I'm quite blown away by how well this mix works as an unofficial alternative soundtrack to Richard Burton's captivating narration. Do not miss.
"When I was 8 or 9 years old I heard Jeff Wayne's musical version of H.G.Wells' 'War Of the Worlds' for the first time. It scared the pants off me. For years afterwards I listened to the record over and over. It is certainly one of the things from my childhood that cemented my interest in film scores. Though not a film score per se. Its marriage of rock music with orchestral arrangements to tell a story, had me transfixed. The combination of funky rock with sinister string parts would heavily influence and partially shape the sounds that, years later Jake Wherry and I would be making in The Herbaliser.
A few years back I was given, as a Christmas gift, the 'Collectors Edition box set of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds'. As well as tons of interesting facts about the creation of the original recordings it had several CD's of alternate takes, remixes etc. On one CD, I excitedly discovered that they had included all of Richard Burton's dialogue parts, without music. Having already created and performed an alternate live DJ score to silent film 'The Lost World' from 1927, this seemed like a great opportunity to do a similar project with one of my favourite childhood stories.
Using records from my own collection of movie soundtracks and other suitable material, I created the original version. This was given to some close friends as a christmas present in 2010. The version you are now hearing is a somewhat revised and extended version, created specifically for the 25 years of Solid Steel. Also, it is the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles' infamous radio play, that when broadcast on Halloween 1938, had many Americans convinced that they were listening to a genuine attack from outer space. This is by no means intended as an improvement to Mr Wayne's recording but a tribute to H.G Wells, Jeff Wayne, Richard Burton, Orson Welles and of course Solid Steel.
