INTRADA Announces:
FLESH + BLOOD
Composed and Conducted by BASIL POLEDOURIS
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 153
The 1985 film Flesh + Blood began Paul Verhoeven’s working relationship with composer Basil Poledouris, who would later collaborate on Robocop and Starship Troopers. Verhoeven had been impressed by Poledouris’s muscular, yet highly romantic, music for John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian, sensing a corollary between Conan’s quasi-medieval comic book style and the blend of medieval action, romance and mysticism in Flesh + Blood. Verhoeven asked for a score that was medieval in character but large-scale and orchestral to reinforce the film’s spirit of adventure—and he needed Poledouris to suggest Catholic mysticism. Poledouris saw the main characters as “land pirates” and brought a swashbuckling feeling to his music from the film’s opening credits, introducing a bold and adventurous theme, alternating from the piratical vibe Poledouris sought to the heavy, no-nonsense rhythms of war. To underscore the film’s love triangle, Poledouris wrote two extremely rich romantic melodies. The result is a score that is simply a treasure trove of orchestral color, period splendor and—ultimately—power.
While this is the third CD release of the score to Flesh + Blood, it is the first release to revisit the 24-track masters stored at MGM and create a brand new, crisp and clear mix. Previous releases were created from 1/4" masters featuring a mix with which the composer was never entirely satisfied and supplemented with additional music from suboptimal sources. Additionally, this is the first release to present the entire score in film order, revealing the rich and intricate masterpiece Poledouris provided.
Set at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century in Western Europe, Flesh + Blood chronicles the story a band of mercenaries led by Martin (Rutger Hauer) and his compatriot-in-arms Hawkwood (Jack Thompson), who are in the employ of a nobleman named Arnolfini (Fernando
Hilbeck). After employing them to rout the citizens of a besieged city, Arnolfini betrays the hired soldiers and abandons them without pay. Disbanded to the countryside, Martin and his band of men and women find vengeance by kidnapping the princess Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is betrothed to Arnolfini’s son Steven (Tom Burlinson).
This release is limited to 2000 units.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 153
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6864/.f
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