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Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds - The New Generation


Cyberpunk
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I thought I'd let you know my thoughts on this new album. First off, let me tell you my history with this musical piece. I bought the vinyl album in 1979, one of my first record purchases. Since then, I've bought it twice on cassette, three times on CD, been to see the live stage show, bought the DVD of the live stage show, and own the ULLAdubULLA remix album. As you can imagine, I'm a fan.

So I was of two minds when I heard that Jeff Wayne was re-recording one of my all time favourite albums. I listened to the leaked songs on youTube, and did not like them at all. But then, I was listening to the songs out of context with the rest of the story.

First off, Liam Neeson is the new narrator, filling the shoes of the late great Richard Burton. He does an good job, although his voice acting can be a little flat at times. In this new version, he has more dialog, and sometimes the music is extended to cover this. He is joined by Gary Barlow as the Sung Thoughts of the Narrator. The song, Forever Autumn is one of the tracks I heard on youTube, and didn't like. But listening to it within the album, it works a lot better. I'm not one of Gary's biggest fans, and I'm still not completely sold on this, but he grows on you within this.

Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs plays the Artilleryman, and plays him very well. At this point in the album (the Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine) he hasn't sung yet, but he throws himself into the part with gusto.

So far, the music is very similar to the original album, but with a few exceptions. There are bass undertones that enhance the experience, and extra sound effects. The music has a feel of Euro-trance at some points, with synthesizers taking some of the music, where stringed instruments were used originally. And my biggest bug-bear of the album is random dub-step, which is dropped in occasionally. I don't think it works, although others might disagree. There are some real highlights, like when the narrator has to jump into the river, the music goes all muffled, until he re-emerges "until forced up to breath".

Alex Clare plays the Sung Thoughts of Humanity on Thunderchild. Mmm, not sure about this guy. I feel he hasn't got the same punch as Chris Thompson, in what is a very exciting part of the story, and the culmination of the first disc.

And so onto disc two. The Red Weed part one is more or less how you'd expect it to be, with the exception of extra narration, and more random dub-step. Then we kick into The Spirit of Man. Here we have Joss Stone as Beth, the Parson's Wife, and Maverick Sabre as the Parson. Maverick sound Jamaican in places, and Joss is pretty weak in the roll. No amount of auto-tune will cover a weak rock voice. Not a favourite of mine.

Brave New World sees the return of Ricky Wilson as the Artillery man. And this song is done very well. Although listening to it, you can't help but think it's a Kaiser Chiefs cover. And of course we have more random dub-step thrown in.

Dead London parts one and two sound great. Just updated with more narration. And Gary Barlow makes a comeback on this track too.

All in all, the new album has some good points, some great bits, and some poor bits. It's a great addition to your collection, if you're like me, and a long term fan. But I still prefer the original.

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