Jeff Wayne's musical version of (H.G. Wells') The war of the worlds

[Jack Leaf]

Has anyone heard this excellent album? There aren't really any words to describe how amazing it is. It has got five stars just almost anywhere it has been reviewed.

I've been listening to this for over a week now and I'm still quite addicted. The album has 12 songs and lasts for about a hour and a half. The beginning has almost no singing at all expect for some narration and the groovy chorus in the "Eve of the war". The singing begins in the fourth song, but the second disc (tracks 6-12) is the most fun with its massive musical pieces The Spirit of Man(about 11 minutes) and Brave New World (about 12 minutes). The whole album is, however, VERY enjoyable and is in its best when listened from the beginning to the very end.

The music is like a mix between rock, orchestra and disco. There's maybe a little too many weird "martian" disco effects, but every song is still excellent. There are some flaws, but they are so small that they don't ruin the experience at all.

The story follows the original H.G Wells book very well (though I haven't read it - yet), but instead of two main characters there's only one narrator to clear it all up. On top of it all, Richard Burton is the narrator as the journalist!

This is something you just cannot miss.

[gryphon]

Has anyone heard this excellent album?

I own it. Have you seen the graphicall representations of the musical that come with the LP ? Really nice and better then the recently released movie if you ask me. But then it was a Spielberg movie so what would you expect...

[Jack Leaf]

I've seen some of the art.

The one where people are staring at the crater from a hill (Horsell Common), the one where the tripod beats the crap out of HMS Thunder Child (that's in the cover after all), Brave New World and Dead London (the one where the birds peck the dead martians). On the WOTW website there is also a picture of the Parson standing against the tripods (before being overkilled by multiple heat rays).

The art is, indeed very good. It's funny that these greenhooded white tripods featured in the album art are probably the best looking War of the World tripods I've ever seen.

[gryphon]

Have you played the game deducted from the LP ones ?

It's a simple made stategy game .. .

[Jack Leaf]

I had it many years ago but for some obscure reason my father sold it. I remember it was very good, but I was about 8 or 9 back then so it was immensely difficult for me.

*ahem* I downloaded the game *cough* illegally a week ago, but I couldn't get it working.  >:(

By the way, a little Wikipedia and IMDB search revealed that there are in fact THREE War of the Worlds movies released this year!

We both already know the Spielberg version. The second movie carries the title "Invasion" ( David Michael Latt) outside USA and the tripods were replaced by six legged walkers, heat ray was removed, the story was modernized and whatnot. I lost my interest in this movie in seconds.

The third version is the most interesting. The story is based on year 1902 just like the original book and the script is also extremely loyal. This sounded very promising even though the tripods in the still shots looked like black hunks of scrap metal. Unfortunately the Wikipedia and IMDB searchs I made also revealed that the movie itself is total piece of crap. Directed by Timothy Hines.