Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds
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
Original double album re-packaged into deluxe 6 panel digi-pak. Includes:
* 2 Hybrid SACDs - The original double album remixed in stereo and multi-channel 5.1 surround sound from the original 48 track master tapes by Jeff Wayne.
* Expanded 48 page full color booklet with new artwork, sleeve notes and content
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| From: Amazon Posted: Jun 26, 2008 Type: User Review |
Superb adaptation
This is more than just the single greatest adaptation of H.G. Wells' original novel; it's simply the greatest album in the history of everything... ever. I'll be the first to admit that not everyone shares the same tastes in art, literature and...
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 5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: May 21, 2008 Type: User Review |
Just your standard spoken word / rock opera / sci-fi thing
I had forgotten all about this project until recently I heard the spoken intro used as a lead-in for a segment of Dennis Miller's radio show. The next caller correctly identified Jeff Wayne as the creator of the project, and I ordered it from...
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5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: May 10, 2008 Type: User Review |
This is the best CD you'll ever buy
I was a small boy when my father put this on in his International Scout (it was an 8 track player by the way) and we were on a road trip to the mountains and even better it was at night... and this is the absolute best time to listen to this CD. I...
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5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Mar 10, 2008 Type: User Review |
War of the Worlds
I had this musical version back in the 70's on cassette tape and would drive around listening to it in my car. It sure brought back memories of those days, only now it is digitally remastered for an even more realistic sound effect. I highly...
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5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Feb 21, 2008 Type: User Review |
The perfect "Third Choice" for Rick Wakeman and Alan Parsons fans... Theatrical/Progressive Rock Masterpiece!
If, like me, you became a Prog/Symphonic Rock fan after listening to "Tales Of Mystery And Imagination-Edgar Allan Poe" by the Alan Parsons Project, and "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" by Rick Wakeman, you certainly got crazy for getting Jeff...
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5.00/5 |
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