Farewell to the King


Prometheus Records 2006 CD (5400211001592)
Movie Film release: 1989
 

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# Track Artist/Composer Duration
1.Prologue - The Trek1:38
2.Farewell to the King - Main Title1:37
3.Flare of Youth1:53
4.Trek1:25
5.Mitaura0:53
6.The Women Saved Me1:24
7.Learoyd Slays Lian The Magnificent1:21
8.Honeymoon0:38
9.Zed Force2:44
10.Learoyd Saves the Child3:22
11.Learoyd Saves Nigel2:43
12.Nigel's Trip4:14
13.Battle Montage2:37
14.Realization1:36
15.The Wait1:45
16.Night of the Living1:14
17.Day of the Dead1:05
18.Village Attack2:57
19.This Day Forth2:41
20.The War is Over3:20
21.Imperialist Waltz1:47
22.Learoyd Sacrifice4:23
23.Farewell to my King2:25
24.Farewell to the King - Main Title (flute version)Bonus1:37
25.Battle Montage (Alternate Mixs)Bonus2:38
26.SorrowBonus0:49
27.GriefBonus0:53
28.The JungleBonus1:42
29.Japanese Radio Source CueBonus2:18
30.Rising of the MoonBonus2:18
31.Farewell to the King - Main Title (Alternate Mix)Bonus1:37
 63:34
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Farewell to the King - 08/10 - Review of Tom Daish, submitted at (English)
Farewell to the King is a kind of variant on Apocalypse Now, hardly surprising since it's directed by John Milius, the screen writer on Francis Ford Coppola's classic epic. However, in this case, the army man who goes native is the absolute focus of the story, whereas Coppola's was as much about the characters out to find him as the man himself. Unlike Coppola's memorable mixture of classic rock and Wagner, Milius opts for an original score by Basil Poledouris, who had previously penned music for Conan and Red Dawn, amongst others. The pedigree of those scores was enough to ensure that Poledouris came up with another cracking effort.

The opening track isn't all that promising, slightly ambling jungle percussion, but sets the exotic location. The real business starts up in War is Over, with a broad and memorable John Barry style main theme. Pan pipes are added to the stirring strings and brass to further suggest the location, but the gesture is somewhat superficial. War is Over introduces a second main theme on flute, which sounds like the prototype for Goldsmith's more recent Powder, together with a few Aaron Copland parallel fifths - a subtly patriotic gesture. The film is mainly about personal conflict and the music remains generally understated, without ever becoming ponderous or rambling, however there is some physical conflict and these could be deemed the only real weak spots. It's not that they are bad as action music, but their antecedents are Conan and Flesh + Blood, both a little too bold and comic book in nature to fit in with the somewhat sombre tone here, particularly noticeable in cues such as Battle Montage which is a little too colourful and light hearted. Admittedly, The Village Attack has a gritty, percussive determination which, coupled with anguished strings, provides a dramatic and moving high point to the entire score.

There are a couple of slightly odd moments, most notably The Training March, an all American ticker tape parade march which is great fun, but does slightly undercut the seriousness inherent elsewhere. The Imperialist Waltz also undercuts the mood, but simply by being too graceful. Poledouris does a good job of trying to out-waltz any one of the Strausses. It could be argued that the score is rather eclectic, the various ideas - the vaguely noble main themes, the exotic percussion and pounding action - don't really feel interrelated to any great extent, so things threaten to become a little disjointed at times. However, the basic material in each case is so good that they work well enough on their own that the occasional, surprising change in pace doesn't really make a huge difference. Quite a difficult score to find these days and definitely worth picking up. One of Poledouris' finest efforts.

Other releases of Farewell to the King (1989):

Farewell to the King (1989)
Farewell to the King (2008)
Adieu au Roi, L' (1989)


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