Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

:{{Otheruses3|The War of the Worlds}}

About the album

The War of the Worlds starred Richard Burton as the narrator-protagonist, Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues), and David Essex.

Related Topics:
Richard Burton - Justin Hayward - The Moody Blues - David Essex

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Forever Autumn", "Thunder Child", and "The Spirit of Man" were some of the individual songs. "Forever Autumn" also became a separate radio hit for a time. Most of the lyrics to the songs were written by former Elton John lyricist Gary Osborne.

Related Topics:
Forever Autumn - Thunder Child - The Spirit of Man - Elton John - Gary Osborne

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The repetition of "Ulla!", the cry made by the Martians, and certain musical refrains throughout the musical pull the musical into a tight coherent whole.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Peter Goodfellow - Geoff Taylor - Michael Trim

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two separate Spanish versions of the album were released in 1978, one featuring Anthony Quinn in the role of the journalist.

Related Topics:
1978 - Anthony Quinn

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A special German version was also released in 1980 with Curd Jürgens taking the part of the journalist.

Related Topics:
1980 - Curd Jürgens

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the album was issued on CD, an abridged version with the unwieldy title Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was also released.

Related Topics:
CD - Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 1998 computer game based on The War of the Worlds (the original book) not only featured remixed music from the album and Martian war machines based on the illustrations throughout the album booklet, but was actually called Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds.

Related Topics:
1998 - Computer game - Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2000, a collection of remixes of tracks from the original album - including several used in the computer game - was released as a double CD titled The War of the Worlds: ULLAdubULLA The Remix Album. While most of the contributors are relatively unknown, the album includes two versions of a remix of "Dead London" by Apollo Four Forty.

Related Topics:
2000 - Apollo Four Forty

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On 23 June, 2005 the album was re-released in two forms: one in the original 2-disc CD set; another in a 7-disc "Collector's Edition" featuring many bonuses such as various remixes, outtakes, and the actors reading from the unabridged script as well as the seventh disc being a DVD showing the making of the album.

Related Topics:
23 June - 2005 - DVD

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In addition, it was announced in late 2004 that production had been commissioned for an animated CGI film version set for a 2007 release. Test footage of some of the Martian machines has been released to War of the Worlds online http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/movies/jeffwaynetestfootage.htm.

Related Topics:
2004 - Animated - CGI - 2007

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~