The Martians are coming! (War Of The Worlds: Ulladubulla The Remix Album - Jeff Wayne - Soundtrack)

Name: welshwizards

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Product:	War Of The Worlds: Ulladubulla The Remix Album - Jeff Wayne - Soundtrack
Date:	23/02/07 (297 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An all time great soundtrack, if only they had made it into a film.

Disadvantages: Perhaps it could have been a little longer.

"No one would have believed that in the last years of the nineteenth century, human affairs where being watched......."

If you have not heard that famous line read out before, you are in for a real treat. Richard Burton plays the main character in the soundtrack version of one of HG Wells' most famous books called War of The Worlds. The book and audio musical story tells the terrifying tale of what would happen if Martians invaded England during the late 19th Century.

I would recommend reading the book but the Soundtrack is really great, an added dimension comes from the sounds and songs that bring the true reality to light. I have to admit, I would prefer watching a Film or listening to a story on tape than reading a book anytime.

An astronomer called Ogilvie argues that the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, but soon after seeing plumes of green smoke coming from Mars, the first intergalactic traveller arrives. A cylinder lands after a brilliant shooting star trailing green mist, is seen in the sky over southern England.

Soon after, mans curiosity takes over and they pay a visit to the common where the Cylinder lies in the huge crater that it created. The cylinder unscrews and a horrible creature rises and uses a terrifying weapon to turn everything in the locality to flames - the dreaded heat ray. Man has never seen anything like this before.

Richard Burton tells the story as he runs from the Martians and tries to find is beloved girlfriend called Carrie. He meets a number of characters along the way and has a number of near death experiences at the hands of the now tripod riding monsters. He also discovers the reason for the Martians visit.

Does Burton find Carrie, do the Martians take over the world? You will have to read the book or buy the soundtrack on DVD to find out! You won't be disappointed.

My favourite song from the Soundtrack is called Forever Autumn by the Moody Blues.

I remember being terrifed as a young boy listening to the cylinder unscrewing and the Martian appearing for the first time.

The book has been made into a film twice now.

A film was created in the 1950's with the same name, based in America and set during the 50's. However the film does not follow the book very closely, except having a similar outcome. The Aliens don't travel in tripods!

The second film from 2005 starring Tom Cruise is a much better proposition. Although set in modern day USA, the film follows the book pretty closely in parts, in a modern way. It portrays the chilling nature of what may happen if the Earth was invaded by aliens intent on destroying us. The awesome power of the Martian war machine being shown to brilliant effect with computer graphics and animation.

I would have loved to have seen a film following the book closely, being filmed and based in the UK, featuring the excellent audio tracks from the Soundtrack and the best of modern CGI effects. But I guess we cannot have everything.

Either way, the soundtrack is an all time great!

There is also an old Orson Wells radio broadcast from the USA that actually terrified a number of people into committing suicide when it was played over the radio.

People thought that version was for real!

Summary: Scary and entertaining musical put together brilliantly.