Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds - Binaural Surround - H.G. Wells, Jeff Wayne

Written by H.G. Wells, Jeff Wayne
Read by Full Cast, Richard Burton, Michael Sheen, Taron Egerton, Adrian Edmondson
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 256 Kbps
Dramatization

Contains both the musical and the drama versions of Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds.

First is the musical version. Originally released in 1978, this upload is from the 2005 SACD release of a 5.1 surround remix. I have used this to create a binaural surround mix. Headphones required.

After that is the 2018 Drama version. This is in stereo, but since we’re all wearing headphones already, I’ve enhanced the stereo with time-delayed crossfeed. This expands the sound-stage and reduces the inside-the-head feeling headphones can have. Headphones required.

Encoded as VBR AAC M4B with a target bitrate of 256kbps. Actual bitrate came out lower.

Musical Version cast:
Richard Burton as the Journalist
Justin Hayward as the sung thoughts of the journalist (Lead vocals on ‘Forever Autumn’ and ‘The Eve of the War’)
David Essex as the Artilleryman (lead vocals on ‘Brave New World’)
Phil Lynott as Parson Nathaniel (lead vocals on ‘The Spirit of Man’)
Julie Covington as Beth (lead vocals on ‘The Spirit of Man’)
Chris Thompson (Lead vocals on ‘Thunder Child’)
Jerry Wayne as The Voice of NASA Control

Drama Version cast:
Michael Sheen as the Journalist
Taron Egerton as the Artilleryman
Adrian Edmondson as Ogilvy the Astronomer
Theo James as Parson Nathaniel
Anna-Marie Wayne as Carrie
Richard Reed as the Lieutenant
With:
Rachel Atkins, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Josh Bond, Nicholas Boulton, Philip Bulcock, Jessica Dennis, Stephen Fletcher, Pete Gold, David Holt, Roger May, Harry Myers, Mark Straker, Ben Whitehead and Sarah Whitehouse