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War of the Surreal Worlds
Start with the distinctive voice of Richard Burton:
"No one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. That we were be scrutinized as someone with a microscope watches creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us."
Next insert a thunderous string arrangement and you have the opening of a rather unusual rock opera (and one of my favorite LPs of all time) from 1978: "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds
".
I was introduced to this album (yes, album) when I was very young because my father was probably the biggest Moody Blues fan in the world. He was always sitting me down with a pair of ancient headphones stuck to the sides of my head to listen to the Moody's or War of the Worlds, which we were lucky enough to have a cassette tape copy of, although, later, we also gained a copy of the album insert from some unknown source.
Dad had been introduced to War of the Worlds because Moody's lead singer, Justin Haywood, had contributed to several of the tracks. Including what is probably one of the sweetest love songs ever written: "Forever Autumn":
"The summer sun is fading as the year grows old,
and darker days are drawing near,
the winter winds will be much colder,
now you're not here.
I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
and one by one they disappear
I wish that I was flying with them,
now you're not here
like the sun through the trees you came to love me
like a leaf on a breeze you blew away"
Eventually I wore the old cassette tape out, playing it over and over in my ancient Sony Walkman (today's iPod owes more than you can imagine to Sony's portable music innovation), which led to me track down the first CD (double CD actually) I ever bought. I recall it being over $50 (as it was an import from the UK) at the time, which was the early 90's. Oddly enough, I can't recall if I actually owned a CD-player, I think I may have only had a 2-spin CD-ROM drive in my old 386 that I used to transfer to CD to Cassette yet again! (LOL)
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds is a true hidden gem, early electronic rock, classic voices, a timeless tale and probably one of the finest narrators to ever live. If I could have anyone's voice, I think I would choose to command the power of Sir Richard Burton. Thinking back, listening to this story is probably what got me started on storytelling and certainly cooked up my love of sci-fi and radio plays.
The surreal art, Victorian Age England being obliterated by sleek Martian technology was certainly another catalyst for my young mind (goodness knows that I still have a love for the particular sub-genera of speculative fiction that combines magic and steam works).
However, it wasn't until years later, when I was browsing some of my favorite surreal artists on the 'net, that I realized that at least one of the artists for War of the Worlds had most certainly been influenced by one of the most infamous surreal artists: Salvador Dali (or at least I can see the influence, however, I leave you to be the judge):
"Parson Nathaniel" - Peter Goodfellow - 1976
"Temptation of St. Anthony" - Salvador Dali - 1946
P.S. No, unfortunately I never got to play the computer RTS based on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the World and Yes, I am simply dying to see the live stage version! The DVD is on my xxx-mas wish list!
Posted by Dylon on November 13, 2006 2:09 AM |
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Comments
Hi,
I noticed the same thing when I first saw the Temptation of Saint Anthony print in my cousins house when I was a young child. I too am eternally in love with WotW, and it's good to see that someone else made the same connection.
I still have the double record and listen to it regularly, but I never had the tape. lol
Cheers,
Amie
Hey, I noticed the same thing a few years ago and tried looking it up on the internet, partly to see if there was a reason for it and also to see if any of the other artwork was influenced. My then partner studied fine art at Uni and now teaches it and she thought one or two of the prints seemed familiar- I'm positive "a Brave New World" is influenced by something specific!
I've loved this album for years and regularly leave it playing as I fall asleep- not coz I'm bored but the theme relaxes me.
The artwork has always fascinated me although I remember being petrified of them when I was young.
I agree about Forever Autumn, although within the album itself I think it is the weakest track but that may just be because it's so different from the rest.
June 2010