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Jeff Wayne: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Columbia/CBS Records
Released: 1978.09.06
Time:
 45:17 / 49:50
Category: Progressive Rock, Symphonic Rock
Producer(s): Jeff Wayne
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.thewaroftheworlds.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


Disc One: The Coming of the Martians

[1] The Eve of the War (J.Wayne) - 9:07
[2] Horsell Common and The Heat Ray (J.Wayne) - 11:35
[3] The Artilleryman and The Fighting Machine (J.Wayne) - 10:37
[4] Forever Autumn (J.Wayne/P.Vigrass/G.Osborne) - 7:55
[5] Thunder Child (J.Wayne/G.Osborne) - 6:03


Disc Two: The Earth Under the Martians

[1] The Red Weed, Part 1 (J.Wayne) - 5:51
[2] The Spirit of Man (J.Wayne/G.Osborne) - 11:45
[3] The Red Weed, Part 2 (J.Wayne) - 6:19
[4] Brave New World (J.Wayne/G.Osborne) - 12:36
[5] Dead London (J.Wayne) - 8:36
[6] Epilogue, Part 1 (J.Wayne) - 2:42
[7] Epilogue, Part 2 (J.Wayne) - 2:01

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Richard Burton - Spoken Words (The Journalist: The Narrator-Protagonist)
Justin Hayward - Vocals (The Sung Thoughts Of The Journalist)
David Essex - Spoken Words And Vocals (The Artilleryman)
Chris Thompson - Vocals (The Voice Of Humanity)
Phil Lynott - Spoken Words And Vocals (Parson Nathaniel)
Julie Covington - Spoken Words And Vocals (Beth)
Jerry Wayne - Spoken Words (The Voice Of Nasa)

Jeff Wayne - Arranger, Keyboards, Synthesisers, Harpsichord, Conductor, Executive Producer, Orchestration, Producer
Chris Spedding - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Herbie Flowers - Bass Guitar
Ken Freeman - Keyboards, Synthesisers
George Fenton - Santoor, Zither, Tar
Jo Partridge - Guitars on [1:2], Mandolin, Vocals
Barry Morgan - Drums
Paul Hart - Piano
Barry Da Souza - Percussion
Roy Jones - Percussion
Ray Cooper - Percussion
Paul Vigrass - Backing Vocals
Gary Osborne - Backing Vocals
Billy Lawrie - Backing Vocals

Gaëtan Schurrer - Editing, Mixing, Restoration
Geoff Young - Engineer, Mixing
Tom Woodstock - Editing
Mark Wallis - Mixing
Gary Langan - Mixing, Restoration
Geraldine Wayne - Sound Effects
Laurence Diana - Assistant
John Pasche - Art Direction, Logo Design
Michael Bell - Booklet Design
Brian Aris - Images
Peter Goodfellow - Paintings
Geoff Taylor - Paintings
Michael Trim - Paintings, Sketches
Julia Boyadjieva - Project Manager
Glyn Stanley - Adaptation
H.G. Wells - Inspiration

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express the feelings of the various characters. The two-disc album remains a bestseller, having sold millions of records around the world, and is the 39th best selling album of all time in the UK with sales of 2,561,286 by 2009. It has since spawned multiple versions of the album, video games, DVDs, and live tours.



Released 40 years after Orson Welles' infamous radio version of the H.G. Wells tale, Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds straddles old-style radio drama and contemporary orchestrated narratives by Rick Wakeman and David Bedford. And while it lacks the sophisticated arrangements of, say, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, it does boast an impressively odd cast - this may be the only time that a member of Thin Lizzy worked with Richard Burton, and the presence of Julie Covington and the Moody Blues' Justin Hayward in very attractive singing roles attest to its pop/rock aspirations. It's Burton's sonorous tones that sustain this work; his frequent solo narrations are eminently listenable, whereas sections featuring dialogue with other characters often come off as a bit stilted. The music is competent studio rock, and "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" does strike just the right balance between Burton's narration and an accompaniment built around a buzzsaw guitar riff. Overall, it's pleasant as a period piece, and still a fine way to introduce younger listeners to Wells' classic tale. (And if you can find it in a vinyl, it comes with a nicely produced narrative booklet with gloriously lurid illustrations by Geoff Taylor.) The album was actually appealing on too many fronts for its own good in many ways - the Justin Hayward-sung ballad "Forever Autumn," extracted from a much longer piece on the double-LP - showed some signs of appealing to AM radio listeners and climbed to the Top 40 based on airplay alone, but by the time Columbia Records in America (missing this boat entirely) got copies of the single into stores so that people could actually buy the record, the song had dropped back down; in the meantime, the record became a favorite of discos and dance clubs in New York and elsewhere, where its extended, highly rhythmic, synthesizer-driven sections delighted deejays and audiences, and Columbia missed another bet by not releasing an instrumental-only assembly of those long passages. (In New York, for years after it went out of print on vinyl, the album was sought after by club deejays eager to spin it).

Paul Collins - All Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


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 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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