After reviewing the Tom Cruise film yesterday I thought I should review what I think is the best version of War of the Worlds (bar the original novel of course).
***Be aware that this review may well contain spoilers for the story, however even if you know the story from front to back, it ... Read review
Advantages: Great soundtrack, thorougly enjoyable from start to finish Disadvantages: None
...is the best version of War of the Worlds (bar the original novel of course).
***Be aware that this review may well contain spoilers for the story, however even if you know the story from front to back, it would not spoil the enjoyment of this album.***
~The Album~
Released in 1978 this album (if you don't know what an album is, ask your parents lol) tells the tale of a Martian invasion as told in H. G. Wells ... ...dispatched to destroy the Martian war machines. The destruction of the Thunderchild signals the end of man's hopes. The earth now belongs to the Martians.
The journalist battles against the Red Weed, another plague courtesy of the Martians. He then discovers the body of a parson in a churchyard, as he begins to bury him, the Paron's wife shouts and the parson wakes.
*The Spirit of Man* Performed by Phil Lynott (Thin ... more
After reviewing the Tom Cruise film yesterday I thought I should review what I think is the best version of War of the Worlds (bar the original novel of course).
***Be aware that this review may well contain spoilers for the story, however even if you know the story from front to back, it would not spoil the enjoyment of this album.***
~The Album~
Released in 1978 this album (if you don't know what an album is, ask your parents lol) tells the tale of a Martian invasion as told in H. G. Wells novel of the same name.
The album consists of two discs and came in its own plastic sleeve, complete with a book/booklet which details the story as it unfolds and full lyrics for all the songs. The booklet also includes some marvellous paintings by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim, my opinion is that The Birds by Geoff Taylor is by far the best painting in the book.
~The Soundtrack~
The album is narrated throughout by Richard Burton, who plays the role of a journalist describing the events as they unfold.
It begins with the description of green flares coming to earth from space, astronomers insist there is nothing to worry about they are just falling stars.
Then one of the stars which has fallen on Horsham Common begins to open, Martians have landed, and with their warcry 'Ulla', begin killing everything round them.
*Forever Autumn* This is the first full song on the album and is performed by Justin Heywood (of The Moody Blues fame), it is a haunting song about the journalist's realisation that the love of his life Carrie has gone when he finally reaches her house.
*Thunderchild* This song is performed by Chris Thompson (The Earth Band) and tells the story of the Thunderchild, a warship dispatched to destroy the Martian war machines. The destruction of the Thunderchild signals the end of man's hopes. The earth now belongs to the Martians.
The journalist battles against the Red Weed, another plague courtesy of the Martians. He then discovers the body of a parson in a churchyard, as he begins to bury him, the Paron's wife shouts and the parson wakes.
*The Spirit of Man* Performed by Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) and Julie Covington (Rocky Horror Picture Show), this song is a verbal battle between the Parson and Beth. Parson Nathaniel want to cast out the Martians from earth by exorcising them through the world of God. Beth of course doesn't want him to confront them. Eventually the Martians attack and Beth is killed. Nathaniel and the journalist hide in the ruins of the house until Nathaniel is eventually taken by the Martians.
*Brave New World* Performed by David Essex. The journalist head to London and on the way meets an artilleryman. The artilleryman has a plan to build a brave new world underground away from the Martians. The journalist realises its just a pipe dream and continues on his way to London.
When he reaches London the city is deserted, the cry of Ulla from the Martian sounds strange. The Martians are dying, killed not by man and their technology, but by invisible bacteria.
Finally the album ends in the present day, NASA have landed on Mars. Suddenly the communications begin to fail, and a green streak is seen heading from Mars to Earth......then suddenly there is silence.
~My Thoughts~
Needless to say I love this album. It is the only vinyl record I have left from my collection, although I cannot play it now as I don't have anything to play it on. But I have downloaded an mp3 version of the album so I don't miss out completely. As a slight aside, the mp3 version for me just doesn't have the same qualities as the vinyl, the scratchiness of vinyl just adds that little something that digital will never have.
Back to the album itself. Casting Richard Burton as the journalist was pure genius, his voice is iconic, and absolutely perfect for the gravity of the situation. Yet still easy on the ear and not at all condescending. The fact that all the performers on the album were huge names in music or theatre (at the time it was created) speaks volumes in itself. The songs are a great mix of the haunting Forever Autumn, the uplifting Thunderchild which half way through turns to despair. You can hear the madness in the parson's thinking through the Spirit of Man and again the pure desperation of the situation comes across with abundance in the Brave New World.
But its not just the album itself that needs praise, the artwork in the book is just fantastic, the detail in the pictures is amazing, and really add to the overall experience, because it gives you a visual representation of the story. I'm not sure that links are allowed on Dooyoo, but a quick Google will bring up plenty of sites that have the images available to view.
I know there is a remix of this album, but I haven't heard it at all, to be honest I don't believe the original could be improved upon.
I know musicals are not everyone's cup of tea, but I highly recommend this album to all.
Advantages: Superb, original, sounds great Disadvantages: Bits can be a little cheesy (but not much!)
...version of H.G. Wells' The War Of The Worlds. It did happen in the film version, which I hated, but Jeff Wayne has kept faithful to the original story, inflating the story with atmosphere and imagination. It's a popular album, with quite a cult following now, and with good reason.
