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 to his satisfaction, but when his cast and crew speak of him, they do so in glowing and appreciative terms.
Clearly one of his greatest talents is to inspire those who work with him. But there were many hurdles to overcome along the way, with the project stretching and stretching until fully a year had passed since the first track was recorded. In these testing circumstances, money was never far from Jeff’s mind, and so he was forced to work on the album while at the same time continuing his radio jingles, such that he would often nod odd at his console while the band played on.
The production was certainly swallowing money at a fantastic rate, and while CBS would dip into the corporate coffers one more time to cover the cost of Richard Burton’s involvement, Wayne had to find the rest of the money himself. The album finally came in at a staggering £240,000, a huge sum, given that Queen’s A Night At The Opera was thought at the time to be the most expensive album ever, at a comparatively modest £45,000. Jeff was fairly convinced that if the album failed to recoup its cost, then he would certainly have to give up his home to pay off his creditors. [su_highlight]Click here to continue reading[/su_highlight]