Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds Alive on Stage! The New Generation

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds: The New Generation (2013)-

I expected this to be more of a stage show and less of a concert, but didn't mind at all as the music always blows me away. 'Forever Autumn' for instance, is a beautiful song that I have listened to hundreds of times.

There really is no denying what a fantastic composition Jeff Wayne has created here. I don't know any of Jeff's other works, although I can't find many, but if they're any thing like this, they must be superb. I have actually enjoyed this beautiful collections of sounds since I was very young and still play the CD frequently and at high volume. Some of the moments, both musically and narratively, are really quite emotive and can easily take me back in time to when I heard them first.

Therefore I could not fail to enjoy this rendition, despite a few elements that were a bit distracting.

Firstly, there was a moment where I thought that Liam Neeson was going to threaten to "Hunt them down, find them and kill them". He seemed a bit miscast and I couldn't understand why he was only a hologram? It didn't add anything to the experience for me and I felt it looked as if he just couldn't commit to all of the tour dates, in which case, I would have chosen someone who would not only be available, but who could also sing the part of the journalist. I understand that Richard Burton didn't sing on the original, but I think that there are enough actors out there now that can also sing, that it would make more sense in the execution of this fantastic tale.

I say this, because I also wouldn't have chosen Marti Pellow to perform the journalists singing. Sadly his voice just isn't as strong as it used to be.

I wasn't sure about Ricky Wilson either? He just didn't seem to fit for me, although his song was at least better.

What did surprise me was Jason Donovan's performance. Where I haven't always been overly impressed with him, especially as a singer, I thought that he was excellent as Nathaniel. Kerry Ellis also had a great vocal too.

It's slightly different to my recollection of the story. The Martians showed themselves too soon I think in this one, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment.

I've also never found it easy to picture the story as set in the Victorian era and instead usually think of it as early to mid 20th century. This may be because of the film version with Gene Barry (1953) or where my thoughts went upon my first listening, but again it didn't diminish the pleasure.

It's evident from its success and continued replication on film, TV, theatre and Radio, that the story is worthwhile, but Jeff's music really compliments it brilliantly.

The music is HORRIBLE

And does Liam Neeson really need the money? It's absurdly boring.

Obviously some people don't appreciate just how great this is absolutely brilliant with great performances from all involved. I was a fan of the original with Richard burton,Phil lynott and co but this version is great too Liam neeson always great Ricky Wilson did a great job too that guys seriously talented the guy who rated this 2 you have no idea about decent productions and boring? No idea what you saw it certainly wasn't this.

The album was amazing, unlike anything, and very listenable, although Disc 1 (on vinyl) was far superior to Disc 2.

There have been numerous live re-incarnations, which have received great reviews generally. This version, with a 3D Liam Neeson (that really works and he has a great voice) dates from 2012-2013, and was the only version (of 9 live productions) that has the risible Marti Pellow destroying "Forever Autumn", the wonderful song that Wayne adapted from a Lego advert for the incredible voice of Justin Hayward (Moody Blues; Blue Jays; solo).

I have to admit that Pellow destroying this song, with his horrific teeth emotionless delivery and fake sincerity was where me and this DVD parted company. I gave up in disgust. Adding to the general meh factor was Wayne supposedly "conducting" by doing Dad Dancing whilst being hilariously ignored by the various highly talented session musicians. Special credit must be given to the guitarist / vocoder / mandolin ? Balalaika) player, he is truly amazing, his tone, technical accomplishment and general IDGAF attitude was the best thing about this show, I think it is Huw Edwards and the bassist also was superb, who knew some of those sound effects came from a bass guitar?

Even after seeing this I'd probably still go to a live show, but not if tombstone-teeth is singing, and I'd be more than happy if they just did a 3D version of Wayne to fist punch from the sidelines, like a Travis Kelce style interpreter for the deaf.

Jeff Wayne's original album is without a doubt 10/10 perfect timeless classic. It was a totally original concept album featuring legendary narration by Richard Burton and wonderful electronic music while also telling a faithful and enjoyable adaptation of H G Wells story. Many years after its first release, and by which time it was a classic album in many households, Jeff Wayne created a live tour to perform his work live to the masses. The 2006 recording of the original tour was a lot of fun too and brought to life the classic sounds which for many years were 2-dimensional only. The singers were excellent and the musical performers excellent. There is a video that runs behind the performers which helps visually tell the story. This helped bring the actual heart of the story to life in a way that always seemed secondary to the music when one is listening to an album. So watching the live tour is another way to experience and to bring to life the wonderful classic piece of musical work.

However, in 2012 Jeff Wayne rerecorded the album under the title of War of the Worlds - The New Generation. The music is the same but rerecorded with different arrangements and instrumentation. This album was largely criticised by fans because nothing was broken so why did he decide to fix it? He only rendered it worse? Well I thought so too, I never listen to the New Generation album as it is inferior to the original. However, after watching the 2013 blu ray recording of the New Generation live tour I now understand why jeff felt he needed to redo it. It is because it was about reworking the live show to include more of the H G Wells narrative so as to make the liver performance more impactful to the audience, particularly in regards to conveying the story. And I have to say that watching the 2013 recording of the New Generation live tour was much more engaging than watching this 2006 recording of the original tour. The staging is better with better visuals and effects and narration and the Wells story comes through in a more complete way. And this in turns heightens the experience of the music that accompanies it. So in the end, while the original album is by far the superior to listen to, the 2013 live recording is by far the better one to watch. It is just a shame that in the 2013 recording you have the inferior musical arrangements as accompaniments and some rather dreadful vocals by Marti Pellow.