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

Maybe it is a UK thing but the Roses are probably the most influential band of the last 35 years though. Anyone around the indie genre will be influenced by them. It might only be one record but for many people that's all that was needed. It's not one of the top 5 UK albums ever as like you say there's a lot better but in recent times I can't think of another with the same impact. That album (with the Mondayd and Hacienda) kick started a cultural movement which took Manchester from being a drab post industrial city into the place it is today
As is the case in the 'Bluemoon song cup' there is, and expectedly, a huge bias to Manc bands on here.....but your take on the Stone Roses, and I like the first album (2nd was a pile of crap) is so far from the norm outside Manchester (maybe the NW) it's laughable.....down here, calling them the most influential band of the last 35 years (or even one of) would get you institutionalised ;)
 
Are you one of those bike guys with ear phones in breaking red lights and living in your own world ignoring all traffic signs etc.

Between that and your schizophrenia we’re starting to get a profile on you.

Quick question. Does Mrs.B prefer this week's to last week’s?
I'm one of those cyclists who's aware that if I hit a car it doesn't matter who's fault it is i would probably still be dead. Most of my route is on cycle path or through media city - I will sometimes even dismount my bike when the signs tell me to although not always I confess.

MrsB absolutely hates Soul-Junk more than anyone who reviewed it last week. You only had to endure it a week and she is sick of me trying to convince her she likes it. She would hate this a little less but she would rather stick the radio on
 
So if you divorce it from it's intention (if that is something that's possible to do) then out of the madness something beautiful grows. It's doing the working and the thinking that wears a fella out.

You've hit the nail on the head there. It's a sort of suspension of disbelief/taste thing and you're either in or you're out.

I am the opposite of you in that the nostalgia kicked in first and made me predisposed to a decent score, however I am very conscious if I continue with my listens then I will start picking at the threads and it will end badly. I had already started to muse on the mystery of David Essex's spoken voice career (entirely understandable when accompanied by the pretty boy visuals of things like That'll be the Day and Stardust but shorn of that, quite mystifying). Or the fact that whatever the concept of 'Total War' should sound like it certainly isn't this (other than arguably Burton's narration itself).

So, because I don't want that to be the outcome I have decided to do something I've never done on here before and have stopped listening before my minimum three, in order to 'preserve' my score. It's intellectually dishonest (and yes I am aware that applying that term to a football forum music thread makes me even more pompous than this record) but it's also how I feel and the emotional generally trumps the rational.

One specific thing on your comment about the sounds used for the aliens, whilst at one level I agree about the lack of metallic clanging I think you need to take into account the context of the era. Synths were still fairly new, though apparently Wayne had had a Moog since the late 60's, and the sci-fi/space sound aesthetic of the day I think was more cosmological whooshing than steampunk/industrial clanging. Not withstanding that, he did apparently uses his missus's pans to create some of the sound effects; though I suppose they could have been some of those fancy ceramic ones in which case your point would still stand.
 
As is the case in the 'Bluemoon song cup' there is, and expectedly, a huge bias to Manc bands on here.....but your take on the Stone Roses, and I like the first album (2nd was a pile of crap) is so far from the norm outside Manchester (maybe the NW) it's laughable.....down here, calling them the most influential band of the last 35 years (or even one of) would get you institutionalised ;)
As a manc who's never been to the Hac so maybe not qualified I always think the Stone Roses sound like a Scouse band.
 
You've hit the nail on the head there. It's a sort of suspension of disbelief/taste thing and you're either in or you're out.

I am the opposite of you in that the nostalgia kicked in first and made me predisposed to a decent score, however I am very conscious if I continue with my listens then I will start picking at the threads and it will end badly. I had already started to muse on the mystery of David Essex's spoken voice career (entirely understandable when accompanied by the pretty boy visuals of things like That'll be the Day and Stardust but shorn of that, quite mystifying). Or the fact that whatever the concept of 'Total War' should sound like it certainly isn't this (other than arguably Burton's narration itself).

So, because I don't want that to be the outcome I have decided to do something I've never done on here before and have stopped listening before my minimum three, in order to 'preserve' my score. It's intellectually dishonest (and yes I am aware that applying that term to a football forum music thread makes me even more pompous than this record) but it's also how I feel and the emotional generally trumps the rational.

One specific thing on your comment about the sounds used for the aliens, whilst at one level I agree about the lack of metallic clanging I think you need to take into account the context of the era. Synths were still fairly new, though apparently Wayne had had a Moog since the late 60's, and the sci-fi/space sound aesthetic of the day I think was more cosmological whooshing than steampunk/industrial clanging. Not withstanding that, he did apparently uses his missus's pans to create some of the sound effects; though I suppose they could have been some of those fancy ceramic ones in which case your point would still stand.
. There is a moment the narrator describes hearing banging from the pit so let's have some clanging even if it's the frying pan. The alien sounds sound suitably alien its the bits that should sound like banging that don't. I dont remember much banging when the cannons shot the first alien or when the battleship fights. And metal is metal. I was only semi joking about Wayne never having had a proper job so isn't aware of what metal sounds like when you hit it with something

I did read that they tried making the heat ray sound on a synth but couldn't make the "l" sound. What they settled on is definitely not what's described in the narration so it's a hard fail . However I really enjoy the sound of the voicebox so that's a win. Whatever technology limitations they faced they still decided with a straight face to make it a disco album which is absolutely unforgivable for an album that should be moody and dark. They machines inject human blood into themselves at one point and it's narrated over a pan pipe ocarina sounding thing. That's not a technology limitation - it's ridiculous decision making.

I'm also not super keen on the narration. I know Burton's name but I don't think I've ever seen him in anything. It's fine but I've seen it getting much more praise than i would be giving it. His voice is nice but his delivery is pretty flat in my opinion
 
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Enough is enough.
Even worse than the Streets.Wish I had given them a 2 now.
1/10.

"Interestingly", as we're on disco, the song Enough is Enough was only changed to No More Tears (Enough is Enough) because the Streisand album it was being put on was called Wet and each song title had to have a water theme.
 
As a Yank who's never been to Liverpool (unless Runcorn counts), I think The La's sound like an Exeter band.
Chris Martin from Coldplay is actually from Exeter. I think Beth Gibbons from Portishead may also be as well.

The LA's sound a bit more manc than the stone roses. Although they do have a song about a boat which is a definite Scouse give away
 
They machines inject human blood into themselves at one point and it's narrated over a pan pipe ocarina sounding thing. That's not a technology limitation - it's ridiculous decision making.

It's possible you may have entirely missed the point of the 1970s :-)

On the Burton thing, I wonder if he is also of his time to younger people? Personally I think he holds the whole venture together, the 'flatness' I like as it seems to emphasise the dehumanising nature of total warfare.
 
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