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War of the worlds...


Alex Tootstick
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So I was reminded of the war of the worlds musical recently and I had a long drive today and downloaded it for the trip.
I'm sure many of you know it and how brilliant the music is... I always knew it was good as a kid (last time I heard it I was about 12).. however listening to it from a slightly wiser point of view (only very slightly wiser) I was chuffed from start to finish... it's packed with amazing lines and guitar pieces I just never appreciated before.
Also Phil Lynotts vocals on 'spirit of man' could be some of his best (imo of course).
So if you know it, as I thought I did it, might be worth another listen. If nothing else it doesn't half make a drive go in a flash (you know... like a flash from a Martian ray gun)

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Yeah, it's a great album.
I bought it on cassette when it first came out & I bought it on CD when it was reissued a few years ago & was surprised just how much I enjoyed it, it wasn't just a nostalgia thing.
The live show was superb too.

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Fantastic. I bought the DVD of the live show and its a fantastic VID with the storyline running on large screens and occasional actors / singers coming on stage dressed as characters from the movie.
I actually thought the live show storyline was far better than the movies. It was set in a different time era and just seemed to work better.
Herbie Flowers was bassist on that show too
Great background music and wish i had taken it in car for long journey. That would be really entertaining in car.

Dave

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First album I bought with my own money.
Woolworths in Coventry, January 1979.
My uncle had played it to me on New Years Eve, so as soon as the shops were open again I went and got it.
I was 6 years old, I still have it.

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Fabulous album. Saw the show when it first toured (twice!). They had Chris Spedding, Herbie, Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) from the original album in the band alongside Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash) and Hugh Burns (everybody!) on guitar. Quite a band. One heck of a show!














Edited by TrevorR
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[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1491808066' post='3275418']...occasional actors / singers coming on stage dressed as characters from the movie.
I actually thought the live show storyline was far better than the movies. It was set in a different time era and just seemed to work better.
[/quote]

[url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds"]https://en.wikipedia...r_of_the_Worlds[/url]

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[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1491808066' post='3275418']
Fantastic. I bought the DVD of the live show and its a fantastic VID with the storyline running on large screens and occasional actors / singers coming on stage dressed as characters from the movie.
I actually thought the live show storyline was far better than the movies. It was set in a different time era...
[/quote]

Rather it was set in the correct time era and stayed closer to the original story than either film version.

The events of WotW all took place near where I live. My parents in law live a few hundred yards from where the martians landed. The bit where the journalist gets knocked into the water and separated from the Artilleryman is a short cycle down the Thames and since He gets trapped in a house by the black smoke in Upper Halliford I always imagine that was in the scary looking house round the corner from the garden centre!

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Had the original LP too. A real cracker from the day when Sci-fi was a proper cult. I said [i]cult[/i].

Sci-fi today is such nonsense;
[url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/[/url]

Ear plugs recommended for the bits with Dakota Fanning in. Eeeeeeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Edit: I should say that I was referring to the LP of "Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds" from 1978. I am amazed how many versions H.G. Wells' original story inspired.

Edited by SpondonBassed
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[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1491946597' post='3276753']
Strangely, I am currently reading The Massacre of Mankind, an authorised sequel to WOTW.
[/quote]

Interesting , I'll try to find an audio version

I did the album the other year on a drive to south of France , loved it

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I've read the book several times and it still unsettles me,as I was an stargazer for many years,and had looked at Mars many times through my 'scope and often wondered how I would feel if,one night,I saw some jets of flame shooting outwards from it.On the album,the futility in David Essex's voice when he suggests a 'brave new world' underground,while scrabbling at the ground with his bare hands,suggests that insanity had overtaken him.Great book,great album.

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My favourite book as a child, and I must have re-read it dozens of times over the years. A shame there's never been a good film version - IMO the best adaptation (despite changing the setting & era) was Orson Welles' 1938 radio version.

Love the Jeff Wayne interpretation - although the Fighting Machines look completely wrong! :D

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[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1491863708' post='3276045']
Fabulous album. Saw the show when it first toured (twice!). They had Chris Spedding, Herbie, Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann's Earth Band) from the original album in the band alongside Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash) and Hugh Burns (everybody!) on guitar. Quite a band. One heck of a show!












[/quote]

That was the version of the show I saw. Absolutely brilliant.

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