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Post by jeffwaynefan on Nov 6, 2006 23:23:28 GMT
Due to illness, I was unable to attend the April 2006 shows, so receiving my double disc version of the DVD this weekend made me extremely happy.
To say this concert was an "EPIC" is a grosse understatement. I pumped the 5.1 volumn up and rocked the house to bits. The whole experience was more than a joy to watch.
JEFF WAYNE'S MUSICAL VERSION OF THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - LIVE
PACKAGING
Boths dvd sets come is attractive packaging, the 2 disc has the better appearance of the two. The 2 disc is billed as a 'Special Edition' with the second disc full of optional extras such as a facinating 60 minute documentary that takes you on a 'tour' of the tour, from rehersals to the finished article. My ony critismn of the 2 disc set is that I would have liked the cardboard outersleeve of the box to have 'raised' or embosed lettering, this would have taken away the bland look to the cover. Also, the 12 page booklet inside could have been a little better, maybe some more images.
DISC 1 - The Coming Of The Martians
This disc contains the full concert in 5.1 surround sound. The picture quality is stunning, so if you have a HD tv, get ready to be impressed 'big time'. From the opening sequence or 'prologue' with an insight into 'why' the Martians are coming to Earth, something that I certainly didn't have a problem with, but I have heard that other's have, right through to the explosive strings of The Eve Of The War, onto Chris Speddings spine tingling guitar rifts of the Heat Ray on Horsell Common, the devastating battle at Weybridge, onto the the sadness of Forever Autumn and Chris Thompsons faultless Thunder Child. The concert does include a huge amount of original album samples which are used extensively throughout the performance. All this adds more impact to the final edit of the show.
With the stage dominated by the HUGE 30 feet tall Fighting Machine, the orchestra to the right of the stage, Jeff Wayne purched high on his podeum in the center, and the 'Black Smoke Band' to the left, all over looked by a huge screen with some glorious CGI footage of the invading Martians.
DISC 2 - The Earth Under The Martians
After the closing credits of Disc 1 with a quick CGI montage of what happened during 'The Coming Of The Martians', Disc 2 starts off the same as the 1978 album, the haunting sounds of synths and piano as The Red Weed blossoms onto the huge screen. Russel Watson and Tara Blaise work very well together onstage, and just when your getting into the swing of things as the Parson slowly looses his grip of reality, along comes 'that' cylinder. We see the world according to the Artilleryman as he expalins life under the ground in Brave New World, desolving into the creepy jingles of Dead London, then onto the discovery of the Martians upon Primrose Hill.
The Epilogue and NASA brings us not only the demise of the Martians, but also of the show as we are introduced to those who took part in the concert, as they lead onto the stage one by one.
SUMMARY
Yes, the set could have had a few added extras, I would have liked to have seen a condensed version of the CGI footage put onto one of the disc's as an extra and a audio only option, but thats a personal choice of mine.
Rating, that's easy - 10/10
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Post by HTT on Nov 7, 2006 12:29:43 GMT
Got home last night, and there was the DVD waiting for me. Off with the lights, set the mobile to silent, turned down phone volume and inserted disc 1...
OMG - this is just such a wonderful presentation! It brought back the magic of hearing the album for the first time in 1978 - in the words of Burton: "lovely stuff" (especially the young lady on percussion!).
Backdrop CGI - marvellous! Orchestral interpretation - perfect! Acting performances - spot on! There is just nothing to dissapoint with this DVD!
The special features and second disc make this an essential purchase for any WOTW fan.
My score is 9.9 out of 10. I'm docking .1 of a point because the full CGI isn't included as a stand alone extra. A lot is shown in the DVD, but as is explained - filming required a trade off between displaying 120ft of CGI, against the performance of the actors and orchestra. To be honest, I can't see how it could have been included as an extra, as the height/width ratio of the CGI would make too small a viewing strip on the telly, and you wouldn't get the acting performances.
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Post by Tripod on Nov 7, 2006 14:48:43 GMT
Hello there this may be a bit off topic but will the Live Tour DVD come to the Netherlands, Belgium, France and/or Germany?
I really hope so because otherwise we will miss out on a lot of fun. I've heard that the Live Musical and the DVD are great.
