Conan the Barbarian soundtrack - Ultimate Version

I believe that this torrent contains the longest, best-quality version of Basil Poledouris' CONAN THE BARBARIAN soundtrack ever created.

This legendary film score was originally released in 1982 in an inexcusably truncated form. Ten years later, the soundtrack angels over at Varese Sarabande produced a wonderfully remastered and expanded CD which contained over twenty minutes of additional music (VSD 5390). But this release was still missing a great amount of music from the film: the drums that play under Mako's opening and closing dialogue, the Gladiator pit sequence, the extended Temple of Set music, the battle in Thulsa Doom's palace following the orgy sequence, the music accompanying Subotai and Mako fighting at the mounds, the decapitation of Thulsa Doom, and many more smaller bits throughout the film. So much music, all of it lost, seemingly forever.

Several years after the Varese Cd, however, a bootlegger put out something called CONAN THE BARBARIAN/THE DESTROYER/LIVE. This was a rare two-disc set that contained the legitimately released soundtracks to both CONAN THE BARBARIAN and CONAN THE DESTROYER, plus a few bootlegged tracks from the Conan stage show that ran for years at Universal Studios, PLUS lots of additional CONAN THE BARBARIAN tracks which together covered all of the additional music that had never been released. To us lovers of the original film, this was a veritable gift from heaven -- with one BIG problem: all of the new "missing music" tracks had been taken off of a mono laserdisc, and to make matters worse, the bootlegger used what is now ancient computer technology to try to isolate the music from the dialogue and sound effects. The result was very poor quality on the new tracks -- REAL BAD, like listening through a bad AM radio in a toilet bowl. But for the last ten years, it's been better than nothing.

Now, with the release a few years ago of the CONAN THE BARBARIAN COLLECTOR EDITION DVD, the time has come to try for better. This new DVD is in 5.1 Surround sound, allowing the determined bootlegger to capture, isolate, and enhance each track in FULL STEREO, and with far more success at eliminating the dialogue and sound effects than before.

After a lot of work,tinkering, mixing, sweetening, and experimentation, I believe I have created something special. A truly complete soundtrack of the film, with all the new tracks at such a high quality that most compare favorably with the official CD release. Sound effects and dialogue have been reduced to near-nothing, mere whispers in parts of certain tracks. It's a spectacular listening experience, the closest we are liable to come to having a perfect and complete soundtrack for this film.

The original 1982 release had 12 tracks (47 minutes), while the Varese version had 16 (67 minutes). This new Ultimate Version has an incredible 29 tracks (107 minutes), and some of the Varese 16 have been buttressed with more music. Here is the new track list, to give you an idea of how the score has expanded:

01 - Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare (widescreen version) - Alfred Newman.mp3
02 - An Age Undreamed Of [not on original CD] - Anvil of Crom.mp3
03 - Riddle Of Steel - Riders Of Doom.mp3
04 - Gift Of Fury.mp3
05 - Wheel Of Pain.mp3
06 - Gladiator [not on original CD].mp3
07 - The Discipline of Steel - What Is Best In Life [not on original CD].mp3
08 - Atlantean Sword.mp3
09 - The Witch [not on original CD].mp3
10 - Theology - Civilization.mp3
11 - I Am Evil! - Hitting the Camel [not on original CD].mp3
12 - Meeting Valeria - Stealing the Eye of the Serpent [not on original CD].mp3
13 - Escape from the Tower of Set - Valeria's Gift [not on original CD].mp3
14 - Wifeing (Theme of Love).mp3
15 - Wealth Can Be Wonderful - King Osric [not on original CD].mp3
16 - The Leaving - The Search.mp3
17 - Mountain Of Power Procession.mp3
18 - Children of Doom [not on original CD].mp3
19 - The Tree Of Woe.mp3
20 - Recovery.mp3
21 - The Kitchen - The Orgy - Stealing the Princess - You! [not on original CD].mp3
22 - Funeral Pyre.mp3
23 - The Battle of the Mounds - Resourceful Warriors [not on original CD].mp3
24 - The Death Of Rexor - Conan the Assassin.mp3
25 - The End of Thulsa Doom [not on original CD].mp3
26 - Orphans Of Doom - The Awakening.mp3
27 - Conan the King - End Titles [not on original CD].mp3
Alternate Track - 02 - An Age Undreamed Of (with Mako dialogue) [not on original CD] - Anvil of Crom.mp3
Alternate Track - 27 - Conan the King - End Titles (with Mako dialogue) [not on original CD].mp3

The two "alternate tracks" are the same as tracks #2 and #27, except that in addition to the music they also have Mako's famous barbaric soliloquies overlaying the drums. So if you want to hear Mako, just replace #2 and #27 with the alternates, and you're set.

I dearly hope that someday the powers that be get around to releasing a truly complete score of CONAN THE BARBARIAN. The day they do, they'll have my money in their pocket. Until then, devoted fans of the film and of the late, great composer Basil Poledouris must content themselves with this, the next closest thing. I've had a blast listening to this high-quality version of one of the all-time greatest film scores, and I hope you guys dig it, too.