SonyBMG Music U.K. To Release War of the Worlds In SACD Surround Sound This Summer

Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds rock opera will be coming out in a new 5.1 Super Audio CD Surround Sound edition this summer from SonyBMG Music UK. The SACD edition of War of the Worlds is slated to coincide with a new movie of War of the Worlds directed by Steven Speilberg and starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto. According to SonyBMG UK, the War of the Worlds SACD will be released during the same month that the Speilberg War of the Worlds movie appears in theaters.

The Original War of the Worlds Album
War of the Worlds was originally released in 1978. It is a well known rock opera from that era based on H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds novel. War of the Worlds created quite a stir in the U.S. in 1938 when actor and radio star Orson Wells’ broadcast a radio version of the story about an attack from Mars that was so compelling that many people who did not hear the disclaimer at the start of the show thought such an invasion was actually underway.

The War of the Worlds album that was created by Jeff Wayne in 1978 features a host of stars. The album includes narration by the late actor Richard Burton and vocal performances by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, David Essex (best known for his hit Single “Rock On”), the late Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy and Julie Covington and other singers from the U.K. cast of Godspell. War of the Worlds went on to become a major seller around the world, most notably so in the U.K. where some it was embedded on the Top Album charts for years.

Creating the 5.1 Surround Sound SACD Remix
To create a 5.1 Surround Sound remix of War of the Worlds, Jeff Wayne is working with many of the members of the album’s original production team.

Wayne says that “Remixing my musical version of The War of The Worlds in the new SA-CD format is proving one of the true highlights of my career as a composer, arranger, conductor and producer. I have returned to my old Martian friend after almost 27 years, where the original multi-track tapes (77 in all) were first baked, then transferred into the digital domain before any work could start.

As a result we have gone back to the original recordings and rebuilt them – sound by sound, track by track, so that it is truly a 100% re-mix. The end result in my opinion is nothing short of spectacular – the listener IS in the music with a Martian invasion in Victorian England, happening all around. The power and the glory of SA-CD as a music delivery platform is here to stay, and deservedly so.”