FEATURED CD - Jeff Wayne : War Of The Worlds

[Duncan Glenday]

Per Allmusic:

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).

http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-wa...s-mw0000192374

[trurl]

It's a little disco-y but a guilty pleasure just the same. Have you seen the live version from a few years back that featured Richard Burton's giant undead reanimated head? That was f*king freaky.

[ChrisXymphonia]

This is one of my all time favourite albums and a benchmark for a story telling pop / rock / prog album.

[ForeverAutumn]

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a fan.

I've seen the live version and I thought it was really well done. Although that Richard Burton head did creep me out a little.

I haven't listened to this disk in a long, long time. Thanks for the reminder. I just pulled it off the shelf and added it to tomorrow's playlist.

[flowerking]

Its a guilty pleasure for me too in spite of the cheese content. Especially love the performances by Justin Hayward and Phil Lynott.

[Casey]

Picked it up when it first came out. Nearly wore out the grooves. Still has its place in my short list of favorites, but I'm not sure its there because of its quality, its uniqueness, or the nostalgia factor. Yeah, the disco element is a bit cringe-worthy.

[Shadow]

I bought this when it first came out on vinyl. I think last year I found a mint gold disc deluxe box set at the Goodwill for three dollars.

[bob_32_116]

This is an excellent well executed concept album. I don' own it - it's not the kind of album I would buy, as I think stories narrated to music tend to wear thin with repeated listening. I'd love to see/hear it performed live.

[Dave (in MA)]

stories narrated to music tend to wear thin with repeated listening

Yep, and even more so when there's 'acting' involved.

[Duncan Glenday]

This is an excellent well executed concept album. I don' own it - it's not the kind of album I would buy, as I think stories narrated to music tend to wear thin with repeated listening. I'd love to see/hear it performed live.

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/live-events/

[oilersfan]

Yeah, definitely a guilty pleasure. Listened to it last month for the first time in a long time and still enjoyed it--even though I cringed a couple of times, but in a good way.

[Progbear]

I don't understand the hype about this one. It's totally cheesy, the arrangements are way too poppy and yet, apart from "Forever Winter" there are no memorable tunes. Phil Lynott gives what is without a doubt the worst vocal performance of his career, Richard Burton's narration is likewise an embarrassment (although far from the nadir of his career, see Bluebeard for that), etc. etc.

[JJ88]

There is definitely a certain kitsch element IMHO- largely because of the 'disco' rhythms which timelock it somewhat- but there's some iconic moments. That fanfare intro on 'The Eve Of The War', Herbie Flowers' bass showcase and best of all, 'Forever Autumn'.

[ChrisXymphonia]

For years I have read remarks about the cheesiness of this, about the fact that people don't like the disco beats but all I hear when I listen to it are the great melodies and arrangements (both the orchestral and the keyboard arrangements) and some very strong guitarplaying. Disco? Come on, it ain't Boney M what we are hearing.

[nsmith1002]

I've always enjoyed what I'm assuming to be a heavily processed guitar as the sonic representation of the Heat Ray.

[Shadow]

This is an excellent well executed concept album. I don' own it - it's not the kind of album I would buy, as I think stories narrated to music tend to wear thin with repeated listening. I'd love to see/hear it performed live.

Have you ever heard Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters by Robert Calvert. This one never seems to wear out for me.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Didn't we do this one about a year ago?

Anyway, good stuff.

[Fracktured]

Play this once a year at Halloween. It's a good listen at that time of the year.

[ChrisXymphonia]

I've always enjoyed what I'm assuming to be a heavily processed guitar as the sonic representation of the Heat Ray.

Yep, that is all done by guitarist Jo Partridge.

[Rarebird]

Yep, that is all done by guitarist Jo Partridge.

You're right. I thought it was a special build synthesizer, but I looked it up in an interview with Jeff Wayne in the Dutch magazine Music Maker, the first number I bought. The heathray is done by Jo Partridge. There was also a specially developped synthesizer, named Thunderchild, which can be heard on the album.
The drum and bass loops turned me of.

[claycorn]

love this damn record,had a pal in primary school who played the record for me,i think that was the first taste of prog rock per say. now i have the doublelp thank god.love the over the top synths and acting.at the time i 1394336165081.jpg didnt know who the hell this phil lynott was hahaha!!!

[Crystal Plumage]

Play it at midnight, on the 12th of August.
This was my very first CD ever. My parents bought it for my birthday. I must've been around 9 or 10 years old. Heard the whole thing on the radio before that (to promote the new CD I presume)

[undergroundrailroad]

I heard it at a very impressionable age. Formative musical influence. To this day, I can't make it sound dumb. My favorite moment is the creepy, polytonal Enid-like music for the Red Weed that opens LP 2.

[ChrisXymphonia]

The drum and bass loops turned me of.

AFAIK all the drum and bass parts are all played for real. In the big LP style book edition with the most recent remastering Wayne specifically relates that those basic tracks were all recorded "live" in the studio and a lot of them all done as long single takes. There is this picture inside where there are music stands with charts in a half circle around the drumset in the studio.

[3LockBox]

I'll post this again. I think it was originally posted on the old site as well:

Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds is one of those albums whose legend far surpasses it's content. This album is well known and well received within prog rock circles, but not well known outside of them. I remember being very taken by it upon first listen as a young man (the artwork accompanying the album is priceless). It was quite the novelty hearing a rock opera with Sir Richard Burton narrating. But beyond the novelty, there isn't much substance.

In 1978 this album had what seemed to be a stellar cast. But in hind-sight, most of these performers had passed through the apex of their popularity and relevance. Most all the musical performers had spoken dialog as well as singing parts, except Heyward. And of course there is Richard Burton, whose classically trained, staccato voice is perfect for this style of recording. His performance carries the show, which doesn't say much for a rock album. Most of the dialog using Lynott, Essex and Covington ranges from banal to over-wrought (Lynott's 'parson' is played way over the top and is somewhat embarrassing given how big a Thin Lizzy fan I am).

That is not to say that there isn't some fine moments here and there. Heyward's Forever Autumn and Thunder Child are the only two songs that really stand out musically speaking. Forever Autumn is a wistful lament expressing separation and loss, and while not directly related to the story, it does serve the plot well. Thunder Child is a minor masterpiece, melding story line lyrics and Burton's impeccable narration with pop/rock hooks. If most of the album resembled this work, it might actually be the classic everyone thinks it is. But the people behind the console have to take a hit here as well. A superb, ethereal instrumental like The Red Weed is marred by narration instead of being a stand alone song, save for the lead-in by Burton. The mixing job as a whole is somewhat clumsy. The goofy dialog (along with the disco trappings) should have been scrapped and more attention paid to the quality of the music.

Jeff Wayne may have had the vision and the ambition, but lacked the chops and flair of a Rick Wakeman, nor did he have the composition skills of an Alan Parsons. And I'm afraid that time hasn't been kind to this release. Instead of being a period piece as it was intended to be, it's production and execution is a time capsule inexorably linked to the year in which it was recorded.