Ron Goodwin and His Orchestra: Excitement

1970 EMI Columbia TW0318

I first spotted this album in the window of GHT Sparks electrical in my hometown one dull afternoon in 1970 when I was on my way home late from school because the rugby had run over.

I had recently seen the World War II action film Where Eagles Dare at the cinema and was absolutely obsessed with it. The fact that the theme – penned and performed by Ron Goodwin and his Orchestra of Miss Marple fame – was included in this collection meant that I simply had to have it. Plus it had some other themes from big movies of the time which helped me justify the outlay. So, at the then-exorbitant price of £1/19/11, Excitement – in Studio 2 Stereo – became my first album purchase.

Many of the film themes here were not actually those heard on the respective movie soundtracks: The Apartment, Romeo and Juliet, Scarborough Fair (exciting? No, just a slowed-up, non-vocal string arrangement that bears no resemblance to S&G's version from The Graduate, which I guess was its justification for inclusion) were decidedly lacklustre compared with the originals. However, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ben Hur and 'Z' were not only passable but highly enjoyable (to be fair, I hadn't heard all of the originals at the time of buying, and judged these cuts on their merits on first hearing), while the Goodwin originals – The Battle of Britain, which I had also viewed recently, and Eagles, which took me straight back to the stomach-lifting aerial shots over snowclad Bavarian mountain fastnesses from the film's breathtaking opening sequences – were the business.

I've still got that original copy (produced by the Fab Four's George Martin, by the way), and I certainly wouldn't be without it. "Save yourselves, over..."