Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds
| Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds | ||||
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| Jeff Wayne studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
13 |
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running time |
94:54 |
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Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds is a concept album from 1978 by the American musician Jeff Wayne , in which the story of HG Wells " The War of the Worlds " is told.
About the album
Original publication
Richard Burton stars as George Herbert, the journalist (the name was first chosen for the live performances and is based on Herbert George Wells , the author of the novel), who guides through the story and tells the plot. Other contributors include Justin Hayward , Chris Thompson , Phil Lynott , David Essex, and Julie Covington .
The lyrics were written by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass . The narrator's spoken dialog was written by Doreen and Jerry Wayne, based on the text of the book. The Eve of the War and Forever Autumn , both sung by Justin Hayward, were released as singles and were in the top 10 of the UK charts.
Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim drew some pictures for the album to illustrate the story.
The cry of the Martians Ulla-aa ...! runs as a leitmotif through the whole album.
Two Spanish versions of the album were released in 1978, in one of which Anthony Quinn played the role of journalist. The songs remained in the original. In 1980 a German version came on the market, with Curd Jürgens in the lead role. Shortly before, the album became known through a two-part broadcast on the radio station SWF3 , in which the presenter Frank Laufenberg took over the entire speaking parts in German.
Awards
The album proved to be a commercial success with more than 13 million units sold worldwide. It made it into the “Top 10” of the charts in 22 countries and reached first place in eleven of them. In the British charts it was 300 weeks in the album hit parade. The album was awarded gold and platinum several times . In Great Britain it received two " Ivor Novello Awards " and in the USA it was named The Best Recording In Science Fiction And Fantasy in 1980.
Track list
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LP page A
Side B
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Side c
Side D.
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CD
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CD one
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CD two
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actors
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Musician
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Alternative versions
In 1980 the musical was released in a German version by Jeff Wayne's music version of War of the Worlds , in which the spoken sections of the main character George Herbert (originally spoken by Richard Burton) were replaced by German text, spoken by Curd Juergens . The music recordings from 1978 remained untouched and were adopted unchanged in the German version.
In 1981 the original double album was released in a shortened version as a single album as Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds , with shortened versions of the musical's most striking titles and, with two exceptions, without the text of the narrator.
In 1995 a special edition of the album with additional remixes was released.
In 2000 the album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds ULLAdubULLA - The Remix Album was released . The two CDs feature numerous remixes of the songs on the original album. On the second CD with the title ULLAdubULLAdubULLA are the longer versions of the remixes from the first CD.
In June 2005, to coincide with the start of the Spielberg film War of the Worlds , the album was digitally revised, remixed and re-mastered as a double SACD including a 5.1 mix. The 7-Disc Collector's Edition was released at the same time . On the CDs of the collector's edition you will find the original album in the 2005 SACD edition, a CD with the best remixes 1979–2005, three CDs with outtakes and other rarities and a DVD with a making of . This re-release was one of the most successful of 2005. More than 500,000 units were sold and the album went platinum.
The album ULLAdubULLA was released in a limited edition and was soon no longer produced, so Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds ULLAdubULLA II - The Remix Album was released in April 2006 . It contains old and new remixes, including by Tom Middleton and hip-hop versions by DJ Zube .
On June 4, 2007, a new version of the Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds was released , with the audio quality of the 2005 SACD edition and the bonus track The Spirit of Man 2007 Mix . The music video for the single could be downloaded via iTunes or Napster .
Live performances
The musical was performed live for the first time in April 2006. Richard Burton floated it as a giant 3D CGI - hologram -head above the stage. In order to achieve this, the facial expressions of an actor speaking Burton's text were placed over a photograph of the young Richard Burton, which gave the hologram its liveliness, synchronized with the original voice recordings. This gave the impression that the young Richard Burton himself had spoken the original recordings in front of the camera. Other contributors from the original album were also there, such as Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson. Alexis James took on the role of the artilleryman, Russell Watson that of Pastor Nathaniel and Tara Blaise played Beth. There were even some musicians from the original album in the ten-piece Black Smoke Band . During the show, a ten-meter-tall, three-legged fighting machine was lowered onto the stage, which took part in the musical with lights and pyrotechnics . Behind the stage was a ten meter wide screen on which a 95-minute CGI film was shown. In contrast to the album version, there was a small introduction before The Eve of the War in which the Martians talk about their problems from the increasingly bad life on Mars and see the invasion of earth as the solution, as well as shorter text passages from Forever Autumn and Thunder Child for added the role of Carrie (the journalist's wife) played by Anna-Marie Wayne.
