Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds - Classic Or Dud?

it reminds me of Jesus Christ Superstar and that's mostly not great

I got this album as a gift for Christmas 1978, aged 8. For the next year I think I listened to it on headphones a couple of times a week on average - every note, every nuance is etched into me, I can still call full audio memories effortlessly to mind despite not having listened to it in probably 20 years. Is there some kind of drug or surgery which could help me?
I think I was about 13 or 14 before I realised that "The Heat Ray" was a metaphor for Jo Partridge's playing, rather than some character I had somehow failed to notice.

for the uninitiated

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/82173

I’ve never listened to it but my dad had the LP and I used to look through the artwork because it was so rad.

It fucking rules, in a cheesy and awful way. It has Phil Lynott playing a priest gone mad preaching violence.

What more do you monsters want?

this is airing on WFMU right now, never heard of it

Wow. This was big in the UK.

Jesus Christ Superstar is better tbf but it has its moments

That Lynott song is a highlight iirc

Heat Ray noise is good

The actual title is "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds". HG Wells' estate must have objected.

but all the words Burton's reading... surely they could've stopped it if they wanted to, or was it 'public domain'

I think it was probably just out of copyright under the old rules

Maybe had been for ages, was the 50s movie authorised?

Was still in copyright at the time:

I wanted to interpret musically, one couldn’t do it without finding out who was in charge of the estate of H.G. Wells. It took us about three months – there was so internet or email in those days – and when we eventually found it it was agents of Frank Wells, who is H.G. Wells’ son and the rights had been left to him. Frank had agents representing The War Of The Worlds and so I presented myself to them explaining what I wanted to do and they sold my dad and I all these rights because I was the first one who had come along who wanted to stay true to what H.G. Wells wrote, which was this very dark Victorian tale.

http://thequietus.com/articles/14162-jeff-wayne-interview-war-of-the-worlds

I see it’s touring again, almost tempted to see if any tickets are available.