Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDFormat: Hybrid SACD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2005-07-05
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Eve of the War
- Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
- The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine
- Forever Autumn
- Thunder Child
- The Red Weed, Pt. 1
- The Spirit of Man
- The Red Weed, Pt. 2
- The Artilleryman Returns
- Brave New World
- Dead London
- Epilogue, Pt. 1
- Epilogue, Pt. 2 (NASA)
Free Music Notes for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds
Free Music Review: One Of Rock's Greatest Concept Albums
Hit: 5 Stars
A double album *rock musical* version of H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic, "The War Of The Worlds"? Many people would laugh at such an idea. But in 1978, musician/songwriter/producer Jeff Wayne actually did it, and created one of rock's most supreme concept albums. Although the album has always been much more popular in Britain and other parts of Europe (even having a multi-year UK album-chart run rivaling Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon"), it nonetheless has a strong cult following here in North America, myself proudly included. I first became aware of the "War Of The Worlds" album sometime in the late 80's, when I discovered that Justin Hayward, the lead singer for The Moody Blues (one of my all-time favorite bands) was singing on it. Curious, I picked up a vinyl copy of the album at a used record store, dropped the needle on Side One, and I was instantly hooked. I'd never heard anything like it before. The way the Martian-invasion narrative is brilliantly sustained from beginning to end, and, of course, Jeff Wayne's incredible music score that matches it. And, completing the "War Of The Worlds" package, there's the elaborate artwork that accompanies & illustrates the album---simply marvelous to look at. No question about it, "The War Of The Worlds" is quite an acheivement. Nearly three decades later after it's initial release, the album still sounds just as fresh & exciting now as it did back then. Besides the legendary, commanding voice of Richard Burton as the album's narrator, Jeff Wayne's stunning music rocks ("Horsell Common & The Heat Ray"), rouses ("Brave New World"), has incredible beauty ("Forever Autumn"), and, at turns, is effectively eerie ("The Red Weed"). The musicianship that Wayne has ensembled for the album is first-rate, from great singers like Justin Hayward, David Essex, Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott & Julie Covington, to incredible musicians like Jo Partridge, Herbie Flowers, Chris Spedding, and Jeff Wayne himself. The album has amazing moods, atmospherics & sound effects, and the surprise twist at the album's end still gives me goosebumps to this day! There's no doubt in my mind that H.G. Wells himself would've been very happy indeed with this powerful musical treatment of his story. Although Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" has never been staged, I was very fortunately blessed to see a Laserium presentation of the album at the London Planetarium back in July of 1990. They presented the *whole* double album, complete with lasers, slides, & pyrotechnics. There was even an intermission after Side Two! It was a truly spellbinding show, and a great tribute to the album's timeless appeal. The point of mentioning it is that Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" succeeds not only as a rock album, but as a storytelling album that lends itself quite well to visual presentation. I can easily see a touring "rock concert" presentation of "War Of The Worlds" someday, complete with rock band & orchestra, singers, slides, lasers & pyrotechnics. Maybe Jeff Wayne could try to hook up with someone in the theater world and mount such a production? One can dream....In the meantime, buy the CD, and discover for yourself what all the fuss is about. Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" is truly a rock musical masterwork. (NOTE: This is a slightly-revised version of the review I wrote for "The War Of The Worlds" five years ago, as the old CD version is now out-of-print. But I stand by every word of it, 'cause I love this album. Thanks.)
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds Poster
When Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds emerged in June 1978, few men would have believed, not least H.G. Wells, the creator of the novel from which it is adapted, that it would gain major critical acclaim, go on to sell over 12.5 million records across the world and become a cult classic among both popular music and science fiction fans. The album also spawned two international hit singles-'The Eve of The War' and 'Forever Autumn'. The original double album will be re-issued as a 2-disc hybrid SA-CD with the new stereo and 5.1 surround sound remastered audio from the Collector's Edition and expanded album artwork. Sony. 2005.In hindsight, it seems almost incredible: 27 years ago, a young musician named Jeff Wayne (who at the time primarily wrote music for commercials) fell in love with H.G. Wells' much-loved book The War of the Worlds, and decided to make a musical version of it. Star Wars had just put people's minds into outer space, musical theatre was hugely successful, and long, anthemic orchestral prog-rock was all the rage. Wayne was inspired by all these elements and decided to gather together his peers and make a musical-mixed-with-spoken-word album, with the script taken directly from the famous book. This was by no means a soundtrack to a movie; in fact, all of the visuals were to come straight from the listener's minds (hard to imagine in today's video-oriented world.) The two-LP set featured Sir Richard Burton as frontman, along with some of the leaders of the progressive rock world who joined in on the fun. Moody Blues' Justin Hayward, "Rock On" vocalist David Essex and Thin Lizzy lead Philip Lynott each did more than sing on the record, they took a part in the musical play, performing key roles alongside the aforementioned dramatist Burton.
Amazingly, the eccentric project was a massive success, selling over 13 million copies and staying on the U.K. charts for over 260 weeks straight. DJs and bands--including the Orbital and Todd Terry--still use WOTW samples to inspire their own works. Unquestionably, the genesis of electronica can (in part) be mapped back to the War of the Worlds' use of sound experimentation and synthesized grooves.
The re-released double CD got a revamping both on an auditory and visual front: on the sonic side, the collection is now a remastered disc, mixed both in stereo and 5.1 surround sound. On the cosmetic side, the collection is now a six-panel digipack, with 48 pages of lyrics, biographies, and a handful of paintings from the original artwork. The music comes as a pair of Super Audio CDs (SACDs), a technology that will play both in standard and SACD players, the latter receiving up to four more times the sonic information for superior sound quality. --Denise Sheppard
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