Tripod
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Nov 7, 2006 17:25:01 GMT
To be honest, I can't see how it could have been included as an extra, as the height/width ratio of the CGI would make too small a viewing strip on the telly, and you wouldn't get the acting performances. I have just been informed that it was done, but never made it to the DVD. . . . What a bugger  |
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SEAN
Full Member
Posts: 146
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Post by SEAN on Nov 14, 2006 8:29:21 GMT
Finally got around to buying my copy yesterday. 2 disc version in my local ASDA for £15.97! Bargain!! (Well, I am a student  ). Anyway... I thouught it was fantastic! It transferrred really well to DVD and I can imagine that there will be a lot of Christmas stockings this year with a copy chucked in for good measure. No complaints with it whatsoever. I probably won't be going to the second tour next year due to cash and arrival of our first child, but you never know!! (Maybe a ticket can be bought as a REALLY early 2007 Christmas present!!!!!!!!!!!!).  |
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Post by Ashe Raven on Nov 14, 2006 9:16:13 GMT
If Jeff pays for my families plane ticket to England after I get married I'll be there to watch But somehow I don't think thats likely... damn  Maybe an American Tour one day.... please? |
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Post by bittersound on Nov 15, 2006 9:52:55 GMT
Well I got a copy in my hot sweaty hands yesterday and watched it last night. I would say that it is pretty fabulous and definately makes me want to see it live!
The only thing that put me off is that to my ear it would appear that either the singers sung live over their own backing track or some work was done in post to beef the sound up. Now I may be wrong but generally speaking when it comes to all things audio i am a God, frankly.
That aside, I'll say again - wow, a really good show. The dvd presentation is excellent as well.
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Nov 15, 2006 13:22:49 GMT
Hello there this may be a bit off topic but will the Live Tour DVD come to the Netherlands, Belgium, France and/or Germany? I really hope so because otherwise we will miss out on a lot of fun. I've heard that the Live Musical and the DVD are great. Tripod Apparently, the distributors are releasing this in Region 2 only for now. You can order it online, of course, providing your DVD player will play it. |
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Post by the Donal on Nov 15, 2006 18:02:53 GMT
Well I got a copy in my hot sweaty hands yesterday and watched it last night. I would say that it is pretty fabulous and definately makes me want to see it live! The only thing that put me off is that to my ear it would appear that either the singers sung live over their own backing track or some work was done in post to beef the sound up. Now I may be wrong but generally speaking when it comes to all things audio i am a God, frankly. That aside, I'll say again - wow, a really good show. The dvd presentation is excellent as well. I would think that the odd sounds from the vocals are spill from the onstage sound- I noticed this at the gig. The vocal channel will be turned down during the instrumental parts to remove this and make mixing easier, but the sound will be a bit louder and more raw when the channel's turned back up so we can hear the singer. I've noticed this on other live DVD's as well if there is only singing on the odd track- if vocals are present throughout, the stage sound captured by any vocal mics is constant and therefore sounds 'normal'. |
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Nov 15, 2006 18:13:56 GMT
Hello there this may be a bit off topic but will the Live Tour DVD come to the Netherlands, Belgium, France and/or Germany? I really hope so because otherwise we will miss out on a lot of fun. I've heard that the Live Musical and the DVD are great. Tripod Apparently, the distributors are releasing this in Region 2 only for now. You can order it online, of course, providing your DVD player will play it. also region 4 |
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Post by D.A.V.E on Nov 29, 2006 0:45:06 GMT
I went to purchase this in TWO stores last week, each of them had boxes out for the TWO disc edition, but in reality, the stores had only been sent the one disc edition but not the two-disc... so I was very peeved. However a well known cheap supermarket actually had the two-disc one, so I finally purchased my copy on saturday. Well I was blown away. It was amazing. Well worth the time and effort spent searching for it. Im getting tickets for next years so as soon as ive been paid!  |
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Post by epicdream on Dec 11, 2006 23:15:27 GMT
I was at the Albert Hall concert back in April and was mesmerised by the whole thing, even had a couple of tears in me eyes, bless...  Bought the 2 disc set and sat back, cranked up the sound and it was as if I was back there in the Albert Hall again (even though it was filmed at Wembley). ;D Fantastic, simply amazing! Well done to Jeff and all for being able to faithfully recreate that experience!!!! ;D Well worth it!!!! Neill |
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Post by wastedyuthe on Dec 30, 2006 14:04:43 GMT
I absolutely loved this dvd. The best WotW dvd in my collection. However, two things slightly disappointed me. One thing was the martians at the begining- they were not needed I didn't like them speaking English. I would rather had the show start with Richard Burtons immortal lines 'No-one would have believed...'. The other slight annoyance for me was that if music was played at the same time as Richard Burtons narration (which happens a lot throughout) then the music tended to drown him out, making him almost inaudible on some lines. Anyone watching this who is new to the album wouldn't have a clue what he is saying sometimes. Can anyone tell me if this was a problem with the show when watched live? Other than that- excellent.