- The original author
The War Of The Worlds is a novel written by early science fiction entrepreneur H.G. Wells. Born in 1866, Wells was one of the first to broach this ... ...story. With books like 'The War Of The Worlds', 'The First Men In The Moon', and another of my favourites, 'The Time Machine' Wells managed to predict some of the great advances of the 20th century like tanks and the atomic bomb. Something of a visionary, Wells never strayed from his 'common man' view in his stories, and maybe it's this that made his so universally popular. He died in 1946 at the age of 80.
- The style of the adaptation
Jeff Wayne ...
Excelle 26.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds, The - Various Artists
Advantages: Adds superbly to the film Disadvantages: Bad acting by one cast member
...shed and I knew the War of the Worlds when it was a minor dispute over fishing rights in the Adriatic.
Enjoy
Few would have believed that David Essex's contribution to the future wisdom of the ages would be anything as monmental as a musical version of H.G.Wells' - War of the Worlds. After the catastrophe that was a 1950s B-movie of the book this story needed something to impress its power on the world again.
And in the 1970s it had just that. ... ...bonus of this version of War of the Worlds is that it adds an exra dimension which H/G. Wells could not have foreseen: There are two endings
Both are concurrent - there is the ending as described in the novel, but also there is a 2nd epilogue of two astronauts communicating with mission control and this adds a great and I believe an excellent addition to the story which H.G. Wells would have been proud of.
Abruptly the review ceased ...
coleecip 06.11.2004 (17.06.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds, The - Various Artists
Advantages: Excellent music and storyline Disadvantages: Bonus tracks
...enlighten you. The war of the world’s story is set, where all good stories should be set, in England the time is Victorian times so the best technology at hand is the steam engine. One night a flash of green gas is seen erupting from the planet Mars, this is caused by the firing of a huge gun that fires a cylinder containing Martians.
This cylinder falls upon sleepy Woking and the people there have no idea of the problems that are about to ... ...about the war that is being fought. If you would like to know more about the storyline then read my opinion on the War of the Worlds book by H. G. Wells.
The musical version is narrated by Richard Burton with appearances by other people in the roles of other characters in the story. This version copies the storyline of the book with a few differences, these are due to there is no way of putting all of the information across in music as there in ...
robin_best 06.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds, The - Various Artists
Advantages: Great listening,Richard Burton. Disadvantages: None (though perhaps a bit dated for the younger listener)
...novel by HG Wells “The War of the Worlds”. Orson Welles decided to direct the play as if it were a live news broadcast and despite telling the listener before the play began, and again at various times throughout the play that it was not a real news broadcast but a radio play, thousands of Americans packed the roads, or hid in their cellars convinced that aliens were invading from Mars.
Forty years later a new adaptation of the book came out, this ... ...credibility to the venture and War of the Worlds became a huge smash, producing great songs like Forever Autumn, sung by Justin Hayward (of the Moody Blues).
##############
A quick synopsis of the story.
The War of the Worlds tells the story of Aliens crashing to Earth from Mars, they emerge from their crafts with a heat ray and build great metal fighting machines that they use to administer the heat ray in an attempt to take over the planet ...
jimblob 22.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of War Of The Worlds, The - Various Artists
Advantages: Digitally remastered for the new Millennium. Disadvantages: Extra cost if you already own the vinyl version.
...of the speakers.
The War of the Worlds comes on two CDs, the first CD being the best of them. I felt that the tracks on the second CD, just like the album, weren't inspiring enough but the first CD makes up for them both.
If you own or owned this album and would like to hear it in all it's intended glory I strongly suggest you add this to your collection. ...
steve.toplis 26.02.2001 (19.04.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of War Of The Worlds, The - Various Artists
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it compare to ...
Value for Money
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Advantages: Its a shortened version Disadvantages: Its a shortened version
~~ War of the Worlds (the highlights) ~~
I found this CD in my collection, if I remember correctly my husband brought it for me because I had lost my copy of the Original War of the Worlds, actually I think I lent it someone and never got it back. He saw this and thought I would enjoy it, I do, but it's not the full length version. So a little about the album, please do not get it mixed up with the films, it does follow the storyline but it is the musical version.
~~ A Little History ~~
We can trace the story of War of the Worlds back to its author H.G.Wells who published his book in 1898. He was a science fiction writer and his book was about the Martians invading England.
We now jump to 30th October 1938 when Orson Wells, read the story live on radio, sending some poor Americans into a state of frenzy running out ...
Advantages: Still spooky! Disadvantages: A little short, not as good as original
So, highlights from the War Of The Worlds soundtrack, what can one say about it?
How about? Amazing! Well that is maybe a bit of an over statement, this is certainly not as good as the original vinyl War Of The Worlds, that was one messed up vinyl, but musically this CD release is most deffinatly on a par with it.
As with all my other compilation album reviews, I shall give my opinion on each song, then round up the CD as a whole, I feel this is the best way to cover anything with diverse performances.
I should probably point out now as it has become apparent while writing individual reviews on the song that you will appreciate this album alot more if you have heard the original recordings, I have so I may be slightly less objective that perhaps I should.
1. The Eve Of The War
A brilliant little introduction song here ...
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