One final trial was to face Jeff. Having finally completed the album, CBS in the USA unexpectedly turned it down, unable to bring themselves to believe it could work with an American audience. Luckily CBS in the UK were far more understanding and enthusiastic in their endorsement and committed to a launch in July 1978….
Author: vinylsingles
The War of Worlds part 4
As the project progressed, musicians came and went, some more so than others. Justin Hayward (also of the Moody Blues) sang Forever Autumn” and “The Eve of the War” which were to be released as singles. Meanwhile singer songwriter Paul Rogers spent two days in the studio in the role of the Parson, but never…
The War of Worlds part 3
In the end, the task fell to one of Jeff’s regulars, Jo Partidge, who created the sound with a bottleneck slide and all six strings tuned to one note. With a slide guitar or bottleneck guitar, rather than altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner (by pressing the string against frets), a…
The War of the Worlds Part 2
As his principle lyrist, Jeff chose Gary Osborne, a long time collaborator who had worked with him on many advertising projects. Together with Paul Vigrass (another alumni of the Wayne jingle factory) Osborne had released in 1972 an album which featured an early version of Forever Autumn, one of the most beloved songs on The…
Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds (1978) part 2
The main body of a recording was done in the UK at London’s state of the art Advision Studios beginning on the morning of May 18th 1976. Jeff Wayne is, without doubt, a perfectionist as those who worked with him can attest. The track “Spirit Of Man” took 16 takes and 8 hours to complete…