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

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Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.

Contents

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About the album

The War of the Worlds starred Richard Burton as the narrator-protagonist, Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues), and David Essex.

"Forever Autumn", "Thunder Child", and "The Spirit of Man" were some of the individual songs. "Forever Autumn" also became a separate radio hit for a time. Most of the lyrics to the songs were written by former Elton John lyricist Gary Osborne.

The repetition of "Ulla!", the cry made by the Martians, and certain musical refrains throughout the musical pull the musical into a tight coherent whole.

The official album comes with several paintings by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim that help to illustrate the story from beginning to end.

Two separate Spanish versions of the album were released in 1978, one featuring Anthony Quinn in the role of the journalist.

A special German version was also released in 1980 with Curd Jürgens taking the part of the journalist.

When the album was issued on CD, an abridged version with the unwieldy title Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was also released.

The 1998 computer game based on The War of the Worlds (the original book) not only featured remixed music from the album and Martian war machines based on the illustrations throughout the album booklet, but was actually called Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds.

In 2000, a collection of remixes of tracks from the original album - including several used in the computer game - was released as a double CD titled The War of the Worlds: ULLAdubULLA The Remix Album. While most of the contributors are relatively unknown, the album includes two versions of a remix of "Dead London" by Apollo Four Forty.

On 23 June, 2005 the album was re-released in two forms: one in the original 2-disc CD set; another in a 7-disc "Collector's Edition" featuring many bonuses such as various remixes, outtakes, and the actors reading from the unabridged script as well as the seventh disc being a DVD showing the making of the album.

In addition, it was announced in late 2004 that production had been commissioned for an animated CGI film version set for a 2007 release. Test footage of some of the Martian machines has been released to War of the Worlds online [1].

There is also a live tour to occur in the UK and Ireland in April 2006, consisting of a live performance of the album. A 'virtual' Richard Burton will perform as the Journalist, and Justin Hayward will recreate his vocal performances from 'Forever Autumn' and 'The Eve of the War'. Other artists apperaing include Russell Watson as Parson Nathaniel and Chris Thompson who sang 'Thunder Child' on the original album. A full sized Fighting Machine will be featured centre-stage. Also presented will be an animated 'prequel' to the story (rumored to be in the style of the upcoming feature-length film) detailing the Martian's ecological destruction of their own world and their preparations to invade Earth.

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Track listing

All dialogue written by Doreen and Jerry Wayne, based upon H.G. Wells's original text. Music and lyrics by Jeff Wayne except as noted.

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LP

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Side A

  1. "The Eve of the War" (9:06)
  2. "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" (11:36)
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Side B

  1. "The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine" (10:36)
  2. "Forever Autumn" (7:43) (Wayne, Vigrass, Osborne)
  3. "Thunder Child" (6:10) (Wayne, Osborne)
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Side C

  1. "The Red Weed (Part 1)" (5:55)
  2. "Parson Nathaniel" (1:55)
  3. "The Spirit of Man" (9:46) (Wayne, Osborne)
  4. "The Red Weed (Part 2)" (6:51)
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Side D

  1. "Brave New World" (12:13) (Wayne, Osborne)
  2. "Dead London" (8:37)
  3. "Epilogue (Part 1)" (2:42)
  4. "Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA)" (2:02)
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Compact disc

Same as LP, reorganised as a double CD. Original CD release date October 25th, 1990:

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Disc 1

  1. "The Eve of the War" (9:07.25) (Wayne)
  2. "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" (11:35.32) (Wayne)
  3. "The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine" (10:27.70) (Wayne)
  4. "Forever Autumn" (7:55.28) (Wayne, Vigrass, Osborne)
  5. "Thunder Child" (6:03.52) (Wayne, Osborne)
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Disc 2

  1. "The Red Weed (Part 1)" (5:51.50)
  2. "The Spirit of Man" (11:45.50) (Wayne, Osborne)[the LP's tracks "Parson Nathaniel" and "The Spirit of Man" indexed as one track]
  3. "The Red Weed (Part 2)" (6:19.25)
  4. "Brave New World" (12:36.75) (Wayne, Osborne)
  5. "Dead London" (8:36.45)
  6. "Epilogue (Part 1)" (2:42.55)
  7. "Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA)" (2:01.95)
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Additional musicians

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External links

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