Jeff Wayne personally conducted the band and the 48-piece string orchestra ULLAdubULLA-Strings .
The show at London's Wembley Arena was filmed and released on DVD on November 6, 2006. The first DVD contains the complete live show, the second a documentary about the genesis of the show. The title of the DVD is Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds - LIVE on Stage .
In September 2007 there was a live tour with performances in New Zealand and Australia with the following cast:
- Richard Burton - (George Herbert, the Journalist) (hologram)
- Michael Falzon - (The Artilleryman)
- Shannon Noll - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Rachael Beck - (Beth)
- Justin Hayward - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
- Chris Thompson - (The Voice of Humanity)
In December 2007 a live tour took place in Great Britain with the following cast:
- Richard Burton - (George Herbert, the Journalist) (hologram)
- Alexis James - (The Artilleryman)
- John Payne - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Sinèad Quinn - (Beth)
- Justin Hayward - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
- Chris Thompson - (The Voice of Humanity)
Between June and July 2009 there was another live tour in Great Britain, the Netherlands and an appearance in Oberhausen, Germany. The tour was filled with the following people:
- Richard Burton - (George Herbert, the Journalist) (hologram)
- Alexis James - (The Artilleryman)
- Shannon Noll (who was replaced on short notice by Damien Edwards) - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Jennifer Ellison - (Beth)
- Justin Hayward - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
- Chris Thompson - (The Voice of Humanity)
In 2010/2011 there was the last live show of The War of the Worlds - Alive on Stage! , which was also scheduled for Europe, but was ultimately canceled due to an injury to Jeff Wayne. The tour was filled with the following people:
- Justin Hayward - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
- Liz McClarnon - (Beth)
- Rhydian - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Chris Thompson - (The Voice of Humanity)
- Jason Donovan - (The Artilleryman)
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds - The New Generation
In 2012 a new version of the musical was released under the title: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds - The New Generation , in which the speaking role of George Herbert was recorded by Liam Neeson, as well as the songs by new artists. In addition, the entire musical implementation was modernized and revised.
Replacement
- Liam Neeson - (George Herbert, the Journalist)
- Ricky Wilson - (The Artilleryman)
- Maverick Saber - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Joss Stone - (Beth)
- Gary Barlow - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
- Alex Clare - (The Voice of Humanity)
Since November 2012 there has been a new live tour entitled The War of the Worlds: The New Generation - Alive on Stage! The revision began on November 18, 2011 in collaboration with Sony Music. Changes are mainly the main character George Herbert, the journalist , who is now spoken by Liam Neeson and displayed as a 3D CGI hologram. Furthermore, the film sequences were adapted and recreated in which Liam Neeson can be seen as George Herbert. The New Generation Tour was shown in Germany from 2013.
Tour cast
- Liam Neeson - (George Herbert, the Journalist) (projection)
- Jason Donovan - (Parson Nathaniel)
- Ricky Wilson - (The Artilleryman)
- Kerry Ellis - (Beth)
- Will Stapleton - (The Voice of Humanity)
- Marti Pellow - (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist)
Games
In 1984 the first video game in the musical was released for Spectrum. In "Jeff Wayne's Video Version of the War of the Worlds", the player experiences the story of the album with the original music. The player must flee the Horsell Pasture, find Carrie in London and escape the red weeds.
In 1998, the computer game from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds , developed by Rage Software , was released. Jeff Wayne composed 45 minutes of music ( remixes ) for the computer game in an electronic style with techno beats.
In 2000 an implementation for the Playstation appeared .
On February 16, 2011, zgames released Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, a minigame adventure for iOS (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad). The adventure consists of twelve mini-games that thematize twelve episodes of the story. The minigames were developed in collaboration with Jeff Wayne and contain music, sounds and some dialogues and scenes from the musical. The graphics are based on the illustrations and 3D models of the live show.
TV shows, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs
- 2006: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds - Live on Stage! (DVDs from Universal)
- 2007: The War of the Worlds: Live on Stage! (TV special, Australia)
- 2013: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds - The New Generation - Alive from the O2 (DVDs and BDs from Universal)
Web links
- Official site (English).
- Information on the SACD release (English).
- Information about the minigames adventure
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Burton 'joins Worlds stage cast'. Retrieved June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ The Cast. Retrieved June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ JEFF WAYNE'S MUSICAL VERSION OF THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - ALIVE ON STAGE! 2010-2011. Retrieved June 25, 2013 .
- ↑ THE DAZZLING, GROUNDBREAKING ARENA PRODUCTION LAUNCHES A NEW GENERATION! Retrieved June 25, 2013 .