Jeff Wayne's War of The Worlds - Part Two

[Taun]

One of my favorite albums was the 1978 album: "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of The Worlds " I was really happy when - in 2005 - it was released on CD (I had recently lost my last turntable)... Since then I have worn out the cd twice and am on my third copy...

The original "JWWOW" was faithfully based on HG Wells 1898 story, and was set in that time period. Among the all star cast that were featured in this two record (two CD) album were:

Richard Burton (the actor) - as the Journalist (the narrator)

David Essex - as "The Artilleryman"

Phil Lynott (of Thin Lizzy) - as Parson Nathaniel

Julie Covington (of the Musical "Evita") - as Beth the Parson's wife

Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) - as the sung thoughts of the journalist

Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann's Earth band) - "The voice of humanity"

and a host of well know musicians...

The album is listed as the 38th best selling album of all time in the UK where stayed on the charts for 330 weeks. it reached number 1 in 11 countries and the top 20 in 22 others... It has sold over 15 million copies...

The War of The Worlds has also won two prestigious UK Ivor Novello Awards, the US Best Recording in Science Fiction and Fantasy (the judges included Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg), as well as winning for Jeff, Classic Rock's 'Showman of The Year' Award.

It has spawned several world tours, and several computer and video games...

It has been announced that Jeff Wayne has re-recorded the album - to take advantage of more modern technology, and the album will be released sometime next month. (edit: The web page says November - though that may be the tour)

The new album will be entitled "The New Generation" and will continue the story...

The new cast: (from the web site)

The Journalist

Liam Neeson

Originally played by Richard Burton

The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist

Gary Barlow

Originally played by Moody Blues Justin Hayward

Parson Nathaniel

Maverick Sabre

Originally played by Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott

Beth, Parson Nathaniel's Wife

Joss Stone

Originally played by Julie Covington

The Artilleryman

Ricky Wilson

Originally played by David Essex

The Voice of Humanity

Alex Clare

Originally played by Manfred Mann Earthband’s Chris Thompson

In conjunction with the album there will be a tour announced - probably nowhere near where I live of course... I'm not 100% certain if the above names are for the album, the tour or both...

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/

Edited September 18, 2012 by Taun