Jeff Wayne (1) (1943–)

Longer, Not Deeper

This Audible audiobook takes the very enjoyable "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds" (JWMVotWotW), removes the songs (except for a bit of background music and some musical cues) and adds more story. Unfortunately, the additions seem to slow the action considerably. We get to spend longer with the unpleasant parson, but his wife gets relegated to an off-screen death (her "Spirit of Man" is a highlight of JWMVotWotW but here we only get a taste of it as a show more cue when she's mentioned).
The use of musical cues is clumsy and jarring at times. For instance, JWMVotWotW begins with Richard Burton's understated narration of the first paragraph of the book, and the line "...and slowly, but surely, they drew their plans against us." is followed by a blast of music. Here, the introduction pauses after each mention of the aliens for a blast of the "Ooooh-Laaah" effect. It's jarring, it interrupts the introduction, and it's way before we hear the Martians gloat.
The use of some instrumental portions of songs from JWMVotWotW doesn't quite work either. Each time Carrie is mentioned we hear her "theme" ("Forever Autumn", a lovely wistful song where the narrator wonders if he'll ever see her again) in the background, even when they're happily together and the menace hasn't happened yet.
This whole audiobook seems as though a radio dramatization got the rights to the music (but not any vocals) from JWMVotWotW and shoehorned it in wherever and whenever possible. It does not add to the experience.
Half an hour into this, I was wishing I'd brought along the original JWMVotWotW instead, which covers nearly all of the same ground but with a better pace.
On the plus side, the voice actors do a great job.

Gaming the book:
I've played several board and video games based on the book, movies and even the musical (!) and haven't found any that really do it for me. I'm still looking. show less

Anders' views:
A faithful (perhaps overly so) remake of the original 1978 album, with new actors and singers. Liam Neeson as the journalist is a decent replacement for Richard Burton, but most of others are, while skilled, nowhere near as good as the originals. I was particularly unhappy with Maverick Sabre as Parson Nathaniel; he just sounds whiny, where Phil Lynott sounded genuinely desperate and unhinged.

Technically well done, and one or two little touches in the new versions are actually show more improvements on the originals, but I generally don't see the point of a nearly note-for-note re-recording. I've only listened to this version twice in the ten years I've owned it, whereas I play the original three or four times a year. (It has been one of my favourite albums since I was eight in 1982, so perhaps I am not capable of being completely fair to the "New Generation".)

Eva's views:
Eva is reasonably familiar with the original album, if nothing else because I have played it a few times, but prefers the book. show less

I think I was expecting more from this than I got. The reading was excellent but I expected more actual music so stick to the original album for the real experience.

mit Richard Burton