's not really the right style for a lot of movies. It's the kind of stuff that overpowers a lot of scenes. Sometimes it works, but I can imagine that it wouldn't work well on a lot of movies.

Musically, I'd say that Poledouris, Christopher Franke, and Jeremy Soule have similar styles. Dunno, might just be me.

I have to disagree. Poledouris' writing is much more boldly presented than either Soule or Franke; while he's capable of more intimate scoring, Poledouris is at his best with powerful, thunderous statements of theme.

Franke uses synthesizers to create long, flowing ambient works that use atmosphere rather than theme, even when the volume goes up. Soule is more thematic though his stuff tends to be ambient as well; he uses much better samples than Franke, but his big action material isn't as complex or thematic as Poledouris'.

I say this as a huge fan of both Soule and Poledouris (although not so much Franke).