I've been listening to an LP Junior got me, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.
It's an LP I know as I had a battered copy. Junior upgraded me.
It's a great album, both prog and futuristic yet Victorian as well. The ensemble cast are fabulous, my faves being Richard Burton the narrator and David Essex the artillery man.
There are many fine things in the production. The close following of HG Wells book, the different phases of the Martian invasion, the stark suffering of humanity and the sound effects.
The most startling is the Oo Laa sound of the Martian death rays. This was achieved with a guitar voice box and works really well.
In some ways the Martian war soundscape recalls the hellish fray in Rush's By Tor and the. snow Dog with it's snarling and screams created on guitars.
I'd no idea just how successful this LP was or is. One the best selling if all time and often cited as the best sci-fi album. Do you agree?
I had the chance to get cover artist Mike Trim to sign my battered copy in 2010 at the TV21 con. I took a Project SWORD box instead and asked Mike to sign that, as well as a few other guests there. I still have that box, the Cape Kennedy set.
Do you like War of the Worlds readers?
I like the album and I really love the martian tripod featured on it. I built one years ago.
ReplyDeleteTa for the pics Kev. Wunderbar. I'll post them asap
DeleteGreat album, great performances and great designs, based on a great book.
ReplyDeleteYou said it Mish!
DeleteI gather that if an amateur dramatic company decides to perform the show, the machine that gets built is the property of Jeff Wayne, you can't keep it for your garden, so either you gift it away to Jeff (even if it was built at your cost) or dismantle the thing at the end of the shows run
ReplyDeleteSeems a bit rough that MJ. Maybe he owns this article!
DeleteI had that album. It was wonderful. Alas, I needed to downsize some time ago, and gave away my entire record collection. Of course I now wish I had held on to a few special records, including War of the Worlds.
ReplyDeleteNever easy getting rid of stuff Paul. I've LPs I wish I'd not passed onto someone else now too!
DeleteMy wife and I have been having a MWOW renaissance recently. Difficult for me with my hearing loss, but I struggle through.
ReplyDeleteWe both agree Spirit of Man and Brave New World could benefit from a bit of trimming for length, but otherwise the whole work still stands up.
I have strong memories of pulling a group all-nighter at College, to get a project finished and MWOW was our soundtrack!
Mike Trim's art is great, as was Peter Goodfellow's (I remember him as a 70's Sci-Fi cover artist)
Bit are Moonbasers aware that the original unused art for the Album was done by Roger Dean?
Didn't Dean's art get re-used for the Psygnosis computer game 'Terrorpods'? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorpods Bill
DeleteI think Deans artwork is collected in a book.
DeleteAh, that's it Bill. Terrorpods. I do like Dean's bird-like Martian machine!
DeleteI bought some Mike Trim art off him at the 2010 con. A small picture of a spaceship. £15. I have somewhere, just unsure where!
DeleteRoger Dean, I didn't know that. I really liked that album as a kid. My friends not so much.
ReplyDeleteJustin Haywards voice is wonderful, as was the late great Phil Lynnot. I hated Essex boyish cockney twang and always skipped that track! The album art which came with the lp was fabulous. The painting with the priest warding off the tripods is an homage to Salvador Dali's 'Temptation of St Anthony' and in the book, Wells describes the Martians war cry as 'Lahooo', but Wayne reversed it for the more familiar and sonorous 'Uullaa'! Bill
ReplyDeleteYes, Phyl Lynnot. What a couple that was! I read that Wayne was after the guy who sang Nights in White Satin. He rang Hayward and asked him if that was him. That's a fabulous song too, like Foreverr Autumn. I thought the artilleryman was Paul Nicholas's voice. Turns out it's heartthrob David Essex. Rock on.
DeleteWayne's WOTW album was one of the 'soundtracks' to my Art and Design Foundation Course at Bradford College, as I wore out a friend's copy, playing it as I worked on my personal drawing projects, into the night.
ReplyDeleteYears later I met Mike Trim at a job interview for a Sci Fi TV show that never got made. I complemented him on his designs for Gerry Anderson, but had no idea he'd painted the Jeff Wayne album cover, so never mentioned it.
Great memories of Bradford nights Mish. Small world too! Fancy bumping into Mike Trim! Which TV show was it?
DeleteIt had several possible names (I think 'Guardians' was one) but never got made.
ReplyDelete