Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of War Of The Worlds

[MacNimon]

I see that Jeff Wayne has re-recorded his classic double album with a new generation of stars, with Liam Neeson taking on the Richard Burton role of narrator and the likes of Gary Barlow replacing Justin Hayward and co.

The new album was released a few days ago and is widely available online and in the shops; here's a link to Amazon and some early customer reviews.

Has anyone heard this yet? Is anyone a fan of the original, and are they looking forward to this?

I love the classic original version, it's simply been a part of my life for such a long time. I originally bought it on LP back in 1981 after a couple of years of listening to a friends copy, and have bought it on cd twice (because I didn't take very good care of the original, it was played so often and not stored in it's jewel case that it got to an unplayable condition!). I honestly don't know whether I'm looking forward to this new version or not...while I like Liam Neeson as an actor, I don't know whether he'll have the same presence and impact that Richard Burton had on the original.

I'm going to reserve judgement on this album until after I've heard it...I probably won't be able to resist buying it and I probably won't like it as much as the original. And it'll probably be so easy to say this, but it will only be after a few months and coming back to it time and again that I'll be able to give an honest review. As long as they don't change things too much...

My only question though is, can you improve on a classic?

[Terry Leptil]

I've listened to bits of it and it's horrible. Why fix something when it's not broken?

Although Liam Neeson is a good actor, he is no Richard Burton and doesn't have the same impact. The guy playing the Parson doesn't sound very maniacal.

Basically Jeff Wayne is doing a George Lucas by trying to enhance something which is already fine. I won't be getting it. Jeff's Spartacus is far better than this.

[Stuart Wallis]

Why fix something when it's not broken?

Exactly what my brother said when we were talking about this the other night.

[Dino]

Well those of us who have Spotify can listen to it in full.
I can only take little bits of it! This isn't an old series Doctor Who fan moaning about the new series. It's deeper than that! At least new series Doctor Who keeps a lot of the original. I can't understand why Jeff has done this. I want nothing to do with the new generation if they can easily accept this.
I will have to give the album a serious listen when I've got over the idea of him going back. But Gary Barlow as Justin Hayward? Joss Stone as Beth? The singer from the Kaiser Chiefs as the Artillery Man? If you are going to bring this album to a new generation, why pick those people? Gary Barlow especially doesn't sound "New"!
Oh well, it'll probably sell more copies than "Spartacus: The New Generation".

No-one could have believed that in the second decade of the 21st Century, that the mind of Jeff Wayne was watching and studying the human race. With a plan to take a huge massive dump on the greatest double album of all time. Few men even considered it would be worth listening to properly once. And yet, amongst that gulf of common sense and pure greed, minds immeasurably more deluded than ours, drew their plans against us.
Mainly by using Synth brass over, you know, an actual brass instrument.
Has my cheque cleared yet? Oh... how long does this crap go on for? *shuffles papers

[Stuart Wallis]

The chances of anything approaching the original WOTW coming from Jeff Wayne are a million to one - but still they come...

[Jon Masters]

I struggled through about 3/4 of it on Spotify, but finally decided that my time would be better spent listening to the original.

There is the odd 5 seconds that makes you think 'oooh, that's quite nice' but there's a lot more where you yell 'why have you ruined such a great track ?'

The preacher is no Phil Lynott

[Mike Saville]

Travesty. Absolutely dire. Even if we accept it is Jeff Wayne's right to redo his masterpiece, is that truly the best cast he could come up with?

I saw the live show a couple of years ago. I nearly bought tickets for this until I saw what they'd done. I will certainly give it a miss.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Ironically, I've been listening to the (old) album today, and really enjoying this.

Although it makes me feel a little homesick, as of course I was famous for being able to navigate around Woking using placenames from WoTW as a benchmark.

I read this, and part of me went "ooh sounds fun". I do like the idea of redoing it with a new cast. But it's like whenever they do a "tribute to ABBA/the Beatles" by new stars singing old classics, they never can quite do it justice.

Why fix something when it's not broken?

Erm ... David Essex? Sadly the weak link in the album for me.

Although Liam Neeson is a good actor, he is no Richard Burton and doesn't have the same impact.

Oooh - I told him what you said, and he didn't take it too well ...






And it could have been a lot worse... it could have been Tom Cruise doing the narration, and they'd allowed him to work in his Scientology propaganda in the voiceovers. Hence really straining "No one would have believed ..."

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I remember Pip put up an audio for one of the Christmas present in 2009 that had Planet Skaro redo Feed The World (I think). Maybe the PS version of War of the Worlds could be a 2013 project?

[Stuart Wallis]

The chances of anything coming from Bracknell...

[WhiteCrowNZ]

The chances of anything coming from Bracknell...

Having seen Bracknell on a Friday night ... the Martians wouldn't have stood a chance ...