Colin Towns Full Circle OST LP 1978 original UK rare synths shrink NM

	A$		50
	$		32

Colin Towns Full Circle OST LP 1978 original UK rare synths shrink NM

Original 1978 UK pressing on Virgin’s green “two virgins” label. Never widely released on cd – the Japanese cd has been known to sell for well over $100.

Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London. He went on to play in numerous dance bands, jazz ensembles and also became a session musician.

In 1976 he was recruited as keyboardist to replace Mickey Lee Soule in the Ian Gillan Band. Over time he developed an increasing interest in composing and Ian Gillan credits the Towns-penned 'Fighting Man' as pointing the direction in which Gillan should go. Gillan dissolved The Ian Gillan Band, with its jazz-rock leanings, and retained only Towns, putting together the rockier Gillan. Encouraged by Ian Gillan, Towns co-wrote many of the songs for the new band. Whilst with the band he used his free time to seek opportunities to compose music beyond the Heavy metal direction of Gillan, including releasing a solo album, Making Faces, in 1982. He submitted a demo soundtrack for the Mia Farrow film Full Circle which received reviews praising the music.

In 1983 Ian Gillan dissolved the band, and Towns decided to pursue soundtrack composing full-time. In that year he won the commission to write the score for the film Slayground. From then on he was in constant demand, particularly in British Television, where his body of work is prolific, and includes Dalziel and Pascoe, Cadfael, Capital City, Pie in the Sky, Between the Lines, Doc Martin, and Imogen's Face. His film credits include The Puppet Masters (featuring Donald Sutherland), Space Truckers (featuring Dennis Hopper) and Captives (featuring Tim Roth).

Towns' principal musical passion is jazz and has released several albums in this genre and founding the Mask Orchestra.

Review:

Colin Towns' evocative synth score for FULL CIRCLE (THE HAUNTING OF JULIA in the USA) … provided an extraordinary melodic tonality for this oblique ghost story. Composed prior to filming, Town's paradoxical score imbued the film with an unhappy joy. Alternately melancholy and exhilarating, the music - like the film it supported - approached horror indirectly. No shock chords or terrifying dissonances. Instead Towns composed a romantic melody, superbly performed by synths and piano, which provided a clear-toned and somewhat eerie texture. Towns' captivating melodies are taken by high, strident notes over low, breathing bass chords. 'Magnus - The Unwelcome Intrusion' is as dissonant as the score gets, yet even here Towns maintains a strictly tonal approach with low brooding chordal motif broken by flurries of bells and reverbed harp.

The finale, 'Everything's Right Now', is the score's standout cue, a wonderful recapitulation of the main theme which evokes the multifaceted emotions of the heroine in her slightly ambiguous reunion with her departed daughter. As the camera spirals slowly around the characters, Towns' music recaptures the foreground and provides meaning, mood and melody. The cue is full of joy and regret, exhilaration and despair all at the same time. A powerful and unforgettable cue.

FULL CIRCLE was Colin Towns' first film score. Since its release he has gone on to compose noteworthy scores like the gloriously symphonic THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE and the spooky, electronic music for THE PUPPET MASTERS. His capable handling of both synths and symphs has been effectively demonstrated in these compositions, and FULL CIRCLE remains one of the best primarily electronic scores I've heard. (Randall D. Larson - Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol.14/No.54, 1995)

A1                        Full Circle (Main Theme)       10:40  

A2                        The Park                         

A3                        Have You Got A Magnificent Problem? (Inside The Mental Home)                2:19     

A4                        'Pretty Men Are Very Receptive' (The Seance)        3:15     

A5                        Kate (Opening Sequence)      2:45

B1                        Olivia   4:50     

B2                        Love Scene      3:22     

B3                        'Magnus' - The Unwelcome Intrusion           3:53     

B4                        Full Circle (Everything's Right Now)             7:08

CONDITION:

SLEEVE: NM Still in shrink

RECORD: NM Probably played once or twice only