THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. The first appearance in book form was published by William Heinemann of London in 1898. It is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and that of his younger brother in London as Earth is invaded by Martians. Written between 1895 and 1897, it is one of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon. (More from Wikipedia)
In 1978, Chris Spedding was a key musician in one of the most ambitious concept albums of all time (and the best selling British concert/cast album ever), Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. Actor Richard Burton handled the narration, and the musicians are a virtual Who’s Who of the British rock scene of that era: Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Chris Thompson of Manfred Mann, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, bass guitarist Herbie Flowers (that's him playing the prominent bass line on Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side"), David Essex ("Rock On"), and actress/vocalist Julie Covington; she and Essex had been appearing together in early performances of the rock musical Evita. The album tells the story pretty much as The War of the Worlds was written by H. G. Wells (much of Burton's narration is word-for-word from the novel) decades before Steven Spielberg's film basically did the same; I consider War of the Worlds to be one of Spielberg's best movies and certainly his most disturbing.
(November 2011)