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Dec 30, 2006 18:01:03 GMT
From where I was sitting, Burton's narration was clearly audible.
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Post by Stuuullaaa on Dec 31, 2006 19:47:43 GMT
I thought the prologue was totally necessary Wastedyuthe. It not only tells of the reason why the Martians left Mars, it also adds a total new slant to the Jeff Wayne version, it sets the old imagination juices flowing. And also, I don't think anybody on Earth understands the Martian language, hence the English overdubbing ;D |
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Post by wastedyuthe on Jan 1, 2007 9:31:06 GMT
"I thought the prologue was totally necessary Wastedyuthe. It not only tells of the reason why the Martians left Mars, it also adds a total new slant to the Jeff Wayne version, it sets the old imagination juices flowing. And also, I don't think anybody on Earth understands the Martian language, hence the English overdubbing"
Well, I won't go to much into this, as this thread is supposed to be the dvd review of the show, and not just the show- but I fail to see how it gets the 'imagination juices flowing'. Surely, the less you see the more imagination needed, not the other way round. Do we really need to know why the martians invaded Earth? Wasn't the whole point of the book (and the album for that matter) to be the events from the narrators point of view? Was he there on Mars when the aliens had the meeting? This is why it feels out of place for me. I can obviously see the need for them to speak in English for the scene, but my argument is it shouldn't be there at all.
Back on the subject of audio, has anyone else had the problem of not hearing Richard Burtons narration as clearly as they'd like?
One thing about the dvd I really don't appreciate- due to the audio problem I had on Richard Burtons voice, I decided to check the subtitles on the dvd. It has multiple languages available, all letting you know what is being said, but guess what? No English track is avaiable!! I know the show is in English, but what about one for the hard of hearing? Shame on them!
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Post by Stuuullaaa on Jan 1, 2007 11:43:39 GMT
True, the album doesn't explain why the Martians invaded, but a lot of the first chapter of the book actually tells you why the Martians left Mars etc...But if H.G.Wells didn't bother to explain the reasons behind the invasion in his novel, then I would understand your reason for disagreeing with the prologue. Also, I think it also helps to see the 'reasons' (for want of a better word), because it might help explain things easier.
I agree with the 'less you see, the more imagination is needed' theory - but only in context of the album - thats probably one of the main reasons for the paintings.
And I also know that this thread is only for the DVD itself, but I'm just reacting to your first post, thats all.
BTW, the narration on my DVD is perfect & the whole thing, in my eyes, is faultless.
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Post by wastedyuthe on Jan 1, 2007 19:22:37 GMT
Perhaps I need to fiddle with my audio set-up to help. Just watching it again with DTS audio and am lovong this dvd.
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Post by wastedyuthe on Jan 3, 2007 11:22:31 GMT
For some reason the DTS track seemed a lot more clearer in terms of Richard Burtons voice. Wether that's anything to do with my set-up I don't know, but I normally don't have a problem with DD5.1. On a side note, did anyone notice Justin Haywards mic at the end of the show seemed a little too low in volume? And I know it is not my set-up this time, as he was perfectly loud enough earlier in the show with Forever Autumn.
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Post by the Donal on Jan 10, 2007 19:40:51 GMT
Apparently, a number of music producers prefer DTS over Dobly as it 'sounds more musical'. I'm not sure if it's to do with the audio compression ratio's used, the inherent sound quality due to the data compression of the codec on DTS, but it can just sound nicer. Maybe the DTS version is mixed differently, but I doubt it- 2 mixing sessions on something of this magnitude?
Anyway, I finally purchased the 2 disc set yesterday- HMV erroneously had on on the shelf at half the price- "I'm avin' that" I said to myself!!!
While not the same as actually being there (I went to the Wembley show), it still gave me big shivers down the spine at a lot of points throughout- the sound is great and visually it's very well put together. A lovely addition to the collection indeedy!
The documentary on the build up to the tour is great- very pleasing to watch in many places as a lifetime fan of the LP and it's good Jeff Wayne wasn't afraid to leave some of the tenser moments in there too.
And that percussionist- isn't she gorgeous?! Nearly as lovely as the good lady Tara Blaise herself!!!
Oh and I much prefer the cover to the 2 disc set- the montage on the single disc is a little messy to my eyes and doesn't do the artwork/music/show justice.
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). Anyway...
