Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds (1978)

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, retelling the story of H. G. Wells' eponymous sci-fi novel.

The War of the Worlds stars Richard Burton as the narrator-protagonist, Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues), Phil Lynott (The Parson), Julie Covington, David Essex (The Artilleryman) and Chris Thompson.

"Forever Autumn", "The Eve of the War", "Thunder Child", and "The Spirit of Man" are the most recognised individual songs on the album. "Forever Autumn" was a UK Top 5 single, sung by Justin Hayward. The album itself spent 290 weeks in the UK album charts. It was in the top 10 in 22 countries and reached #1 in 11 countries.

Most of the lyrics on the album were written by former Elton John lyricist Gary Osborne.

The album was one of the first recorded on 48 tracks, using two synchronised 24 track Studer 80s at Advision Studios in London. It was engineered by Geoff Young, who was instrumental in bringing the recordings together with only a 16 track desk. His skill in this regard was later recognised by George Michael, who worked with him to record "Last Christmas" and "Careless Whisper" using the same studio and equipment.

The repetition of "Ulla!", the cry made by the Martians, and certain musical refrains throughout the musical act as leitmotifs.

The official album comes with several paintings by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim that help to illustrate the story from beginning to end.

Rest of info on Wikipedia and many more stuff at Jeff Wayne's official site.

Credits:

Richard Burton – spoken words (The Journalist)
David Essex – spoken words and vocals (The Artilleryman)
Phil Lynott – spoken words and vocals (Parson Nathaniel)
Julie Covington – spoken words and vocals (Beth)
Justin Hayward – vocals (The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist "Forever Autumn")
Chris Thompson – vocals (The Voice of Humanity "Thunder Child")
Jerry Wayne – spoken words ("Epilogue, Part 2")
Ken "Prof" Freeman – keyboards
Chris Spedding – guitars
Jo Partridge – guitars (mainly The Heat Ray), mandolin
George Fenton – santur, zither, tar
Herbie Flowers – bass guitar
Barry Morgan – drums
Barry da Souza, Roy Jones, Ray Cooper – percussion
Paul Vigrass, Gary Osborne, Billy Lawrie – backing vocals

All dialogue written by Doreen and Jerry Wayne, based upon H.G. Wells's original text. Music and lyrics by Jeff Wayne except as noted.

1978 Edition

Disc 1:

1. The Eve of the War – 9:06
2. Horsell Common and the Heat Ray – 11:36
3. The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine – 10:36
4. Forever Autumn – 7:43
5. Thunder Child – 6:10

Disc 2:

1. The Red Weed (Part 1) - 5:55
2. The Spirit of Man - 11:41
3. The Red Weed (Part 2) - 6:51
4. Brave New World -12:13
5. Dead London - 8:37
6. Epilogue (Part 1) – 2:42
7. Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA) – 2:02

2009 Remastered Edition

Disc one:
1. The Eve of the War – 9:07 (Wayne)
2. Horsell Common and the Heat Ray – 11:35 (Wayne)
3. The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine – 10:27 (Wayne)
4. Forever Autumn – 7:55 (Wayne, Vigrass, Osborne)
5. Thunder Child – 6:03 (Wayne, Osborne)

(Some pressings misprint the first track as "The Eye of the War")

Disc two:
1. The Red Weed (Part 1) – 5:51
2. The Spirit of Man – 11:45 (Wayne, Osborne) [the LP's tracks "Parson Nathaniel" and "The Spirit of Man" indexed as one track]
3. The Red Weed (Part 2) – 6:19
4. Brave New World – 12:36 (Wayne, Osborne)
5. Dead London – 8:36
6. Epilogue (Part 1) – 2:42
7. Epilogue (Part 2) (NASA) – 2:01

Bonus tracks:
8. The Spirit Of Man 2009 - 4:16
9. The Eve Of The War & Forever Autumn Medley - 5:01

Links:

- The War Of The Worlds official site