Ron Goodwin BATTLE OF BRITAIN LP Rare William Walton Olivier Film Soundtrack OST

	£		30
	$		40

Here I have for sale the British first release of Ron Goodwin's landmark soundtrack to ‘Battle of Britain' (1969). It features one track (Battle in the Air) by William Walton which was used in the final cut of the film. His score was largely rejected in favour of Goodwin's. Fantastic stuff.

Ron Goodwin, William Walton – Battle of Britain (Original Soundtrack Recording) (1969)

Condition (refer also to notes at bottom):
Vinyl – EX. Superbly clean on visual inspection. No obvious marks or scuffs. Played just pre-listing and sound clarity is superb throughout. A fabulous example.
Outer sleeve (cover) – VG-EX. Wonderful laminated front and reverse. Some discolouration and yellowing along top and right (aperture) edges. Some slight bubbling due to delamination along spine edge. Slight disc showthrough outline. Light corner bending, especially buckling in lower right corner. Reverse is clean and unmarked. Slight creasing in some areas near corners. Same bubbling as front occurs along rear spine edge due to delamination. Overall, a fine example.
Inner sleeve – EX. Original. White paper with curved corners; minor creasing and folding. Intact.


Label: United Artists Records ?– UAS 29019
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1969
Genre: Stage & Screen, Easy listening, Brass & Military, Pop
Style: Soundtrack, Instrumental, Theme, Score, Contemporary

Tracklist
A1. Battle Of Britain Theme. 1:23
A2. Luftwaffe March. 3:32
A3. The Lull Before The Storm. 1:37
A4. Work And Play. 2:27
A5. Death And Destruction. 1:22
A6. Briefing The Luftwaffe. 1:14
A7. Prelude To Battle. 3:20
A8. Victory Assured. 2:12
A9. Defeat. 1:26

B1. Hitlers Headquarters. 0:55
B2. Return To Base. 0:44
B3. Threat. 1:23
B4. Civilian Tragedy. 1:08
B5. Offensive Build-up. 3:43
B6. Attack. 0:58
B7. Personnal Tragedy. 0:41
B8. Battle In The Air*. 4:51
B9. Absent Friends. 1:03
B10. Battle Of Britain Theme End—Title. 2:54

Printed By – MacNeill Press Ltd.
Published By – United Artists Music Ltd.

Composed By – Sir William Walton, O.M.* (tracks: B8)
Composed By, Conductor – Ron Goodwin (tracks: A1 to B7, B9, B10)
Conductor – Malcolm Arnold (tracks: B8)
Engineer – Eric Tomlinson

Notes
On the Sleeve
Title on the sleeve front and back: "Battle of Britain"
All music Published by United Artists Music Ltd.
A Product of
United Artists Records
Mortimer House
37/41 Mortimer Street London W1.
A Product of Liberty/UA Records Ltd. London, England.
Printed and made by MacNeil Press Ltd., London.

On the labels
Title on the labels and sleeve spine: Battle of Britain
? 1969
A Product of Liberty/UA Records Ltd. England



Review:
The original soundtrack to the movie Battle of Britain was one of the most controversial movie scores of the 1960s.

Sir William Walton, who had previously written the music for the film First of the Few (aka Spitfire), not to mention Sir Laurence Olivier's three major Shakespearean films, wrote a score for Battle of Britain only to have it dropped by the film's producers.

At the time, United Artists Records, the music division of the movie's distributor, was having particular luck with orchestral pop-type releases, such as John Barry's James Bond scores, and Walton wrote a complex, serious music score that sounded like it came from the concert hall.

The producers replaced his music with a much simpler, more conventional movie score, authored by Ron Goodwin and built around various brass-heavy march tunes, interspersed with a romantic theme or two.

Then Olivier, who (with Michael Caine, was the star of the epic film, threatened to have his name taken off the credits of the movie over the snub of his composer friend's music. A compromise was worked out, wherein Walton's scoring for the climactic "Battle in the Air" was kept in the movie; mostly, it was the presence of the five-minute "Battle in the Air" theme that kept the Battle of Britain soundtrack in print (the movie was a notorious failure) for years.

The Walton "Battle in the Air" stood apart from Goodwin's relentless march themes in no uncertain terms, surging up gradually, through the lower strings, the reeds, and winds, with the brass adding punctuation while the violins play running scales.




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Postage and packaging FREE to UK. Will post worldwide. Europe standard £6.50; Europe tracked and signed £11; N and S America, USA, Canada £9; Asia, Australia, Japan £11.


Payment by cheque (UK only) or Paypal please.

Please see my other soundtrack listings.

Thanks for looking and happy eBaying!



ITEM CONDITION - items are graded according to Record Collector definitions - see below:

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler.