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View Full Version : Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds-LIVE



Shaun Ponsonby
04-24-2006, 12:59 PM
Saw Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War Of The Worlds in Manchester last night. I wasn't sure what to expect. But, I absolutely LOVED it. There was a 50-piece string section, along with an 8-piece rock band. Jeff Wayne conducted. Then, Justin Hayward sang the songs he originally performed on the album, "Eve of the War" and "Forever Autumn", Chris Thompson did "Thunder Child". I was a bit confused when I heard Russel Watson was playing the Parson Nathaniel, cos this part was originally done by Phil Lynott, but I actually thought he did quite well.

The light show was amongst the best I've ever seen, on video or in the flesh (that includes Floyd and Jean Michel-Jarre), including a large tripod which was lowered from above the stage, and when there was supposed to be firing at the aliens, the tripod was exploding like nobody's business.

There was even expensive CGI, with the whole story being played on screens and a big 10ft 3-D recreation of Richard Burton's head to narrate that actually looked quite realistic (well, as realistic as a big 10ft head can look).

If this show is coming to a venue near you, I urge you to go and not worry about the expensive price. It costs that much for a reason.

PHOENIX
04-24-2006, 01:45 PM
Sounds interesting.

Want me to Sticky it?

Shaun Ponsonby
04-24-2006, 03:44 PM
I almost quote Frankie Miller when I say

"I would gladly go blind
If I never hear that remark another fucking time"

PHOENIX
04-24-2006, 04:54 PM
Originally posted by Shaun Ponsonby
I almost quote Frankie Miller when I say

"I would gladly go blind
If I never hear that remark another fucking time"

The only Frank Miller i know is the dude that created Sin City and used to write the Daredevil comic book.

Lets Stciky this then.

PHOENIX
04-24-2006, 10:50 PM
Jeff Wayne was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, in the U.S. His father Jerry Wayne was an actor, singer and theatre producer who had a profound influence on Jeff's life in many ways, inspiring his love of music and of tennis, and introducing him to H. G. Wells' book The War of the Worlds. Wayne took classical, and later, jazz piano lessons from the age of five and was taught tennis by his father. He spent four years of his childhood in the UK after his father won the role of romantic gambler Sky Masterson in the original West End musical production of Guys and Dolls.

Four years later they returned to New York. Wayne graduated from Stephen Halsey Jr. High and then attended Forest Hills High School for one year (including playing for its tennis team), before moving to California. He graduated from Grant High School, then from Los Angeles Valley College with a journalism degree. He also captained and played Number 1 for their tennis teams, and played keyboards in local bands and coached tennis to support himself through those years. After completing his journalism degree he switched to music, and played keyboards briefly with the Sandpipers.

[edit]
Music career begins
In 1966 father Jerry offered Jeff Wayne the opportunity to compose the score for his upcoming West End musical Two Cities based on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities which ran at London's Palace Theatre. The musical was a great success, winning for Edward Woodward the Evening Standard Award (now the Oliviers) for Best Male Performance in a Musical for 1968-69. Returning to the UK, Wayne's musical career truly began. He became a record producer and helped produce David Essex's album Rock On. Essex was later recruited by Wayne as a voice actor in The War of the Worlds, playing the part of The Artilleryman.

[edit]
War of the Worlds
In 1978, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds was released and achieved international success, including worldwide hit singles "The Eve Of The War" and "Forever Autumn". It has also won two Ivor Novello Awards along with The Best Recording in Science Fiction and Fantasy, (the judges included Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Alfred Hitchcock). The record was re-released in 1995 on audio CD with five tracks remastered and added onto the second disk that were mostly created without Wayne's input.

Wayne kept a low fairly profile in the decade after The War of the Worlds, but continued to be active in composing and producing. He produced the music for the movie McVicar, released in 1980; he composed the tune for the 'turkish delight' advertisement in 1981, the theme tune for Good Morning Britain in 1982, and composed additional music for the 1984 album Beyond the Planets, Kevin Peek and Rick Wakeman's progressive rock reworking of Holst's orchestral suite.

In 1992 Jeff Wayne released Spartacus, his first major release since The War of the Worlds. It had many of the ingredients for success: a stellar cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Marillion's Fish; a libretto by Gary Osborne, who had produced most of the haunting lyrics of The War of the Worlds; and a story combining powerful themes of oppression, desperation, love and death. Despite its potential, however, the album was a disappointment both artistically and commercially, with none of the engaging musicality or novel orchestration of The War of the Worlds.

In the summer of 2005 following over a year’s work remixing (stereo and surround sound), repackaging and remastering, The War of The Worlds was re-released in the UK and Internationally. The album became one of the big hits of the year occupying 10 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the UK Album charts. The new release pushed sales to 3 million double albums in the UK, and approaching 14 million world-wide. It is now in the upper ends of the all-time best selling list since charts began, as well as amongst the elite of the longest running albums in chart history approaching, as of this writing, 300 weeks.

His first television series, The Book Of Tennis Chronicles, began broadcasting worldwide in 2005 (distributed by Fox Sports) and parallels the lives and tribulations of the greatest tennis players, and events, set against the most dramatic and quirky moments in world history, starting in 1877 and up to present time. Wayne created and produced the 8 half-hours series as well as scoring its music.

[edit]
Tennis
Tennis has remained an active part of Wayne's life; he has won at club, county, and national levels including, the British National Indoor Veterans singles and doubles titles, and the National Clay Court doubles. In 1992 he partnered his long time friend and former Great Britain #1 and Davis Cup captain Roger Taylor at the European Veteran Championships. 1999 also saw Wayne represent Great Britain competing for the Austria Cup in Spain, and achieved an ITF world ranking in his age group. In 2006 Wayne begin his 17th year as Hertfordshire County Men’s Captain (winners of this years National County Week title) and was elected into the International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain. Wayne has also played many pro-am tournaments including for: Muscular Dystrophy, Olympic Games Fund Raising, and Save the Children.

[edit]
Family
Jeff and Geraldine live in Hertfordshire, England and have four children: Anna-Marie - an actress now based in California [1], Jemma - an author with her debut book Bare Necessities launched September, 2005, sons Zeb, DJ’ing on the London club scene as well as composing and producing music, and, Joab at school and training to become a professional tennis player.

[edit]
Current activity
In April 2006 Wayne began a 14 date sold out concert tour of the UK that takes in the Royal Albert Hall and the newly refurbished Wembley Arena. Wayne conducts the Black Smoke Band and the 48 piece ULLAdubULLA strings. He is also said to be working on a computer-animated feature film of The War of the Worlds.

[edit]
Discography
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1978)
Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (1981)
Spartacus (1992)

Mr Badguy
04-25-2006, 08:22 AM
Sounds fantastic.

I wonder when "Spartacus" will be performed live?

:D

Shaun Ponsonby
04-25-2006, 08:55 AM
Erm...

Hardrock69
05-14-2006, 01:32 AM
I bought the album back in the 70s. Got it again on CD in the early 90s.

Now there has been a remastered deluxe version released on CD.

It would be pretty cool to see it live.

binnie
05-14-2006, 04:29 AM
I missed it in Manchester, but now I'm kicking myself on the strength of your review.

Sounds like quite a night,

you know that there are still people who think that's the soundtrack to the film War of the Worlds

Shaun Ponsonby
05-14-2006, 06:35 AM
I know. I meet at least one a week.

binnie
05-14-2006, 08:13 AM
some people are just retarded

but hey, they amuse me