The Album Review Club - Week #139 - (page 1815) - Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds

This album has been sat in my collection for some time although the CDs have long since been converted to digital and it’s only the very favourites that get bought in vinyl. This isn’t one of them. In fact when Spotify does my end of year roll I can’t remember this being in it for the last few years. It will be this year thanks to Bluemoon but is that likely to be a one off?

I imagine it is. Not that this album is bad. Far from it but with so much music to choose from at any given time and for so many different moods I’m hard pressed to think what would be the occasion I’d opt for this.

Alive is a great song and I did have to google it to see how truly autobiographical it is. Enough I think to give it some geft. Beyond that there’s some decent songs, Even Flow, Jeremy and Black but none of them really grab me.

I’m glad of the opportunity to give it a listen but unlike those who’ve been reminded for them what a great album it is it’s more a case of reminding me why I don’t listen to it much. Can’t give it more than a 6
 
GornikDaze said:
I’ve had this album pretty much since its release. There are the obvious big tracks that others have already discussed. Of these, Jeremy is my least favourite. Not really sure why, maybe I’ve heard it too much but it’s not one I’ve ever really been enamoured by. Black on the other hand is immense and one of the stand out tracks for me. It highlights Vedders voice in the most sublime way.
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I'm sensing many are feeling the same things years later - great point on Eddie's voice on Black, that's what really first blew me away in how he complimented it with the guitars on that track.

doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo...

GornikDaze said:
Alive seems to be the set closer of choice and you can understand why it is a great rock anthem.
Of the other ‘lesser’ tracks I’d put Porch, Garden and Oceans up there with the best of them. Porch particularly showcases the great guitar sound that PJ create.
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Yes, the "worst of Ten" is better than some of the lesser tracks on their other albums, bringing this to the top for me.
GornikDaze said:
I was going to give this a 10 - for me it is that good and such an iconic album in my collection. However the exclusion of Yellow Ledbetter is a travesty which cannot be forgiven! It was an outtake from the same recording session which only appeared on the B side of the Jeremy single release. So I’m afraid it’s a 9.5 for me - great choice BH!
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Fantastic point on Yellow Ledbetter's omission!

I'm sure we could fill a whole thread of B-sides of artists that never made the albums that would have made them even better. Oasis (gave us "the Masterplan"), Beatles, Bruce, and perhaps a band from Oxfordshire come to mind immediately, and I'm sure there's many others.
 
GornikDaze said:
However the exclusion of Yellow Ledbetter is a travesty which cannot be forgiven! It was an outtake from the same recording session which only appeared on the B side of the Jeremy single release. So I’m afraid it’s a 9.5 for me - great choice BH!
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How they deemed that a b side I’ll never know. Would have fit perfect at the end of Ten. That solo is a beauty
 
I'm not sure if I went into this one already with anegative attitude. I had heard the singles but had never been pushed or motivated to ever go any further and buy an album or go searching for more of their music. So a case of the singles not even striking that much of a chord with me.
From reading the inital reviews and how this album chimed with so many others made me think I must have been missing something.....However, after a few listens I'm afraid I must be a real phillistine (apart from my footballing views), in that this is not an album that I regret not getting into initially and will not be an album that I revisit.
A few of the songs I thought started off with a decent groove to them but many I sort of lost interest in. I started to think why that was and eventually realised that I am just not that keen on Eddies vocals.
I thought Alive & Even Flow not bad and Deep I thought about my favourite on the album, but even that I would have only given maybe a 5 or 6 to.
I thought back to most of the other albums that I have listened to since dropping my tuppence woirth in and have to say that this was my least favourite amongst them all...
So only a 4 out of Ten for me
 
LGWIO said:
I'm not sure if I went into this one already with anegative attitude. I had heard the singles but had never been pushed or motivated to ever go any further and buy an album or go searching for more of their music. So a case of the singles not even striking that much of a chord with me.
From reading the inital reviews and how this album chimed with so many others made me think I must have been missing something.....However, after a few listens I'm afraid I must be a real phillistine (apart from my footballing views), in that this is not an album that I regret not getting into initially and will not be an album that I revisit.
A few of the songs I thought started off with a decent groove to them but many I sort of lost interest in. I started to think why that was and eventually realised that I am just not that keen on Eddies vocals.
I thought Alive & Even Flow not bad and Deep I thought about my favourite on the album, but even that I would have only given maybe a 5 or 6 to.
I thought back to most of the other albums that I have listened to since dropping my tuppence woirth in and have to say that this was my least favourite amongst them all...
So only a 4 out of Ten for me
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Bloody scousers ;)
 
I can’t think of a better debut album by a band than Ten - perhaps Led Zeppelin 1? Problem for Pearl Jam was that they struggled to match it - with the exception of the odd track. Never saw them live - only on TV and I was really impressed
 
It comes back to the old question, can bands keep up their success, and is it better to bow out with say 3 geat albums rather than 3 great albums out of 12 ok albums. I wonder what Nirvana's 8th album would have soundes like and whether we would be saying they were overrated, didn't live up to the hype, etc.

Bear in mind, I have already said I consider PJ a greatest hits band, and their albums (as whole albums) continue to disappoint me. My point is it is a broader question, as opposed to a 'defence' of PJ.
 
GornikDaze said:
Bloody scousers ;)
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Yes, but at least he is bringing some balance to the scores.

I’m genuinely surprised by the size of the scores for this one. I know it’s a popular album, I know it sold in bucketloads, I know it was a major release in terms of that sound in the early 90s. And yet I struggle to see why this should get such praise where other rock outfits would probably get short shrift.

Like Bon Jovi (who have several albums I like) and Def Leppard (not so much) and any number of 80s/90s hard rock/AOR/hair metal etc, Ten is a slickly produced stadium-filler.

EDIT - I’m saying this to promote discussion by the way, not to complain :)
 
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