No-one Would Have Believed (War Of The Worlds: Ulladubulla The Remix Album - Jeff Wayne - Soundtrack)

Member Name: Jon V

Product:	War Of The Worlds: Ulladubulla The Remix Album - Jeff Wayne - Soundtrack
Date:	19/01/06 (1211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ground-breaking, frightening, powerful

Disadvantages: Unsatisfying conclusion

Striking fear into a child is easy. Make loud scary noises, confuse them, tell them Michael Jackson is coming to visit their school. Frightening as these things are, they are certainly overcome when you grow up. War of the Worlds however, still scares me to death.

I was twelve when I first heard Richard Burton’s dulcet tones announcing an immanent Martian invasion and from then on, every car journey with my dad involved looking to the sky in fright for a fleet of Martian spacecraft.

War of the Worlds is a timeless orchestral tale of Martians invading the Earth. Narrated by Burton who doubles as the main character, a journalist caught up in the drama, the astonishing power of the music in kick-starting the imagination is far more powerful than any film could ever be. Spielberg and Cruise are not rookies, but the blockbuster they created this summer doesn’t come close.

The music is foreboding, sweeping and comes over you in a tidal wave. Beginning with Burton’s now seminal spoken intro ‘No-one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space…and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us’. Cue a cacophony of strings that would have floored Michael Kamen as the pace is set with a thumping rhythm.


Burton is the lynchpin, but the moments during which he is silent allow his tellings to resonate more powerfully. At certain times he does not allude to what is actually going on, the music does that job for him and THIS is the masterstroke of War of the Worlds: The story doesn’t need words.

And boy is it frightening. Radiohead understand that quiet is more intimidating than loud and when the tempo slows it becomes behind the sofa listening. A spaceship lands and from within, a deep unscrewing can be heard. A staccato bass line comes in on top and it sounds like the Martians are subtly playing it themselves. By the time the electric guitar emerges sounding like a stealthily aimed ray gun the atmosphere is beyond tense. Even writing this piece in silence I can still see the dark evil of the Martians at work.

Momentum is rarely lost. The alien race take over and envelope Planet Earth in a vile red weed that feeds them and wears down their enemy. Their plan is to eat, exterminate and move on to the next helpless race. Who better to bring in at this point than Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. He even refrains from terrorising the Martians by playing ‘The Boys are Back in Town’. The narrator stumbles across a preacher (voiced by Lynott) turned insane by the invasion. Cue one of many, ‘edge of your seat’ moments as the two hide in darkened silence as a Martian roves about looking for them. David Essex crops up as a renegade soldier who having accepted man’s predicament, is hell-bent on rebuilding the human race underground. The characters are perfect, the pace relentless, the tension unbearable.

I will not spoil the ending should you not know it, but it’s the one part of the piece that always leaves me disappointed. The brief epilogue is somewhat satisfying but that won’t stop a sceptical rub of the chin once the album concludes.
Musically this broke a lot of boundaries when released in 1976 and still sounds fresh and startling today. There is a heavy debt to 70s rock, specifically prog, but you don’t need to be a fan or critic of this genre to appreciate Wayne’s work.

Here is an experience in sound rather than a record. You may leave the landing light on tonight. I know I will.

Summary: You may leave the landing light on tonight. I know I will.