Alex Tootstick Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Tootstick Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Yeah I think it was on cassette when my dad used to play it in the car! I'll be sure to catch it live if I ever get the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 I think the bass player was Herbie Flowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Adams Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1491778000' post='3275345'] I think the bass player was Herbie Flowers. [/quote] I'm quite certain you are correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Great album. Heard it at school and part 1 was one of the first CDs I ever owned. Might have to give it a download. You've got "start all over again" and "ooooh laaahhhh" going round in my head now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Guitar work by Chris Spedding, IIRC. And also IIRC , Herbie was the only person allowed to use any of the music or reference to War of the Worlds in his own shows. Just shows how highly Jeff Wayne rated him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dropzone Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 No one would have believed... This was my first vinyl too...just amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 Awesome album - listened to it last week as it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 (edited) 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 April 10, 2017 by TrevorR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 [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] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 [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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 (edited) 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 April 12, 2017 by SpondonBassed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Strangely, I am currently reading The Massacre of Mankind, an authorised sequel to WOTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 [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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire5 Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 [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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patster1969 Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 As per TrevorR's comment, I've (until the last 3 years) spent all of my live around Woking, so it's always quite exciting reading about the crappy bits of the town and still hoping they get vaporised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.