The music takes you on an out of this world experience and the stage effects brings everything to life; the hologram of Liam Neeson is the icing on this already divine cake.

Maverick Sabre and Joss Stone's performances as Parson Nathaniel and Beth received a more lukewarm response whereas Alex Clare's rendition of "Thunder Child" received praise, with many people claiming that his take on the song was the best track on the album. Peter Bradshaw writing for The Guardian gave the film a two-star review and stated "The bloated and stately spectacle may have just worked on stage, but it's decidedly ropey on film. also includes other new content not featured on The New Generation album, such as a new scene opening Act II between The Journalist (Liam Neeson) and Carrie, his fiancée (Anna-Marie Wayne). In terms of the DVD, the production is pretty slick, capturing the epic moments of the New Generation show rather admirable; however, the full impact of the descending Martian Fighting Machine and Heat Ray can only be seen in a live environment. A "virtual" Richard Burton (a large bust of the Journalist onto which was projected an image of a young Burton with a super-imposed actor's mouth and jaw lip synched to the original Burton recordings) performed as The Journalist.The album was one of the first recorded on 48-track, which was achieved by Maglink, a prototype system that allowed the synchronisation of two 24-track Studer A80 machines with a SMPTE timecode reserved on two of the available 48 tracks. He approached John Pasche, who went on to design the logo on the front cover, and direct the overall design of the record's sleeve which features paintings from three artists: Geoff Taylor, Mike Trim, and Peter Goodfellow. Justin Hayward, lead singer and guitarist for the Moody Blues, sings the song " Forever Autumn" (sung from the perspective of the Journalist), which was a hit single from the album.

With an all-star cast including Liam Neeson, Wet Wet Wet’s Marti Pellow, Jason Donovan, Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson, Jetblack’s Will Stapleton and Wicked’s Kerry Ellis, plus stunning new 3D holography and a 3-tonne 35foot Martian Fighting Machine. Ive got a Black Sparkle and a Blue Pearl Luke myself but if I could find a White Sparkle Luke with piezo anywhere in the UK , I may be tempted to raid the piggy bank ! Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds recorded as a concept album by CBS Records (now Sony BMG) between 1976 and 1977, and released in June 1978 as a two-disc set.

Although Wayne had not previously met the other voice actors: Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott as Parson Nathaniel, Moody Blues vocalist Justin Hayward singing the Journalist's thoughts, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band guitarist and vocalist Chris Thompson as the Voice of Humanity, he was "thrilled" that they took part "because they each brought their own sort of magic, their style and performance and singing. All lyrics by Jeff Wayne, Paul Vigrass, and Gary Osborne unless specified below, with script by Doreen Wayne. 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. A German album followed in 1981 featuring Curd Jürgens as the Journalist, plus radio broadcasts in Dutch and Israeli. In 2000, a collection of remixes of tracks from the original album—including several used in the 1998 computer game—were released on a double CD titled The War of the Worlds: ULLAdubULLA—the Remix Album.

The release mentioned "the incineration of a cast member in full view of the audience" and "the release of deadly Black Smoke from the Martian Fighting Machine". Upon learning that Burton was in a production of the play Equus in New York City, Wayne delivered a letter with a copy of the album's script to the stage doorman and hoped for him to read it. G. Wells' characters in more detail, as well as develop the love story between the story's main character, George Herbert (the Journalist), and his fiancée Carrie. As a “standard edition DVD” there’s only minimal special features in the form of interviews with the major cast players; a couple of which have been available online for a while as it is. Burton had already committed to start work on Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) in Los Angeles after the Equus run, so Wayne organised to record the narration there to avoid further delays.

Ogilvy, an astronomer convinced that no life could exist on Mars, assures the Journalist there is no danger. Jeff Wayne – The War Of The Worlds : ULLAdubULLA The Remix Album (2000, CD)" – via release-page-service.

In April 1979, the album exceeded platinum status in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Australia, and gold certification in Canada, Spain, Israel, and Belgium. The final effect was achieved with a multitrack " voicebox guitar effect" devised and voiced by Jo Partridge, who plays guitar on the album [4] and made the sound "as dramatic as possible.Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a studio double album by American-born British musician, composer, and record producer Jeff Wayne, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. In March 2020, Jeff Wayne announced a new tour of The War of the Worlds for 2021 with new technological advances being added to the production. He had previously starred in a production of the musical Godspell, which also featured Julie Covington, who subsequently met Wayne and agreed to voice Beth. The Journalist, however, realizing the Artilleryman's ambitions far exceed his abilities, soon leaves. The New Generation album received mixed reactions from music critics and lifelong fans of Wayne's original album, with many praising Liam Neeson's performance as The Journalist, though some fans of the original were not impressed, comparing his performance to that of Richard Burton's.