Jeff Wayne – War of The Worlds (1979)

The title is actually Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds.  Wayne was an American composer of advertising jingles, TV themes and has scored a few films and musicals, but his fame rests almost entirely on this album, one of only two he has released, though he has made the most of War of the Worlds releasing cast versions of the live show and even a computer game.  The album is a fairly accurate adaptation of H.G. Wells famous novel, written some eighty years earlier, and although it has been proven to be impossible by science, the story and fear of being invaded by aliens from Mars has gripped the human imagination ever since.  Wayne wrote and produced the whole thing and chose English voices for this very English Victorian novel.  His most inspired choice was using Richard Burton as ‘The Narrator’ but he also used David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Chris Thompson and Julie Covington.  These were all great choices for the songs – but actually it is the musical themes which really carry the album along.  This album was a huge success reaching number five and eventually selling over fifteen million copies worldwide.  It is still a really satisfying listen after almost 50 years.  Best tracks are ‘Forever Autumn’, ‘The Eve Of The War’ where we first hear the chords of the theme.   The album was personally driven by Wayne’s determination despite record company CBS’s nervousness; they doubted it would ever be a success and as recording costs mounted they threatened to pull the plug, only for Wayne to put his own money into the project.  A superb achievement.